Photo of The Week
I've decided to try and showcase a photo that really spotlights amazing athletic feats, captures a specific emotional moment, or one that I just particularly like. In this case I think that this week's photo (and our first one) meets all those criteria.
Although they've since been eliminated from the tournament, I had the pleasure of shooting the Dillsburg Youth Baseball 11-12 International All Star Team as they beat Mechanicsburg one evening in Camp Hill. Although Dillsburg had been leading the entire game, Mechanicsburg was definitely trying to scrap their way back.
At one point with Dillsburg in the field, one of the Mechanicsburg batters got a hold of one and hit it a ton. The ball was heading to deep center field and doing so pretty quickly. Center fielder, Jason Barbaretta turned and gave chase as it went over his head. Everything happened so fast that I barely had time to swing the 300mm lens towards centerfield and get my eye to the viewfinder. As I pushed the autofocus button on the Canon Mark II I could see Jason just beginning to leap with his glove hand outstretched. I instinctively pushed the shutter button and held my finger down as I continued to track him in the camera's viewfinder. I saw him go up, make the catch, come down on the warning track and, a split second later, crash into the sponsor sign hanging on the fence. Not only had Jason made an incredible catch but had held onto the ball even after slamming into the fence.
So Jason had done his part but had I done mine? I knew that I had him in the frame through the entire sequence but what I didn't know is whether or not I had locked focus on Jason. As much as I wanted, I didn't bother to check the images on the camera's lcd screen. I figured if I got it great, if not there wasn't anything I could do to change it so I just continued to shoot the rest of the game. Needless to say after I got home that evening and offloaded the images onto my pc, I was happily surprised. Here is the first frame of the sequence:
Not only was it an exciting moment to watch but I had also captured it and, best of all, it was in focus! Jason is really the one who deserves the credit though: it was his play, his moment. He made it happen.
When you take a moment to remember that these kid's are really only 11-12 years old, you begin to appreciate the catch as well as all the other heroic efforts shown out on those fields. Unfortunately I don't have the time to post and write about them all here.
I chose this photo not only because it's a good photo of a great moment but because it is representative of the way these kids played the game. They played each game with heart, with guts and with pure emotion. As far as I'm concerned each and every one of those kids deserves the All Star designation.
Nice catch Jason.
Although they've since been eliminated from the tournament, I had the pleasure of shooting the Dillsburg Youth Baseball 11-12 International All Star Team as they beat Mechanicsburg one evening in Camp Hill. Although Dillsburg had been leading the entire game, Mechanicsburg was definitely trying to scrap their way back.
At one point with Dillsburg in the field, one of the Mechanicsburg batters got a hold of one and hit it a ton. The ball was heading to deep center field and doing so pretty quickly. Center fielder, Jason Barbaretta turned and gave chase as it went over his head. Everything happened so fast that I barely had time to swing the 300mm lens towards centerfield and get my eye to the viewfinder. As I pushed the autofocus button on the Canon Mark II I could see Jason just beginning to leap with his glove hand outstretched. I instinctively pushed the shutter button and held my finger down as I continued to track him in the camera's viewfinder. I saw him go up, make the catch, come down on the warning track and, a split second later, crash into the sponsor sign hanging on the fence. Not only had Jason made an incredible catch but had held onto the ball even after slamming into the fence.
So Jason had done his part but had I done mine? I knew that I had him in the frame through the entire sequence but what I didn't know is whether or not I had locked focus on Jason. As much as I wanted, I didn't bother to check the images on the camera's lcd screen. I figured if I got it great, if not there wasn't anything I could do to change it so I just continued to shoot the rest of the game. Needless to say after I got home that evening and offloaded the images onto my pc, I was happily surprised. Here is the first frame of the sequence:
Not only was it an exciting moment to watch but I had also captured it and, best of all, it was in focus! Jason is really the one who deserves the credit though: it was his play, his moment. He made it happen.When you take a moment to remember that these kid's are really only 11-12 years old, you begin to appreciate the catch as well as all the other heroic efforts shown out on those fields. Unfortunately I don't have the time to post and write about them all here.
I chose this photo not only because it's a good photo of a great moment but because it is representative of the way these kids played the game. They played each game with heart, with guts and with pure emotion. As far as I'm concerned each and every one of those kids deserves the All Star designation.
Nice catch Jason.
posted by Steve at
11:08 PM
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