Photography Talk

That Brief Moment in Time

2009-08-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

For my Scott's Shots section in the upcoming September issue of St. Louis Sports Magazine I chose this photo because it was a fun image to get. Here is the story:

How cool is this photo? When shooting baseball, photographers always try to get a ball on bat shot, and quite often we get one that is acceptable. But it is very rare to get one where the ball seems to be embedded in the bat. In 26 years of shooting Major League Baseball this is only the third time that I have truly captured this moment, and this is the coolest one so far. There are many things that make this a fun image for me.

First of all, when I shot this, the sun was in and out that day. Secondly, I was shooting in the outside first base photo pit, where I don't shoot that often. For some reason I really felt like I was relaxed and as they say "in the zone". I know I will get a lot of flak from my fellow photographers for saying that but it is true, I just felt that my timing was on that day. As the pitcher started his windup I took a deep breath and squeezed the shutter button when I saw Albert's shoulders move. By the time your brain tells your finger to press the button, & it does and the shutter lag in the camera it's easy to miss this shot.

I have always reacted to the hitters shoulders, not the actual swing. When the shoulders move, I react and this time I froze that special moment in time.

94 Inc. Building the brand

2009-05-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

I had a great gig this past week. I was hired to shoot P.R. photos and stock for a new street basketball team called 94 Inc., 94 being how many feet between the baselines of a basketball court. We had a couple of tiring 12 hour days but I wished the shoot would never end.

The players I met were the greatest group of guys on the planet and incredibly talented athletes. It is cool watching a company start from the ground up, the team went to a boys & girls club and talked with the kids, performed for them and even played a little 1 on 1 with some of them. They will perform for charities, create a clothing line and have episodes on MTV, showing them play and what goes on behind the scenes, documentary style.

We shot portraits on the Mississippi riverfront, in a studio, at a cool older YMCA gym, on a basketball court in a park, at a shopping mall, working out, and a t a club for a launch party for the company. You can probably tell how much fun I had, but I will let my assistant Jeff Curry give you his take on the shoot: Unforgettable is the only word that can describe the 94 Inc. photo shoots. I have been working with Scott for almost two years now and have been on plenty of photo shoots with him. Usually we set up lights, shoot the subjects for maybe 30 minutes if we are lucky, then break it all down and leave. Working with the 94 Inc. guys was like being in a bizarro world of sports photo shoots. The guys were as nice as could be and willing to do anything we asked of them, and they would have let us shoot for four or five hours if we asked. When Scott showed them photos, these guys’ eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning and they were 6 years old, and this reminded me of why we do what we do.

The photo shoots were amazing, but the public appearance the group did was the most satisfying part of the two days. These guys talked with kids from the boys and girls club, and watching them interact with these kids was unforgettable. They are the type of role models that kids need. These two epic days reminded me of why I love photography. Support 94 Inc. because they are the type of company that this country needs.

Well, that about says it all, this shoot was definitely a 3 pointer at the buzzer to win the big game!

The "Spring" Classic

2009-03-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate to cover a few games of the World Baseball Classic in Miami this past week. It was an interesting experience, but not much different than covering an All Star game. One of the cooler things was that the fans were so much more vocal during the game, not just after a big play. There was a ton of Latin music being played in the stands by fans that brought their own instruments. There were at least 4 sections that had these impromptu bands playing around the stadium.

In my opinion shooting this type of game is more difficult because there is so much more to pay attention to. When a country's All Star pitcher is pitching to a different country's All Star hitter, they can both be equally important to be shooting, so you have to decide who to key in on all during every at bat.

I was happy to have a decent spot to shoot from which also helps in covering the game and not missing the action. For my first game I walked around and shot elevated for a little while which game me a nice angle on my first play at the plate. My next 2 games I was on a 3 foot riser outside of the 3rd base dugout, and I also got to shoot through the screen behind home plate for one inning during each game. In the Puerto Rico vs. USA game I ended up with a great angle on my second play at the plate which I really liked because no other photographer had the angle that I had.

When David Wright hit his game winning single he hit to the opposite field and watched the ball the whole time so I never saw his face, but I stayed on him and then he turned towards his teammates which made for a nice shot. Then the mobbing began and I just kept watching for Wright and stayed on him. I was happy with my coverage of the 3 games I shot and I thank USPresswire for giving me the opportunity. My next blog will probably show my favorite images from this Spring Training, thanks for reading.

