2010 in Photos
Mine, that is.
As you probably know, I do a lot of photography at different levels of the minors and the occasional MLB game as well from the POV of a fan.
This year I believe I uploaded nearly 1,600 photos from a little over 30 different games or events. A whole lot of it is just getting various players in typical hitting/pitching poses for Scout.com but that still leaves me the chance to pick out a lot of favorites whether they be candid, action or otherwise. That's what I'm doing here, sharing my favorite shots along with why they stand out to me.
I'm not doing this to make myself look good, but rather because I'd like it to be a catalyst for others here who like playing around with the camera to share some of the things they've taken this year as well whether it's one picture, five or more. I'd love to see what others here have done whether it was an MLB game, the minor leagues or something else.
Here we go!
1) Michael Taylor, 4/19/10: Not a flawless picture, but that's the perfectionist in me that sometimes comes out. I was just taking some general dugout shots before the game and he happened to notice, so this is what came of it. Only had a few seconds to get it but I just enjoy the fun, impulsive nature it seems to speak of. Taylor struggled in Sacramento in 2010 but I hope he can recover from the season he had for a better 2011.
2) Dallas Braden, 5/22/10: A couple weeks after his perfect game on Mother's Day, Braden was honored in Stockton by the city and fans. I've covered a couple media days at the Golden State Warriors practice facility and done a few general interview shots before, but I liked the way this one came out partly because his grandmother was in it as well. I also enjoy the angle and perspective, something being tall helps with a lot.
3) Coco Crisp & Chris Carter, 6/21/10: Just a shot that amuses me, if for no other reason than the size difference between the two and the momentarily serious expression on Crisp's face (who was on an injury rehab assignment) while it's obvious Carter's grinning in return. I like to keep an eye out for interaction like this.
4) Chris Carter, 6/28/10: I think what stands out about this one is the overall sharpness of the shot. This was the first night of about a week renting a 200-400mm f4 lens and I decided to try getting a really close shot like this. Normally I don't take a lot of pics of hitters on the same side of the field I'm on (like a righty while I'm by the third base dugout) because it's easy for faces to get blocked by arms, but this one worked for me. By the way, he singled.
5) Koby & Roger Clemens, 6/30/10: Say what you will about Roger Clemens, but I liked the father/son combo here after Roger threw out one of the first pitches to Koby (a shot I also really liked) before the Texas League All-Star Game in Midland. To me it's a large part of what baseball is about on any level.
6) Mike Moustakas, 6/30/10: At least I'm 99.9% sure it's him, which is one of the rare cases I haven't been completely certain. It was kind of a process of elimination thing by comparing his face to others from his team, but I wasn't paying much attention when I actually took the shot. I just liked the rally caps, he stood out for a brief moment, and I forgot to visually verify exactly who it was before I turned my attention back to the game. Either way, I got what I wanted.
7) Rickey Henderson, 7/2/10: Just because I love the chance to get good, clear closeups of Rickey and with him working as a roving instructor for the A's this season he was in Sacramento and Stockton a few times.
8) Corey Wimberly, 7/3/10: Back in high school, one day I took some pictures of our team during a game since I wasn't playing and one of them ended up in the yearbook as a full-page background for the season's results. It was of a dive back to first. Every so often I like to play around with these by getting as low as I can and timing it when a throw comes over. I've found the trick is to focus right around where the hand's going to be and usually it's close enough to come out the way I want, like this.
9) Ben Hornbeck, 7/4/10: Thanks to that lens I was renting, it doesn't get much better than this for a good, sharp closeup where I can crop out part of the body and still have it come out as sharp. With the angle of the sun in the evening and the contrast of the red top, I went to my camera's limit of 1/8000th of a second for the shutter speed. If there's ONE thing I wish was a little different, it would've been me catching the ball in full view. That said, this is why I want to own that lens someday or at least have cheaper access to one. This one of Jeremy Barfield, though a little overexposed, is also a great example of how well I can get an outfielder with it.
