My 21 Favorite Photos From This Past Purdue Baseball Season

What a pleasant surprise this past Purdue baseball season was for me. When it started I was not sure if I or anyone except players and their families would be allowed in the park. I was thinking about how to get a life setup in the outfield to watch the games from. As it turned out I was at nearly every home game for the Boilers and was able to watch some of the fun from this past season. After not getting inside of Alexander at all in 2020 it was nice to finally get some college baseball in again. Below are my 21 favorite images from this past year. At some point I decided to ditch the matching of the year and the number of photos as it was getting too long, but with no baseball in 2020 for me I wanted a bigger gallery here.

21. Part of the fun of making photos of the same team throughout the season is finding the little moments that players have that make for cool photos. The game before this one I was not in a good position for this delivery and the inning ended before I could get there. Knowing what I wanted to do when I saw him coming into the game I made sure that I was right where I wanted to be to make this photo.

20. The frozen ball photo can really be overdone. I really had no intention of making this photo during this season. The autofocus is amazing on my camera though and decided to grab the ball and make the frozen ball photo for me. I watch enough Bob Ross to realize a happy accident when I see one.

19. Speaking of overdone I like my multi-exposures of pitchers way too much. For some reason though Sony does not allow you to make multi exposures in the camera. I decided early in the season to make one in Photoshop and I was not upset that I did.

18. This team was full of senior leaders. Catcher Zac Fascia is certainly one of those. The catcher is usually my favorite position on the team. If you look back at the history of Alexander Field you have had Picchiotti, Dalesandro, and Fascia since the park opened. When you think about the fact that Lambert Field closed with future big leaguer Kevin Plawecki behind the plate then you know that I have had a lot of fun over the course of the last few years making photos of this great group of Purdue catchers. It will be very interesting to see who fills Zac’s shoes next year.

17. There is a great spot behind the plate at Alexander Field that gives you a good view of the offensive player sliding into home. Things have to work out just right for a good photos, and here I think that I was lucky and everything fell together to do just that.

16. This year with some lighter gear I think that my outfield photos have gotten much better. It is easier to swing over and pick up the ball. I made this photo on opening day and I have liked it ever since.

15. We really only had the one night with really good light this year. In fact the clouds broke just long enough for a few pitches with the light shining on the defense. I quickly moved over to make some photos of it. This was by far my favorite.

14. This year more than ever I have tried to find ways to bring the viewer into the game. I was in the stands with the fans so to bring them something different took longer lenses and a little planning. I hope that I was able to show the fans some moments that they might have missed.

13. As the season was winding down I was trying to make more photos of the seniors as I obviously only had a few chances left. Here things lined up with senior Skyler Hunter and the new outfield wall in the background.

12. The last weekend of the season I took my 85mm lens to the park to try some things with the players in the on deck circle. This was my favorite of those photos. As the season winds down you start to look for ways to make photos that are different from what you have done. Here I thought I accomplished my goal.

11. This is here simply because I love the gesture. It is a great moment of our shortstop throwing the ball to first base. These are the type of moments that are fun to capture for sure.

10. Speaking of fun to capture you can’t beat a head first slide into home plate. Here Tyler Powers comes into the plate with nobody blocking my view.

9. I knew that senior Miles Simington would be fun to photograph when he joined the Lafayette Aviators in 2019. He played the game with a passion that just makes for good photos. Here he celebrates his run that gave Purdue the lead.

8. We had one walk off winner this season at Alexander Field. I was in a position to make the photo if the team mobbed the player in between first and second base. When it was a home run I was quickly out of position, but I still think that it made for a good photo. It is another reason why having a team of photographers is very important. You can cover all of your bases so to speak.

7. I love a good dirty celebration photo. Here you can see the jube as well as the dust still settling. These are the emotional types of photos that I really like to make.

6. As I said in my game write up from this game I have seen some great last outings by seniors at Alexander Field. Ramer and Downs immediately come to mind. Trent Johnson added his name to that list when he gave it his all in a great senior day performance a couple of weekends ago. As he came off of the field I was saying to myself ‘tip your cap’. I am very glad that he did so that I could make this photo.

5. Baseball is a sport that I find very exciting. Not everyone shares that excitement with me, but how can you not love it. The game is designed so well that close plays are happening all of the time. Here you see the ball and the player arriving to third base at about the same time. To me this photo is what baseball is all about. As I write this I can’t help but think that I could have very easily had this photo listed higher than it is.

4. By pushing my 12mm lens up against the netting I was able to make a blue hour photo of Mike Bolton that I really liked. This year I had to always think about the net and how it would come into play. Here I was able to get rid of it completely.

3. For this game I was trying very hard to get the new outfield walls in as many photos as I could. The field looked great and I wanted to show that. This was by far my favorite photo from that night. I just love the action here.

2. This photo is a favorite of mine for many reasons. The first is the fact that the fans in the background were enjoying the game. After the previous year that seemed like a miracle that we had found ourselves in that spot. I also liked the fact that it was a senior leader celebrating.

1. If you have followed this past season on the blog then you know how much fun I have with my bubble photos. I spent a lot of time making baseball in the bubble photos this past season. This was my favorite of those photos. I had photos in better light, but this one took some quick thinking to make. The player was in the shadows with a very bright light in the background. I decided to let that background go white and expose for the player. It made for a very interesting photo, and gave me a good goal to beat next year.

 

There they are. After missing a year of baseball I was finally back at the park. Sports photography is my passion. For over a year I felt like everything had passed me by. People were working all around me, and I was still watching games on TV. When baseball came north everything kind of changed and I was finally back making photos. It felt so good. I never take what I do for granted. I hear about it every year when I talk about treating games like they are my last. After the past year though I think that I have decided to double down on that. Next year it would be great to be back on the field with the team where I can make more impactful photos. Let’s all do our part to get there.