A Decent Game

2009-03-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

When you shoot 20 Spring Training games and 81 home games you are sure to have some bad games, so you really appreciate the good ones, today was one of those good ones. The weather was nice so I decided to put my 2x converter on my 400mm lens. Shooting baseball with an 800 is risky when you are so close as is the case in a minor league stadium. There is very little room in the frame for hitters and pitchers, you pretty much have to shoot the outfielders or hope that the action will fit in the frame.

With the shot of Carp I was on the field about 60 feet behind the catcher while he was warming up in the bullpen. The Jon Jay leaping catch is the kind of shot that you are thankful that you have a converter on. The ball kept tailing away and I just stayed on Jon as he climbed the wall. Exposure, composition, and timing all fell in place for this image. After the 5th inning since the game was close I decided to shoot without the converter in case something happened. The double play is the old stand-by in baseball photography, focus on second base and let the action happen. The thing that makes this a nice shot to have is when the infielder jumps over the runner, many times it is just a boring routine shot, we had both today as shown.

The last shot was taken after Joe Mather hit a walk-off 2 run home run in the bottom of the 9th against the Red Sox, the light was great and it is just a nice celebration shot.

A More Relaxed Setting

2009-03-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about Spring Training is that I have less distractions and less restrictions when shooting the games and the workouts. I can walk freely just about anywhere during the workouts, drills and batting practice as long as I'm careful.

The picture of catcher Jason LaRue was right before the game and the pitcher was getting ready to warm up. I asked Jason to hold still for a second and then let him get back to work. I underexposed the shot to darken the background and held a flash to the side to light his face.

For the Pujols photos I sat on the ground behind a screen near first base. This allowed me to be basically be in front of Albert instead of the side which is usually all we see of the hitters. It was interesting that I had a harder time getting the timing down of Albert's swing, I usually watch his shoulders which are harder to see move when I'm in front of him. I can only imagine how hard it is for an infielder to react.

Spring Training

2009-03-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

Well I have been down in Jupiter Florida for 5 days now and the weather is starting to cooperate finally. When I got down here we had highs in the low 60's and it was pretty chilly for Spring Training. Today it's supposed to be in the upper 70's and the funny thing is that I see how warm it is back up in St. Louis.

Usually the best part about Spring Training is that I get back into baseball shooting mode, but this year even my first game 2 hours after I landed went well. I feel like I have been shooting baseball all winter, maybe because I shot my first Cardinals game back in 1983 has something to do with it. It's about time I stop getting rusty in the off-season.

The photos I chose to post are all about timing, usually the hardest part of shooting baseball after a 4 month layoff. The broken bat shot is luck that the ball and bat are still in the frame, I'm just trying to shoot a decent hitting shot and the bat happened to break when Allen Craig made contact. If you look at all of the broken bat shots during the season it is amazing how few have all of the pieces in the right place. The funniest thing about this pic is that Allen is a Cardinals hot prospect that was on loan to the Dominican WBC team that game and it figures that he is the one I get, Not David "Big Papi" Ortiz, Miguel Tejada, or A-Rod.

The next pic is Cardinals 1st round draft pick Brett Wallace who is supposed to have great hitting power. Seeing the bat bend from the sheer torque of his swing is amazing, just try to bend a wooden bat by standing on it, it won't happen. Over the years I have only captured two other Big Leaguers that you can see the bat bend during their swing, Scott Rolen & Albert Pujols.

Aiming for that one shot!

2009-02-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

This year I promised myself that I would try to make at least one nice image with my fisheye lens at each hockey game. It has become a mission now because I have captured a few nice moments but I feel like that one special one is still out there. When I shoot hockey through the holes in the glass I use a 70-200mm zoom lens on one camera and a 10.5mm fisheye on another camera around my neck. I feel like these shots really put the viewer right into the action. I have shot a few cool ones like the puck flying past me, guys reaching for the puck as they head towards my position, and T.J. Oshie hitting the puck in mid-air like a baseball player. I just feel that there is one out there that I haven't captured yet. Oh well, the mission continues.

Catching up...

2009-02-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

So in February of 2007 I was asked to be part of a new local magazine called St. Louis Sports Magazine and it was exciting to be part of something from the ground up. We are working on issue number 24 and still going strong, and now the magazine is partnered with 590 The Fan KFNS radio. I am the Director of Photography, which basically means that I take most of the pictures and help pick what photos are used. You can read each issue for free by going to http://www.kfns.com/ and clicking on the St. Louis Sports Magazine link. Please let me know your thoughts and ideas for upcoming issues.