10) Dallas Braden, 7/15/10: Just a standard shot but it was more about getting to see him make an injury rehab start in his hometown. A few years ago he was just a homegrown kid getting the chance to pitch nearby as a pro. This year it was much different.
11) Troy Tulowitzki, 7/22/10: Taken in Colorado Springs. Based around seeing my first concert at Red Rocks just outside Denver, it just happened to be that the River Cats were in Colorado Springs at the same time. It also happened to be that "Tulo" was beginning an injury rehab assignment of his own. Just a nice, clear shot as one of a number I took of him.
12) Josh Donaldson, 7/22/10: Prior to this photo, he'd approached me in the dugout (there are no real photo wells in Colorado Springs) and asked who I shoot for. Normally I keep to myself so I don't interrupt anyone but every once in a while a player will initiate conversation or I'm around them enough to say a word or two. As it happened I got a nearly flawless shot of him belting a home run and he loved seeing it when I pulled it up on my camera after the game. Trying to get the ball right as it's coming off the bat is great when it works.
13) Corey Wimberly & Jon Hunton, 9/8/10: Because it's funny. However, if I hadn't already had the camera focused on the area during player introductions there's no way I'd have got this.
14) Bobby Cramer, 9/13/10: Just a general shot but it was more about him making and winning his MLB debut after a long road to the bigs that probably looked like it wouldn't happen for a while. On a personal note, we'd friended each other on Facebook just before that after I shot a start of his in Sacramento and he used pics from this game and his next one in Minnesota in a couple photo albums to share with others.
15) Brad Ziegler, 9/13/10: Just because I consider him a friend at this point and it was fun getting to see him pitch close to home in Kansas City. I briefly met a few members of his family while I was there and they were very nice people.
16) Matt Carson, 9/15/10: Mainly because it was a wet night so I was sitting back far enough to stay dry and it still wound up being a pretty nice shot of a long home run.
As you probably know, I do a lot of photography at different levels of the minors and the occasional MLB game as well from the POV of a fan.
This year I believe I uploaded nearly 1,600 photos from a little over 30 different games or events. A whole lot of it is just getting various players in typical hitting/pitching poses for Scout.com but that still leaves me the chance to pick out a lot of favorites whether they be candid, action or otherwise. That's what I'm doing here, sharing my favorite shots along with why they stand out to me.
I'm not doing this to make myself look good, but rather because I'd like it to be a catalyst for others here who like playing around with the camera to share some of the things they've taken this year as well whether it's one picture, five or more. I'd love to see what others here have done whether it was an MLB game, the minor leagues or something else.
Here we go!
1) Michael Taylor, 4/19/10: Not a flawless picture, but that's the perfectionist in me that sometimes comes out. I was just taking some general dugout shots before the game and he happened to notice, so this is what came of it. Only had a few seconds to get it but I just enjoy the fun, impulsive nature it seems to speak of. Taylor struggled in Sacramento in 2010 but I hope he can recover from the season he had for a better 2011.
2) Dallas Braden, 5/22/10: A couple weeks after his perfect game on Mother's Day, Braden was honored in Stockton by the city and fans. I've covered a couple media days at the Golden State Warriors practice facility and done a few general interview shots before, but I liked the way this one came out partly because his grandmother was in it as well. I also enjoy the angle and perspective, something being tall helps with a lot.
3) Coco Crisp & Chris Carter, 6/21/10: Just a shot that amuses me, if for no other reason than the size difference between the two and the momentarily serious expression on Crisp's face (who was on an injury rehab assignment) while it's obvious Carter's grinning in return. I like to keep an eye out for interaction like this.
4) Chris Carter, 6/28/10: I think what stands out about this one is the overall sharpness of the shot. This was the first night of about a week renting a 200-400mm f4 lens and I decided to try getting a really close shot like this. Normally I don't take a lot of pics of hitters on the same side of the field I'm on (like a righty while I'm by the third base dugout) because it's easy for faces to get blocked by arms, but this one worked for me. By the way, he singled.
