The Catch II
Following up on yesterday’s post, how great is the look of surprise on this young athlete’s face?
The Catch
The difference between making the catch and not making the catch doesn’t matter – it all goes down the same in the box score.
Gunned Down at the Plate
It’s rare to see a real play at the plate in 9 year old Baseball, and even rarer to see them get the out!
The Moment Before Impact
What do you think goes through a six year-old hitter’s mind right before the ball hits the bat? Is he worried about whether he will make contact, where the ball will go, or what to do next? Is he running to first in his head?
Or are the team parents more worried, and it’s just a simple reaction to him?
Baseball Portraits
How do you make your 6 Year Old look like a star for his Baseball Portrait? Move beyond basic poses and spend more time in the portrait session than what a photo shoot with hundreds of kids allows.
During Spring break, my Son Aidan and I did some portraits in the setting sun at Midway Park.
Silly Bandz hit Cumming, Georgia
If you are a parent with kids in Forsyth County Public Schools, especially at the Elementary School level – you’ve probably seen, and tried to find Silly Bandz. It seems almost every kid is wearing them.
Defensive Baseball
When your feature team is getting no-hit, there’s far more time to focus on the defensive game and work additional angles in the field and for the pitcher.
2010 Midway Park Baseball and Softball Photographs
Dennis Murray Photography is proud to present photographs from the 2010 Midway Park and Forsyth County Youth Baseball Season, featuring teams from Midway Park, Sharon Springs Park, and Sawnee Mountain Park.
All full range of products is available for our customers. We offer prints in sizes from 5×7 to 16×20 as well as mounted prints ready for display. Photo Books, exhibiting the story of the Athlete’s full season are available on a select basis.
We are happy to offer Digital Image Collections, featuring all of your athlete’s photographs from one game, are available for purchase. Digital image collections give you the full size digital image files, on CD, with license to reprint or use online as you wish. If the athlete’s parent is a coach and is included in any photographs, these photos are included in your collection.
Season Photo Books are a new offering this spring. Contact Dennis Murray for details.
For the first 10 days a team is posted, a 15% discount is made on all prints and digital image collections. The discount is applied at time of checkout.
All galleries will expire on June 30, 2010. Please place orders before the expiration date.
5 Year Old Baseball (New 5/15 featuring MP Dodgers, MP Braves; 4/17 featuring MP Yankees, MP Rockies)
6 Year Old Baseball (5/8/2010 Added second MP Yankees gallery; 4/20/2010 MP Rockies, MP Panthers, MP Wolverines; SM Knights, MP Pirates, MP Wildcats, MP Yankees, MP Mud Cats, MP Braves)
7 Year Old Baseball (Updated 5/1/2010 with MP Yankees. Also featuring MP Bearcats, MP Bulldogs, MP Braves, MP Mountaineers, MP Rays, MP Warriors)
9 Year Old Baseball (New 5/19 MP Braves, MP White Sox, MP Blackhawks, MP Red Sox New 5/17/2010 with MP Yankees, MP Rockies)
9U Midway Rush Baseball (New 5/20/2010)
10 Year Old Baseball (Added 4/20/2010 featuring MP Longhorns, MP Marlins. Coverage on 4/20/2010 limited due to darkness. For additional coverage, please contact Dennis Murray.)
5-6 Year Old Softball (New 5/22/2010 featuring the Midway Park Storm; Added 5/19 featuring Midway Park Force and Pink Panthers)
9-10 Year Old Softball (Added 5/1/2010 featuring MP Strikers, MP Stingers, MP Miss Fits)
12U Midway Park Xtreme Softball (Added 5/8/2010)
Buford’s Heddinger Throws No-Hitter
Buford Junior Josh Heddinger through a no-hitter against AA rival Greater Atlanta Christian School Friday. Heddinger was perfect until giving up a fifth-inning walk.
The game was called after five according to GHSA rules for margin of victory. Buford prevailed 12-0.
The State of Youth Sports, 2009
Rather than follow a lot of the normal “End of Year” highlight packages you see on ESPN, or the “Year in Images” that Sports Illustrated created so long ago – I decided to summarize what’s great about youth sports…but in images only.
We’re # 1
Working the Backlight
I recently heard a parent at a soccer game talk about preferring to photograph only when the sun was to his back – and in the faces of the players. While there are certainly advantages to using a light source to the front of your subjects, a backlit situation is still manageable and can even be advantageous.
