The Week That Was In Sports

This was a crazy week of sports photos. I am starting this post off a little behind because I still have the final Purdue softball game that I saw on Friday to talk about it. Then you have a doubleheader on Saturday followed by opening day for rec league on Sunday. Instead of slowing down things just started to really pick up. This is the time of year when you have to make choices. You have both kids playing at the same time in different places. This is a crazy time, but when it ends in about a month we will be wondering what to do with ourselves. I really enjoy watching my kids play ball so it is a really good problem to have that they are playing so much. There are times when I feel like I have gone through my photography journey backwards. Usually when someone picks this up later in life they are photographing their kids. I started late, but with college sports. Now that my kids are going through the process I have some experience and I can make better photos of them. It has taken a lot of work to get here for all of us, but the reward now is pretty sweet.

One Last Game At Purdue

I really enjoyed the last couple of seasons of Purdue softball. This team has been really fun to watch. They had a great Big Ten Tournament last year, and they kept that momentum going this season. Up north the college softball season always seems to short. We read about games for the first month or so down south before we ever get to see them play. This year the season seemed even shorter. I wanted a few more games to see this team play. With the new way that college sports work you never know who you will see on the field next season. I hope that this team comes back for another year.

Worlds Collide

I was at this game because our rec league team decided to attend to support the other West Side rec league team that was the team of the game. It was really cool seeing kids that I coach for travel ball out there on the field with Purdue.

Home Run Celebrations

I really love capturing the softball home run celebration at home plate. I love how the team comes out to greet the player. The player is always very happy to have hit a home run as well.

Reflections

Saturday I was at a JV softball doubleheader. For most of the games the light was pretty good. I knew that with the cool sunglasses on the field that I wanted to make a reflection photo. I had the 200-600 with me to help me get in tight to make that photo. Here things worked out for a photo that I really liked. I need to keep working on this idea as the season goes on.

Opening Day

Sunday was opening day for our local rec league. I spent the day photographing the opening ceremony and then the two softball games. It was a long, but fun day at the ballpark. This was most likely my last opening day with someone in rec league. That is hard to believe. We have had at least one kid in this league for years. It will be weird to not have a part in what is going on there. If I am free next year on opening day I think that the whole thing could be a really fun photo story.

More Opening Day Fun

My little one played game two on the softball field on opening day. As the years have gone on she has developed a love for this game. It is always cool to see the switch go off when you realize just how much fun this game really can be.

Finally Catching A Game At Harrison

Harrison plays a really fun brand of softball that is fun to photograph. This year though whenever I have had a free night they have been out of town or not playing. That changed Tuesday when I was finally able to catch a game of theirs. They won the game and had a ton of fun doing it. That is what I love about Harrison softball.

Right Place, Right Time

It is hard to get good photos of the outfielders sometimes. I started the game out with them and no balls were hit there. For the second inning I went behind the plate and of course they got some action. Late in the game I moved out near left field and two ball were hit out there. The first was going away from me which was bad luck. This photo though was of a perfectly placed ball for a photograph.

Senior Night

Wednesday was senior night for West Side softball. This year they only have one senior which is great for the future, but it will be hard to see KG go. She has an easy but powerful swing that has been fun to photograph. This year she has been the clean up hitter for almost every game. Senior day means that the season is coming to a close. I don’t know that I am ready for that just yet. We still have a few games to go this year to enjoy this team.

A Little Faith

This week my photography ended with a doubleheader. I went to see the oldest play at Faith and then went across town to watch my youngest play. This was a doubleheader that was not too bad to attempt. There will be a couple coming up that could be a little harder. This is a hard park to photograph in. The fence is extra thick and shiny meaning that I have to use all of my tricks to make it disappear. Even then at some weird angles it still shows up. I was only able to watch the first three innings or so, but they were fun to see.

Guessing Right

There are times when you just try and guess where the ball is going to go. Sometimes you are rewarded with a grounder or a pop up. On this play I was rewarded with a line drive right at the fielder. I would never have been able to make this photo if I wasn’t already on the player pre pitch. It always feels good to make the right call on where to be.

An Interesting Anthem

During the first inning with the bases loaded the National Anthem started playing at the baseball field next door. They had a press box and sound system to do such things. Since the softball field did not we were told pre game that we would stop the game and that would be our anthem. It was a different way to spend the anthem, but it made for some different photos. As the season goes on anything different is good.

The End Of The Week

My week of sports ended Thursday night with the second game of two.  Since the previous Friday I had ten games to cover in this post. If we had not had a rain out on Monday that would have been 11. Like I said at the start of this post. This is a busy time. It is also very fun. To see your kids doing well is always a great thing. This coming week seems light with only five games on the schedule.

More Photos From The Week

This was a long week so this part of the post will be extra long. It was a fun week though so I hope that you enjoy going through it. If you can get all the way through this maybe grab an extra margarita on Cinco de Mayo this week.