Words and Light

I shot my first major league baseball game on Tuesday night. Hell, I shot my first baseball game in two years on Tuesday night, too.

So you can bet it was a little rough.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Click on the image to view the game gallery on ajc.com. This photo was the one of the few good game action shots I captured, and turns out it's exactly the same moment as Curtis' fifth photo in the gallery. (This photo is not cropped.)

That said, I didn’t shoot very much at all. When I arrived at Turner Field for the Braves’ first of three games against the Rays, I decided immediately to take this game as a “learning by observing” experience. While I did shoot some game action — and wandered the stadium during the 2.5-hour rain delay — I mostly shadowed Curtis, the AJC photographer who shoots most of the Braves games.

© 2010 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (This ran in print but not on-line.) Recent Hillcrest High graduates Shane Thurston, Bray Clark, Brandon Burns, Kevin McKittrick and Perry Case wait out the rain delay at Turner Field before the Atlanta Braves began playing the Tampa Bay Rays.

Curtis taught me a lot, both in what he said and in what he did. The Getty photographer (Kevin Cox) and Pouya Dianat were also really helpful.

Next game I shoot — and I’ve been told I’ll be shooting plenty this summer — I’ll be making more pictures, and transmitting them live. It’s been a while since the last time I shot baseball, so I hope I can get my timing back!