Back to Blogging

2009-02-14T13:05:00.001-08:00

I was made aware from an associate of mine that it has been over 2 years since my last blog. Well, I am going to attempt to make up for that time with some new posts. My last post was when the Cardinals made it into the World Series in 2006 and as we all know defeated the Tigers. I was fortunate enough to have made a nice image of the team with the trophy which will always be a fun memory.

Oh My God, we are in the playoffs!

2006-10-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with my belief in superstitions during the baseball season I might as well be tardy in updating my blog. I didn't update in September which really isn't a bad thing since the Cardinals didn't really play that well, 12 wins, 16 losses including a 7 game losing streak. They almost didn't even make the playoffs losing the last game of the season to the Brewers. If it wasn't for the Braves beating the Astros there might have been a make-up game against the Giants on the day after the season officially ended. But enough about that, they won the division and the second season began with the chance to redeem themselves and play the way they were expected to. They were labeled the underdogs and supposed to lose to the Padres, they won 3 games to one. They were basically told that the Mets would sweep them, but Suppan pitched an amazing game, Molina hit an amazing home run and Wainwright threw an amazing curveball past a frozen Carlos Beltran with the bases loaded to send a few veterans and a bunch of rookies to the World Series!

It's Team Poster Time!

2006-08-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Every year for the past 6 years the Cardinals and Ice Mountain Water give away a large team poster in September. The first two years they used mostly my pictures and had a designer create the poster, but in 2003 I was able to talk them into letting me design the whole thing! The best part about that was that now all of the pictures would be mine and luckily they liked my design better than the past two. We agreed on what I thought was a fair price for photo usage and design and everyone loved the poster. The only problem was for 2004 I had to make it look different than 2003, so enter my wife Valerie. As I was trying to come up with a new concept she suggested that I make the whole background photo red to go along with the Cardinals' 2004 slogan "Red Means Go", which worked out great.
The only problem with designing a team poster is roster changes. It seems that every year we get close to the final approval and the team makes a trade or calls someone up from the minors. This gets real frustrating because I put the players in numerical order and if I have to make a change it could take a couple of hours to move all of the players around. Which brings me to yesterday. I emailed a lo-res version to the Marketing department for approval and other than making a minor change everyone was pleased. I went to the ballpark to get ready for the game and I see minor league outfielder Timo Perez taking batting practice! Why?! Who did we send down?
Well, they sent down Brad Thompson which probably means nothing if anyone is actually here reading this but for me it means that I have to remove player number 48 and put in player number 19. Why couldn't Perez be number 49 so I could just swap them out. I now need to move 16 players around to make room for the new one. Well, The file has 60 layers and is about 1 gigabyte in size, so it will take me a while. So I am going to see if I can leave it as is with Thompson in place and Perez off of the poster because Thompson was on the Opening Day roster and will be back in two weeks any way with the September call-ups. I just have to hope that nobody in Marketing is a big Timo Perez fan!

Back to Blogging

2006-07-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

I feel bad, I have asked my friends and family to check out my blog and then I haven't updated in over two months. The good news is that I have been very busy. In the time since I have not updated I have had a family vacation in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico and covered the 2006 All Star Game in Pittsburgh. The vacation was wonderful, no cell phone, voice mail or email! The All Star game was fun also, lots of late nights. Today was the hottest game of the year at Busch Stadium, 120˚, it was real tough with the black camera bodies. The bad news is tomorrow is supposed to be hotter! After a pretty bad June the Cardinals have started winning again, that always makes it easier to be around the ballpark. i'm sure as I end this post I will think of something else to add, so hopefully I will update again soon.

The First 10 Gamer

2006-05-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

The season's first 10 game homestand has come and gone. Whew, I must be getting older. I remember when I thought the more the games the better. Now I'm getting a little tired towards the end of the homestand. Part of it has to be carrying my 75+ pounds of gear to and from the ballpark, I used to be able to leave gear in a locker at the beginning of a homestand and take it home at the end. But with a new ballpark I don't have a locker yet and I walk about 3 blocks among the fans instead of just walking across the street from the parking garage. I know, I know, waa waa waa whoa is me. I just need to get to the gym, lose some weight and get back into better shape and it won't be a big deal!
Well at least the Cardinals went 8-2 during this stretch. I shot alright although I felt that my timing was a little off. One nice thing that happened was Albert Pujols' 14h home run of the month, which set a MLB record of 14 home runs in the month of April. It's fun having Albert around, he seems to always be breaking some sort of record. So now it's edit, edit and some more editing and soon enough the team will be back for another 9 game homestand. At least we have a couple of days off during that one!

