Fenway Appreciation

October 30 Update: The Red Sox can definitely go pound sand. Bah.

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A few nights ago I had the pleasure of watching my St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League Championship*, which means we're going to the World Series**! This weekend, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Detroit Tigers, which means we're getting a rematch of the 2004 World Series. I am looking forward to our avenging the 2004 World Series loss and putting the Sox down. Payback time, baby. But I'll set aside my hostilities for but a brief interlude:

On another one of my many work trips this year, I traveled to Boston and actually had an opportunity to see a game at the venerable Fenway Park (or Fenway Pahhk). I don't know what exactly I was expecting it to be like, but I think going in, I wasn't expecting it to be very nice, since I knew it was also rather old.

My experience was diametrically opposite of my expectations. Fenway Park was really really nice. It was far smaller of a park than I expected, and I'd hazard a guess that it's one of the smallest of the 30 major league stadiums. But small in this case translates to an unexpected benefit: even the cheap seats felt very close to the action. The park had apparently recently undergone some renovations; whatever they did paid off, and I really enjoyed my experience.

The Red Sox, as far as I'm concerned, can go pound sand. But their stadium richly deserves its hallowed reputation. Here are a few photos I took during my visit.

Like I said: no bad seats

Fenway Franks guy***

I came away from Fenway an admirer of the stadium. Utterly wonderful Temple of Baseball.

Ok, that's enough nice things. Let the hostilities recommence! Go Redbirds!****

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*Woooooo!!

**Woooooo!!

***Upon showing Sharon this photo of the hot dog guy, she exclaimed, "Yeah, that's totally a shot you would make."

***WOOOOOO!!!

2013 Project 52, Week 17 - #fyeahbaseball

Week 17: April 23-29

Sharon and I jokingly made up a rule for ourselves upon moving away from Birmingham that we would always live in a city with a Major League Baseball team. She was born and raised a Phillies fan, and while I was a latecomer, I will never not be a Cardinals fan. It's now a month into the baseball season, and by dint of work trips and of living in a city with Major League teams, and I've already managed to attend two games and see four different teams in person. For a baseball fan, this is a giant perk of "big city living".

Taking photos at a ballgame is tricky; in my mind I have glorious images of iconic baseball moments that I want to recreate, but sheer logistics (namely: location, location, location/distance) bring me back to earth pretty quickly. I'm not saying I have to have the latest and greatest of equipment, but I might give my left kidney just for a chance to sit in the photographers' nest along the sidelines of the field with my own, usual equipment.

Unlike in Baltimore, where I had a bit more freedom to move around the stadium and shoot, I encountered a Citi Field seating configuration that didn't allow for people to approach the field level areas so easily. And while I was allowed by an usher to run down the steps in between innings to shoot Cole Hamels going through warmup pitches, I inexplicably only went halfway down the steps and got not-as-close-as-I-could-have. I... had a massive brain fart. The opportunity was there for the taking. I don't even understand it, myself.

Cole Hamels has what I think is a pretty distinctive pitching motion, mostly because he's long, lanky, and both very effective and well practiced. I wish I had a closer shot of him, but I'm happy with this capture of Hamels, mid-pitch. The pitching form, however ruinous on a person's body in the long-term, is a beautiful thing, especially when performed by one of the pros.

150mm (DX) : ISO 400 : f/5.6 : 1/1000s
Cole Hamels on the mound for the Phillies

I don't know if I'll be able to make it to Citi Field this June when my Cardinals visit the Mets. If I do, I will take another shot at getting close through my lens to a player I'm interesting in capturing.

2013 Project 52 entries:

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | 

Week 8 | Week 9 |  Weeks 10-13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | 

2013 Project 52, Week 16 - Charm City

Week 16: April 16-22

I mentioned that I had been in Baltimore for an entire workweek for a series of meetings. I took the Amtrak to and from, which allowed me to pack a bit more cavalierly than I otherwise would- train travel means neither any of the usual TSA hassles nor any of the ghastly baggage fees of today's air travel. It. Is. Great.

Initially I thought I might bring my camera and more than one lens with me, since I would probably have time in the evenings to walk around. But, having to pack for a week meant that my bags were filling up with clothes and overflow for work related notebooks, I put my money where my moaning and groaning mouth was and packed only the 10-20mm lens.

I had a few evenings to wander with the camera and one evening at the Orioles' wonderful ballpark at Camden Yards. I went shutter-happy at the ballgame and came away with a few that I liked, though it wasn't until Sharon looked over them and was able to verbalize what was compelling to her about the images I took that I was able to pin down and file away some more notes on compelling storytelling via photography.

10mm (DX) : ISO 200 : f/4 1/25s
On his own

This was not originally the one I was going to pick; but after taking to heart Sharon's explication on the lines leading towards home plate, stadium curves, and focus on the solitary man in the outfield (Baltimore's Nick Markakis), I was convinced of its post-worthiness. There is so much to learn and keep in mind when I'm out shooting- to say nothing of the settings and technique- that have very little to do with the mechanics of arranging the camera to take a shot and very much to do with the mechanics of creating an image and crafting a story. This is my real struggle, to engage all parts of my mind equally (or perhaps, learning how best to apply it unequally) between the analytical and creative.

Pitchers and Catchers

[Programming note: I've needed to write something not drenched in photography technobabble. So here's this.]

Catching a game at Busch Stadium in 2007 in our... younger days

I played Little League terribly for two years [not coincidentally, it was after this that my parents took me to an optometrist for the first time]. And though I was briefly obsessed with baseball in the way kids do over the things in which they're involved, I quickly moved on to other more or less absorbing activities and interests. My upbringing in Alabama, where Football is King, insured that baseball became an afterthought.

Fast-forward to May 9, 2005, at Busch Stadium ("Busch II") in St. Louis, where my best friend and roommate, Adam, had dragged me. I tagged along to hang out, not to pay attention to one insignificant game in an excruciating 162-game season hosted by a team I knew little about. Having abandoned baseball in elementary school, I came to the ballpark that day a sports fan with allegiances to no team. (In retrospect, I was ripe for the picking.)