Boston Red Sox Photography: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 vs. Tampa Bay Rays.
It’s hard to believe, but last night was the last home game for the Boston Red Sox this year, bringing an end to the commemorative 100th anniversary season of Fenway Park.
It hasn’t quite sunk in for me yet that the season is over. You get in such a routine with this job, and spend so much time at the stadium, that it takes a few days off to realize that it’s actually over.
The game was lackluster, and ended in a Red Sox loss. So, here is an assortment of images from the last game.
I’m not going to share all my thoughts about my work this season here just yet. I’ll save that for later. I’m hOOOOOOping that there’s more baseball still to come…
Boston Red Sox Photography: Sunday, September 23, 2012 vs. Baltimore Orioles.
Not too much happening in the way of action during this game. I tried to mix things up and get some different angles, so I shot from the stands a good amount.
Boston Red Sox Photography: Sunday, August 5, 2012 vs. Minnesota Twins.
Sunday games are always busy, and this Sunday was no exception! Over the course of the game, I found myself in just about every part of the stadium at one point – from Yawkey Way and Lansdowne Street outside to the concourses below the stadium to the highest points of the upper deck to the first base photo pit on field level.
It made for a long day of climbing and running around in the heat, but I got what I hope is a nice variety of images.
I’m particularly liking the first two photos of this post. We don’t shoot in the clubhouse much, so it was good to get some “behind the scenes” type of features of players and coaches hanging out before the game.
This game’s “Thing I Learned”: It’s good to keep yourself active and not stay in one spot for too long. Although it can be more tiring, it keeps your eye sharp and keeps you from becoming complacent.
Boston Red Sox Photography: Friday, May 4, 2012 vs. Baltimore Orioles.
My hometown Baltimore Orioles were in Boston this weekend for a three game series against the Sox, and boy was it interesting. Who would have predicted an O’s sweep to give them the best record in Major League Baseball?
Two of three games went to extra innings, and I shot them both. I thought this 13 inning game was long, but I was proven wrong two days later (more to come soon).
The Red Sox had their chances to close this one out, but couldn’t get it done. Orioles’ first baseman Chris Davis did the job instead, producing what proved to be the game winning hit (above) (more to come on him as well).
As for the other photos, I’ve recently been on a kick of photographing kids at the game. Some of them have just been too darn cute. Otherwise, I made my second image of the year of Cody Ross losing his bat into the stands. The first is here.
This game’s “Thing I Learned:” It’s dangerous to to anticipate a walk-off win for the home team. So far this year, every time I’ve “felt it coming,” it’s never happened. I’ll get one one of these days.
Boston Red Sox Photography: Saturday, April 21, 2012 vs. New York Yankees.
A return to normalcy.
After a hectic week of planning for the 100th Anniversary game, it was really nice to come in on Saturday to a slow, easy day and a regular Saturday night game.
Even though the Red Sox blew a 9-0 lead and sent Red Sox Nation into an early season panic, I really enjoyed shooting this game. I perched in the Monster Seats for a few innings, and had some great conversation with some very interesting people as I shot.
This game’s “Thing I Learned”: Make friends with the right fans. It’ll help you out sometimes.
Boston Red Sox Photography: Monday, April 16, 2012 vs. Tampa Bay Rays.
Here’s something that rarely happens: A professional baseball game that begins at 11:05 in the morning. Such was the case yesterday in order to accommodate huge crowds in town for the annual Boston Marathon.
It was highly entertaining. I wasn’t aware that so many people could drink so much alcohol before noon. The whole stadium was particularly rowdy.
The game itself was very slow, and there really wasn’t much action to shoot. Sometimes baseball is like that. I did like these two action frames above, though, as well as the two stadium shots.
This game’s “Thing I Learned”: The NESN television camera deck hanging behind home plate is a great spot to shoot from. It provides both great views of the entire ballpark (see picture #1 above) and clean sight lines to shoot infield action. I also fooled around with a LensBaby for this first time (picture #2), which I’ll definitely continue to use as the season goes on.
Boston Red Sox Photography: Saturday, April 14, 2012 vs. Tampa Bay Rays.
This was a very entertaining, high energy game overall. A 4:05 start made for some incredible light as the evening progressed, and I was really happy with the body of pictures I took away from this game. And, the Sox brought out the bats and put together a huge win.
My game-time responsibility for the Red Sox is a bit different from that of the Orioles. I’m still there to document game action, but rather than sitting in the photo pits all game, I’m roaming around the stadium, shooting action from different angles and finding nice Fenway Park feature photos. It’s taken a bit of getting used to, and it’s certainly more challenging.
This game’s “Thing I Learned”: Pulling back and shooting wide for big, celebratory moments is really effective. The player’s reactions juxtaposed against the crowd’s reaction can make for some really exciting images. I think the one of David Ortiz pointing towards the sky, shown above, achieves that effect somewhat successfully.