Let’s start by defining a backlit situation: it is one where the primary light source is behind your subject, putting your subject’s face and front of their body in a shadow (cast by their own body).
Play at Second
Usually around the third inning and beyond in the seven year old and older games I would work first behind first base and later behind third base. In addition to a good vantage point for the batter, I could get a great view of plays at second base.
I didn’t see any 4-6-3 or 6-4-3 double plays this season – but did see some close calls, especially with the seven year old Reds.
Light and Shadow
One of the best tools in a good photographer’s toolbox is the use of light and shadow to help accentuate the subject, or create interest in the viewer.
I love the opportunity to take advantage of the light, or the shadow and create dimension to the photo. The three photos in this post all have their own lighting situation.
With the sun moving from third base, across to first base in the late evening, a left-hand pitcher gets lighting on the face as he opens up to deliver to the plate. With the sun being directional, the outfield and backdrop are in the shadow and much darker than the pitcher, and essentially fade to black.
…and Catchers
Catchers are part of that special breed in sports – not unlike goalkeepers in Lacrosse and Hockey, as well as the Offensive Line in Football. All are athletes who put their body in the way of a ball (or opponent) traveling at a high rate of speed.
Coachable Moments
One of the great aspects of watching so much Baseball and Softball being played at a young age is seeing all of the instruction from the coaches to their young athletes.
Game Faces II (Midway Park Edition)
In the spirit of last spring’s post on the Game Faces of Norcross Soccer, I present the Game Faces of Midway Baseball and Softball (5 and 6 year olds).
Anticipation
The time at the plate is the most important in the mind of every five and six year old Baseball or Softball player. And when at the plate, all of the time is spent waiting for the pitch.
On the way…
Swing!
Early Spring Baseball
While it was only the seventh day of March, it’s not how I remember March being for Baseball. Greater Atlanta Christian School welcomed Chamblee High School to Hester Field on GAC’s Norcross campus in temperatures in the mid seventies and sunny.
I usually will start photographing baseball games by working isolation shots of the pitcher. It’s a quick start and gets some good material. There are two really clean views of the pitcher – from head on and from the side.
On the Other Side of the Camera
I had my own experience as a parent in youth sports this fall. My older son, Aidan, played his first season of T-ball/Coach pitch baseball. Our team was newly formed this fall and many of the kids were in their first season of baseball.
During the season, I picked up the camera on a couple of occasions but the nights without the camera were the best of the season. Those were the nights that I had the opportunity to interact with eleven enthusiastic, fun kids.
A Good Night for Baseball
Tuesday proved to be a good evening for Baseball. The weather cooperated (unlike recently for Norcross Soccer) and the light was great as the evening progressed.
I took the opportunity to do two different things with Baseball this time. To really personalize the coverage, I added my 1.4x teleconverter to my 300/2.8 to shoot at 420mm. From down the third base line, this gave me a tight frame at home plate (that proved very useful later). I also spent a couple innings shooting from a platform in left-center field.
Baseball Day Games
Talk about the traditional set up – Baseball played on a Saturday afternoon. I grew up in the era of the NBC Baseball Game of the Week on Saturdays with a classic voice like Vin Scully calling the game. I also spent many Saturdays on the diamond myself, either behind the plate or in the infield.
Like most of the other Varsity sports in High Schools in the Atlanta area, the majority of the games are either twilight or evening games. However, they do have many Saturday day games scheduled.
After finishing the Girls Lacrosse game, I moved across the Greater Atlanta Christian campus to the Baseball diamond for a few innings.
Baseball’s natural rhythm and play lead to looking for different types of image than you look for in your average field sport. You also spend a lot of time experimenting with angles and viewpoins to find a different look.
It’s not uncommon to photograph the pitcher from many angles. However, I tried to maintain the context of the relationship of the pitcher, hitter and catcher (and by default, the umpire).
The second example, with a right handed hitter, I used the hitter’s head and elbow to help frame the pitcher in his follow through.
The pace of the game also leads to a lot more time on the bench for the players engaging in conversation and bench jockeying of their teammates and opponents. The dugouts at Greater Atlanta Christian sit on field level with only a half fence in front, so the players spend a lot of time on the rail.
