Ok, first thing’s first: Kids playing sports is about the most adorable thing on earth.

I was given an opportunity this past Saturday to photograph the opening season games of our Little League Baseball season for Maine’s District 5. Of course, I was very excited and accepted immediately.

We’ve had our share of rain and even snow this spring so far (see this post), but the forecast for opening day was sunny and warm! And warm it was. It reached 81ºF and not a cloud in the sky. The direct sunlight made for some harsh lighting when it came to individual and team photo shots, and my D300s, equipped with an SB-600 for fill flash wasn’t metering correctly, resulting in overexposure. It was a complete user error on my part, because all my shots without the flash came out great. Ah well. Lesson learned for next time.

It was a lot of fun, though at times a bit frustrating, trying to get the kids to smile for their photos. But then again, I never want to smile for photos, either. Also, when there’s a 15 minute maximum timeframe to have 12 kids photographed + team photo before starting the next team, it can get a bit hectic.  A few jokes, some funny faces, and threats of tickling the kids got most of them to smile pretty quickly, though, so I’d consider it a success.

Once team photos were over, it was time to get to the real test. I hadn’t had a chance to test the focusing and burst-rate ability of my D300s yet, so I welcomed the challenge of shooting a live sporting event. Knowing that I would be the only photographer allowed in the announce booth as well as on-field, there was a bit of pressure to catalog the action. Finding the right angles, anticipating the action, and discovering how to not have “tunnel vision” (seeing only what’s in my camera viewfinder), were all things I would have to learn, and quickly. After a couple innings of the first game, though, I felt much more confident.

I used my Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5 – 5.6 lens the whole time. I did have my standard zoom and UWA, but knew I wouldn’t be using that. Considering it was daytime, I had no issues keeping focus and maintaining a fast enough shutter speed even at ISO 100. The 51 points of focus is amazing (how did I ever survive on only 5?), and while the 3D tracking works, I still preferred to follow the action through panning. Also, the satisfaction of having a 7fps burst rate compared to the 2.5fps on my Nikon D50 can only be explained through experience.

After the Mother/Daughter photoshoot last week, and the Little League baseball shoot this week, I am very pleased with my recent Nikon D300s purchase. I ended up with around 900 shots taken, and a nice sunburn to boot! Below are a few shots:

You can also view a slideshow of more photos here.

Feel free to leave comments, or if you have any questions, you can e-mail me.

2010 · 70-300 · action · adorable · augusta · baseball · d300s · district · field · flickr · individual · kids · league · little · maine · mm · nikon · opener · Photography · portrait · season · Sports · sunlight · team

*takes a deep breath*

Ahhhh, Spring! Life begins anew! Little ducks go quack, quack, quack. Grass turns green again. April showers bring…

*opens the window blinds and sees the frosted ground accumulating, white flakes falling from the sky*

Snow?! What is this nonsense?! So much for golfing today. *cry*

I guess I really shouldn’t be THAT surprised. I do live in Maine, after all. Ah yes, Maine: The Way Life Should Be, at least for a couple months out of the year. It’s said we only have 3 seasons here: Winter, Black Fly season, and Mosquito season. Of course, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. Whoever dubbed Maine as being the “Vacationland” state must’ve been off their rocker.

What I do love about Maine, though, is when it’s a good day out, it really is gorgeous. Maine has so far been well-preserved. Our largest city is still smaller than a lot of towns in other states. There are hundreds of little-known or traveled areas of natural beauty all across the state. While the coast can be absolutely breathtaking, it could take a lifetime of exploration and never find all our treasures. I definitely hope to hike more this year (when it stops snowing), and will update this blog with my discoveries. Currently, you can view photos from past hikes on my photography site. Please take the time to look through them. There is also the option to purchase your own copies in various sizes. All prints are made on thick, professional mat board, for the highest durability and quality.

I will be updating this blog with other photography outlets, as well as hobbies that take up the rest of my time. I look forward to writing to you all. Welcome to The Rain Project Blog.

april · golf · maine · mosquito · photo · Photography · season · snow · spring