Superstitions

2006-04-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Let's see, the Cardinals have taken the series from the Cubs, swept the Pirates and now get ready for the Nationals. During Monday night's game I was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, on Tuesday night I was wearing pants, a long sleeve shirt, a pullover and a jacket. One night 80 degrees, the next night it was 48 degrees, boy that sucked.
So back to the title of this post " Superstitions". On Sunday morning after we had taken 2 games from the Cubs, one of the field ushers came up to me and sarcastically said " Boy it's a little dirty around here, we need to sweep". For those of you not getting the meaning, he was referring to the Cardinals chance to sweep the Cubs and win all 3 games. Well of course we all no what happened the Cardinals lost, no sweep.
Now the next example was yesterday, the game is in the ninth inning and the Cardinals are one out away from Mark Mulder's 100th career victory, a Jason Isringhausen save and a 2 hour and 10 minute game. So the fan next to me tells his buddy out loud how fast the game has gone and they can still make it to wherever they want to go after the game with plenty of time. What happens? Izzy serves up a game-tying home run to strike-out King Jose Hernandez, but luckily Albert won the game in the bottom of the ninth 20 minutes later.
These 2 examples just help to prove that you can't talk about a victory before the game, or how fast the game is going or how the pitcher has a no-hitter going because baseball is full of superstitions that always seem to come true whether you believe in them or not.
I am actually adding to this post a day after I originally published it because last night during the game against the Nationals I noticed that their pitcher was throwing a one-hitter in the sixth inning. Well I looked over to the Post Dispatch photographer Chris Lee and said out loud "hey look Armas is throwing a ONE-HITTER". Chris laughed knowing about this post and sure enough the next Cardinals hitter got a base hit! No more one-hitter for Armas.
If only I could harness this power.

A Busy Weekend

2006-04-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

The weather cooperated, the first homestand of the season is over, the Cards won some games, and now the depressing Blues season is history. It was definitely a busy weekend. I feel bad for the Blues, it was some of the saddest hockey I have ever seen and I love shooting hockey so I thought that I could look past the way they played, but it was tough. You could really tell that they tried to play well, they just couldn't play well as a team. Oh well, no playoffs for the first time in Blues history, and I feel sorry for my friend Mark, the Blues team photographer. But now I am ready for a summer of baseball in a new home. Starting this Friday with the Cubs, we begin a 10 game homestand, I should be pretty used to the new Busch Stadium after that. One of the nice things about the new ballpark is that there are a lot of good places for remote cameras, so hopefully I will use remotes more often, we have 5 day games during this next homestand. So I'm going to start getting my archive software ready for a new baseball season and as they say......PLAY BALL!!

A Hot One

2006-04-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's the middle of April and instead of wearing a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a jacket and batting gloves to shoot a ballgame, I wore a t-shirt and shorts and found myself looking for shade whenever I could. Of course I am talking about today's day game between the Brewers and the Cardinals at Busch. It was 90˚ out and probably reached 100˚ on the field. In 23 years of shooting baseball I don't remember a game this hot so early in the season. I am still trying to get used to the new park, I know I will enjoy shooting there. It will be interesting to see how the light changes with the season. I got a nice shot of Albert Pujols in the dugout, the light was really nice. Hopefully this weekend the weather will be good, we have two day games and I would like to walk around the park a bit during the game.

Welcome

2006-04-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Wow! Now I am really keeping up with the times, I have my own blog! If you are here and reading this then you already know who I am and what I do, so I won't bore you with details. I thought I would create this blog so that I can let friends and family know what I have been up to and what's going on in my life. So, enough of the small chat, on with the blogging.
Yesterday we finally had Opening Day at the new Busch Stadium. It was a pretty neat experience, seeing how the light will move across the field, seeing the actual game from the photo pits, trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B and so on. Thank God the Cards won, makes it a more fun day than it could have been. Hanging out with all of the photographers is also a good time and hearing what new angles or ideas they may have is also important in a new ballpark. Well, the Nashville Predators are here playing the Blues tonight so it might be a little interesting, they don't seem to play nice with one another. Thursday we have our first 12:10 Cards game at Busch so that will be fun and then day games on Saturday and Sunday with night Blues games following, I don't know if I will do both Blues games after baseball or not. That's all for now, so thanks for checking out my blog, I hope to update regularly, your comments are appreciated.