A Little News

I love baseball. I loved playing baseball and I love shooting baseball. As a kid I dreamed of playing major league baseball. I kept all the bubble gum cards and still have a few of my well worn favorites stuffed away in a shoe box in my closet. I loved the Big Red Machine and Johnny Bench and Pete Rose were my favorite players. That Charlie Hustle attitude is still part of me even though I don’t get to play baseball anymore. There just isn’t much demand for 44 year olds who don’t do steroids!

Still, I love to shoot the game and I really don’t care if it is children playing in their youth leagues or high school players and I would love to shoot a pro game someday. Baseball is a game of moments. A key hit, a diving catch or an important play at the plate. You have to be ready because the game can lull you into a sense of complacency. My dad coached me as a little boy and he used to tell me to know what I would do with the ball before any pitch was made for every at bat. In other words, stay mentally prepared.

Anticipating in the action can really increase your chances of getting a nice image. Is there a runner on second? Get ready for a play at the plate because any ball hit to the outfield can result in a close play at home. Lead off hitter get on first? Be ready for a steal or a double play situation around second base. Power hitter at the plate? Be ready for him to pull the ball down one of the lines. Knowing the game helps but just watching tendencies will also improve your chances.

I mostly cover high school and youth leagues and most of the time a ground ball will be hit to either shortstop or third base so it just makes sense to prefocus on the shortstop. Knowing that a runner might steal a base lets me be prefocused on that base. Especially in softball, I am always ready for a ball to be hit to the third baseman. Then everything becomes a matter of timing rather than a mad scramble to try and keep up with the action. There is nothing worse in shooting baseball than being half a second behind the play because you will never get that key photo. Anticipate and be prepared.

That doesn’t mean it is hopeless if you don’t know the game very well. Famed photographer George Silk who shot for Life magazine back in the hey day came from Europe and didn’t know anything about American sports. His theory was to go out and just make great photographs at a sporting event the same as he would covering any other event. His approach stands in stark contrast to guys like Neil Leifer who, if there is an icon of American sports photography, is that icon. Both men were great photographers and they used opposite approaches. No matter what approach you take, go out there and make great photographs. The action will come in time.

That reminds me. It doesn’t matter what level of the sport you are covering, shoot like it is a major league game. Some of my best baseball images have come from youth league games. If you approach the little guys with energy and enthusiasm you will find more emotion, more of the ball flying around and more of the fun of sports than in any other place. This game really is great at all levels. Give me baseball, hot dogs and apple pie pretty much any day and I am a happy man.

About the photos: The first photo is one I got yesterday on a play at the plate. The high angle cleans up the background and, fortunately, the ump did not move into the frame as sometimes happens when shooting from the third base side. The rest is just motor drive and a nice moment. The second photo is from the shortstop attempting to make a play on a hard hit ball. This, being a softball game, was an 80-200mm lens also from a high angle. When you can get a little elevation you can really clean up the backgrounds.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and are not necessarily those of my employer.