How I was thrown out of a girl's fast-pitch softball game!

I (as a photographer) got thrown out of a girl's (age 16+) fast-pitch softball game.  This made me both angry and excited.  I felt nervous like I had done something wrong, but I also felt cool to have been tossed from the field.  How could such a thing happen to an innocent like myself?  This is how . . .

I have photographed baseball tournaments in the past, so I thought photographing my first softball tournament would go pretty much the same way.  In a sense, from a photography standpoint, they are quite similar, but everything else is rather different.  I will elaborate on this point in a future post.  For now, I will concentrate on getting tossed out of the game by this blue:

Here is the setup:  it was toward the end of the game (tie score), so I was on the 3rd baseline in front of the visitor's dugout getting infield andthe ump who threw me outhome plate action shots.  There were two outs and a runner on third.  The batter (#23) made decent contact and was trying to beat the throwout to first so the runner on third could score.  Even a single run here probably would have secured the win for the red team.  

Usually, from the 3rd baseline it is very hard to get a clean shot of the play at first because you have the 3rd baseman (woman) often in the way and you almost always have the pitcher in the way.  Due to the possibility of a play at home I guess, I found myself with a clean shot at first base.  I locked on to the first baseman (woman) and fired away not knowing the gravity of what I was about to capture.  

 The runner was called out.  Of course the red team did not like the call.  After the inning changed I showed the 3rd base coach for the red team the above shot to show it was seemingly the correct call (I cannot see the runner putting a foot on the bag before that ball gets in glove).  He concurred.  

Well, the blue (what umpires are called since they wear blue shirts) who made the call, and who was all the way on the other side of the field, seemed to guess what I was doing and charged across the infield.  No warning was given, just a "get outta here!"  I was like, "why?"  He said photographs cannot be shown to players or coaches during the game.  I of course had been doing this in all previous games with no complaints from any other blue.

There was no negotiating.  I said I had a right to photograph the game by contract and that no one had ever said there was a "no show" policy before.  This just made the blue angrier.  I thought about kicking dirt on his shoes as I left, but did not want to endanger my D300 or Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm F2.8D lens, so I just left giving defiant looks over my shoulder.  

So that is how I got tossed from a softball game!

Candid Sports Summer Promotion

The 11th annual All Faiths HAT Tournament

This afternoon I went out to Walter P. Fuller Park to photograph a few of the games from the 11th annual All Faiths HAT Tournament.  For a mere $20 entry fee players got a t-shirt and a huge spread of food provided throughout the tourney, along with music over a proper PA system.  I was quite impressed. 

The games themselves were pretty organized with a few zone defenses seen, as well as a few Ho-O offenses called, if not exactly executed in a textbook manner.  The ability of players, as one might expect in a HAT tournament, varied widely.  Some players were laying out, others were somehwat mobility challenged.  However, the spirit of the games seemed to be quite high and appropriate for ultimate.  I heard cheers and chants, and saw high fives given to players who made mistakes on the walk back to receive the pull. 

PURCHASE action and candid photographs from the tourney

My first Little League shooting experience

This past weekend was my first paid sports photography gig.  I was hired to photograph two baseball games on Saturday and two more on Sunday for RBI Tournament Baseball.  The games I photographed were part of a championship tournament for 14-year old boys.  Some teams came from as far away as North Ft. Myers, a good two hour drive.  One team I covered in three different games, the Yard Dawgs, are ranked in the top 20 teams in the nation for their age group. 

Let me tell you, outdoor sports photography in Florida is hard.  Even in April, the sun is very strong and can beat you down.  I am still not used to the strength of the Florida sun at all having been in temperate northeast Asia the past 9 years.  The baseball games were only 7 innings, but still lasted over 2 hours each.  The first day I forgot my monopod at home, so I had my D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens hanging off my neck the whole afternoon and evening.  I brought my monopod the second day, but used it only for half of the first game.  I just did not like how it restricted my mobility. 

What did I learn from being on the field with these young baseball players? 

• The umpire is called "Blue" in reference to the blue uniform they wear
• The players call each other kid, and some coaches even say kid too.  The word is pronounced like this, "kiiiyiiid!"
• You hear this constantly from the dugout batting, "Find your pitch and drive it, kiiiyiiid!"
• When the count is 3-0 or 3-1 the coach actually says to the pitcher, "Throw him a pitch he can hit!'

Some teams are a lot more fun than others.  The Tampa Heat were the best to hangout around.  They have a pitcher, #9, who had me cracking up all the time.  Some teams are intimidated by their coaches, even I was!  I had to approach them to setup the team photo, but felt like a kid having to go ask his dad for permission to do something.  There were a lot of big comebacks in the 7th inning. 

I averaged about 450 shots per game.  This is the equipment I used:

• Nikon D300 on continuous high
• Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm IF f/2.8D lens, set to f/4
• ISO 200 mostly because the Florida sun is bright
• Velbon RUP-L43 monopod sparingly