Go-Pro or Go Home

Recently I had the great opportunity to assist local photographer Patrick Smith on a photo shoot for Getty Images.

Anytime I assist a photographer I try to absorb as much information as I can. Progressing and becoming a better image maker is something I am always striving for and working alongside such talent truly helps me move in that direction.

During the shoot Patrick was able to make a few images with a GoPro. I have always found the GoPro to be a neat tool, but the newest iteration of the camera is pretty amazing. 

Mostly known for video a Go-Pro also takes some serious stills. The Orioles production department recently got the newest version so after getting a crash course with the video guys and pressing buttons until something happened, I was able to set the camera up as a remote in the dugout and control it with my phone in the nearby photo well.

As all technology goes... it didn't work. The wi-fi connection that I was using to connect into the camera would drop every few seconds. I managed to get off a few frames though. Hopefully down the road I will be able to use the Go-Pro more and figure out all the quirks that come with the technology.

Overall, I am happy with the results and the initial test run. Now it is time to put the camera in a more extreme situation that it is truly designed for.

Until next time, take care!

Dangerously Delicious

It seems like pies and Orioles go hand in hand.

Every game they win at home we get ready for Adam Jones to run out and pie someone. 

I have pulled out a number of pie images from games and hopefully by the end of the season I can put together a full series of images.

The players are all great sports about it and help make great images.

Until next time, take care!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Our last homestand was full of rain delays. That can only mean one thing, late nights.

Unlike most sports, baseball is not one that can be played during a heavy rain. 

An already long game can become a marathon and before you know it you just worked a 14 hour day.

But sometimes a heavy rain can lead to some great color in the sky. That is exactly what we got last week and was able to give some great feature images of the grounds crew working their hardest to get the game going.

Hopefully all these rainy days means that the rest of the summer will be filled with beautiful weather.

One can wish.

Until next time, take care!

A Little Emotion

Baltimore Orioles team photographer Todd Olszewski said it best, "Hey, we actually got a little bit of emotion."

It seems that this season has been lacking any great deal of emotion with the players and frankly those are the images that we all look for.

An image of a pitcher going through his motion cannot stand up against the jubilation they will have after throwing a great game.

Photographers tell stories, emotion is what makes up a great story, it only makes sense that we want emotion in our images.

We are in the middle of a marathon homestand so I am gonna keep this post short and get back to my backlog of editing.

Until next time, take care!

Over and over

Recently I have been taking a lot of graduation assignments. 

Each one had a great deal of similarities but the small differences made each assignments enjoyable to shoot.

I hadn't shot a graduation since working at my college newspaper so it definitely took a little warming up, but once I got going I was able to find interesting images.

About to start a month full of baseball so I am glad to get up a blog post before the avalanche of baseball images start coming in.

Hopefully I will be back soon, with lots and lots of baseball.

Until next time, take care!

Assisting

This last month I have had two great opportunities to work alongside two great photographers, Simon Bruty with Sports Illustrated and Patrick Smith for Getty Images.

I was able to help Simon with one of the craziest days of the year here in Baltimore, the Preakness Stakes. Having the opportunity to work alongside Simon and even shoot a little allowed for an incredible learning experience and one that I will always remember.

On Sunday I was able to go out and help a good friend and incredible photographer Patrick Smith with a remote set up. Unfortunately one of the refs did not feel comfortable with the remote and we had to pull it. Patrick was gracious enough to let me stick around and I learned a ton in return.

As a young photographer I am always looking for opportunities to learn and both of these opportunities were more than I could ask for.

I am still in the process of editing images from the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship and hope to update this post with a gallery soon.

Until next time, take care!

Going with the Flow

No matter how much you prepare for an assignment you can never truly be ready.

When I was assigned to shoot an early morning triathlon I was ecstatic. A whirlwind of imagery came into my head. Almost all involved the swimming portion of the race. Naturally, the swimming portion was canceled due to a high level of bacteria in the lake.

Getting over the initial disappointment I was able to quickly evaluate the course and come up with new positions and new areas to make photographs. Overall I am happy with my take and felt the above image really worked for the event. 

Until next time, take care!

Swarm

For many team sports the common celebration is to swarm into a tight group.

Unfortunately for photographers that does not allow very much time to showcase any expressions on the players' faces. 

Having to act quickly we grab a few frames and hope to not get blocked in the process.

If I can keep up with the chaos it often leads to great images.

Until next time, take care!

Planning

When I found out I was covering a track and field championship, my mind began to race with ideas for images.

I began to make terrible attempts at thumbnail drawings and went in with a great deal of ideas.

Unfortunately I was not able to make every image I wanted to make but the one above was an idea I have had for awhile and was finally able to execute.

It is a rare feeling to come home with an image that is very similar to what you planned to make, but it is a great feeling. 

Until next time, take care!

Doubleheader

I had the fortune to photograph my first full doubleheader last Thursday. Coming off of two rain outs we had a lot of baseball to fit into one day. Naturally, we had two more rain delays during the doubleheader.