5) Koby & Roger Clemens, 6/30/10: Say what you will about Roger Clemens, but I liked the father/son combo here after Roger threw out one of the first pitches to Koby (a shot I also really liked) before the Texas League All-Star Game in Midland. To me it's a large part of what baseball is about on any level.
6) Mike Moustakas, 6/30/10: At least I'm 99.9% sure it's him, which is one of the rare cases I haven't been completely certain. It was kind of a process of elimination thing by comparing his face to others from his team, but I wasn't paying much attention when I actually took the shot. I just liked the rally caps, he stood out for a brief moment, and I forgot to visually verify exactly who it was before I turned my attention back to the game. Either way, I got what I wanted.
7) Rickey Henderson, 7/2/10: Just because I love the chance to get good, clear closeups of Rickey and with him working as a roving instructor for the A's this season he was in Sacramento and Stockton a few times.
8) Corey Wimberly, 7/3/10: Back in high school, one day I took some pictures of our team during a game since I wasn't playing and one of them ended up in the yearbook as a full-page background for the season's results. It was of a dive back to first. Every so often I like to play around with these by getting as low as I can and timing it when a throw comes over. I've found the trick is to focus right around where the hand's going to be and usually it's close enough to come out the way I want, like this.
9) Ben Hornbeck, 7/4/10: Thanks to that lens I was renting, it doesn't get much better than this for a good, sharp closeup where I can crop out part of the body and still have it come out as sharp. With the angle of the sun in the evening and the contrast of the red top, I went to my camera's limit of 1/8000th of a second for the shutter speed. If there's ONE thing I wish was a little different, it would've been me catching the ball in full view. That said, this is why I want to own that lens someday or at least have cheaper access to one. This one of Jeremy Barfield, though a little overexposed, is also a great example of how well I can get an outfielder with it.
10) Dallas Braden, 7/15/10: Just a standard shot but it was more about getting to see him make an injury rehab start in his hometown. A few years ago he was just a homegrown kid getting the chance to pitch nearby as a pro. This year it was much different.
11) Troy Tulowitzki, 7/22/10: Taken in Colorado Springs. Based around seeing my first concert at Red Rocks just outside Denver, it just happened to be that the River Cats were in Colorado Springs at the same time. It also happened to be that "Tulo" was beginning an injury rehab assignment of his own. Just a nice, clear shot as one of a number I took of him.
12) Josh Donaldson, 7/22/10: Prior to this photo, he'd approached me in the dugout (there are no real photo wells in Colorado Springs) and asked who I shoot for. Normally I keep to myself so I don't interrupt anyone but every once in a while a player will initiate conversation or I'm around them enough to say a word or two. As it happened I got a nearly flawless shot of him belting a home run and he loved seeing it when I pulled it up on my camera after the game. Trying to get the ball right as it's coming off the bat is great when it works.
13) Corey Wimberly & Jon Hunton, 9/8/10: Because it's funny. However, if I hadn't already had the camera focused on the area during player introductions there's no way I'd have got this.
14) Bobby Cramer, 9/13/10: Just a general shot but it was more about him making and winning his MLB debut after a long road to the bigs that probably looked like it wouldn't happen for a while. On a personal note, we'd friended each other on Facebook just before that after I shot a start of his in Sacramento and he used pics from this game and his next one in Minnesota in a couple photo albums to share with others.
15) Brad Ziegler, 9/13/10: Just because I consider him a friend at this point and it was fun getting to see him pitch close to home in Kansas City. I briefly met a few members of his family while I was there and they were very nice people.
16) Matt Carson, 9/15/10: Mainly because it was a wet night so I was sitting back far enough to stay dry and it still wound up being a pretty nice shot of a long home run.