With extra innings approaching 1 a.m. most of the photogs were pretty exhausted. We knew either way the game went it would have a dramatic finish. Fighting to stay awake I was able to capture a great Orioles walk-off homer from Matt Wieters.

As they always do the Orioles swarmed him at home plate and made for some great images.

Until next time, take care!

The 9-5

So besides photographing all of the Orioles home games, the job requires a lot of work off of the field.

Editing, photo requests, archiving, and scanning are only a few parts of the job that I do in addition to making the images themselves.

When going through old photos for requests I often find myself reediting an old game. I have a folder creatively named "Photos" where I throw random odd images that I find when going back through the takes.

The above image was one I threw into that folder. I appreciated the complimenting colors between the orange dirt and the blue skies. Simple image but I liked it.

Until next time, take care!

Action at Home

Most of the images I post are candid images of athletes. It isn't that I do not shoot action. In fact when photographing a game I shoot more action than I do candids.

But I often find game action to be boring. Everyone out at the game is shooting the action. All the lens dart back and forth across the field following the game and getting those peak action frames.

I am sure at least 5 other photographers have the same image above of the play at the plate. Yes, it is important to make these frames, they help tell the story and are often the images that are used the most.

Striving to be different is important to me, I will continue to make different action images but I find my creative outlet to be translated better to candid imagery.

Until next time, take care!

Smoke

After what seemed like a marathon day starting at 7 o'clock in the morning and not ending until almost midnight the Orioles ended with a nice fireworks display. 

With the rainstorm from earlier in the day the air was full of moisture. As the fireworks went off the smoke had no where to go and just lingered around on the field. 

Walking over to the dugout I noticed the heavy smoke on the field and grabbed a wide angle and started making a few frames.

Definitely my favorite image from the fireworks.

Until next time, take care!

Tight

Making an image of a person that is only a few feet away with a 400mm lens may seem like overkill to some but the ability to create images that tight can yield interesting results.

During last nights game I was shooting Chris Davis in the dugout before he got ready to take his first at bat. Another Oriole, Jonathan Schoop, kept getting in between myself and Davis. Instead of giving up on this frame I capitalized on the logo from his hat coming into the frame and allowed it to cover part of Davis' face. 

Although a little dark for some uses I think the end result was pretty interesting.

Until next time, take care!

Identification

One of the hardest parts of an assignment is making sure you get all the information for the cutlines. 

As a photographer I never want to stop shooting. But in order to get the information you need you have to strategically plan when you want to talk with your subjects to make sure you miss as few images as possible.

Photographing golf can really test that. You are trying to cover a huge area while getting as many different people photographed as possible and then having time to go and talk with them to get their information. 

Luckily for me I was able to get into a good rhythm and make images and get the needed information.

Overall I really enjoyed the assignment excited to get back out and take another golf assignment.

Until next time, take care! 

Painting

Thinking of photography as a painting is something that many students hear in their intro to photography classes in high school. As photography is just painting with light it makes sense. 

Sometimes the simplest ideas are ones that can impact your work the most. My current personal project is finding photographs that lend themselves to a painting.

A few of the criteria are the simple colors and graphic nature.

The above image is getting close to where I wanna be but I am definitely going to continue working with the idea.

Until next time, take care! 

Funny Looks

Photographers often find themselves in strange positions. Onlookers cannot see what the photographer sees through his or her viewfinder and often does not understand why this person is laying upside down in the dirt or standing on anything around them trying to get the camera as high as possible.

I have had pretty much every action questioned by a confused bystander.

Most photographers focus on the action of the game, worried about missing that perfect frame of the athlete flying through the air. I am more attracted to the candid images, the images that show the athlete not just the game.

During a lacrosse game I photographed last weekend I found myself spending an entire quarter photographing players coming in and out of the penalty box.

My favorite image of the game came from halftime. The athletes allowed themselves to return to the normal kids they were and all just collapsed on the ground and started joking around. Made for an interesting image.

Until next time, take care!

Transition

The day after the end of a homestand I was out shooting for Baltimore Sun Media Group at a local high school's lacrosse game.

During the summer, baseball capitalizes my assignments, I am always excited to get out and shoot other things. It keeps my photos fresh and lets me try new things.

The image above is just a standard reaction photo to a late game goal, but I felt the two players from the other team in the foreground were a nice addition.

Until next time, take care!

Quiet

Most of the time when you think of a professional sporting event you think loud and most of the time you are right.

Whenever you cram that many people into one area things tend to get more intense. But if you look you can find the quiet moments as well.

I saw Lombardozzi walking over to sit down on the bench by himself with a cup of water. While in the middle of a conversation with fellow photographers I run over grab a few frames and return back.

Nothing special, just a moment of preparation before taking the field.

Until next time, take care!

Extra

Extra innings in baseball always means one thing: great celebration.

For obvious reasons the winning team is always excited to take the win in what would have to be a close game.

This was no exception Saturday night when the O's took on the Blue Jays. Going to 12 innings, the Orioles were able to pull out a win and were definitely happy about it.

Lambardozzi let out a great yell of excitement and Lough was officially welcomed to the team with his first pie to the face.

Overall a great game.

Until next time, take care!