Wednesday

A quick view....

Today I was pretty much on my own for most of the day.

My first assignment was to photograph a woman golfer who they are writing a feature on. I was at the golf course at 9 a.m. I was handed a golf cart and hauled my stuff around for about an hour and 45 minutes.

It was a difficult assignment to shoot because I was only following the one woman and I only had one chance to get a photo each time she putted or hit the ball. I managed to get three decent photos out of it though, and handed those in. The story doesn't run until August 12, so we will see a photo is included or not.

When I went to leave the golf course I was dripping in sweat. The high today was supposed to reach 109. I'm not sure if it did, but at 10 a.m. this morning - it was hot. There's nothing else to it.

I changed my clothes and headed back to downtown Houston where I met up with Julio Cortez again and we headed to the Astros game this afternoon. They played the San Fransisco Giants again. And got brutally beat, again. But it was still such a great experience for me to be able to practice taking photos of an MLB game and get into the groove of shooting sports.

I was lucky enough to be able to use a 400 2.8 lens. And along with that, Mr. Michael Paulsen let me use his mono pod - which I'm more than convinced I'd be sitting in the hospital with a broken back if he hadn't let me use it.

Julio showed me more ropes today, we reviewed everything he taught me last night and it was just another great experience for me.

I wasn't exactly satisfied with everything I pulled out of the game. I did get a key moment when Kaz Matsui stole second base though. I later learned it was his 400th time stealing second base. Julio didn't get a good view on it, the woman from the AP didn't get a shot of it...I didn't have a shot of him sliding into second...but I did have him running as he was stealing second. Needless to say, my photo went to the AP.

Six of my photos were sent back to the desk this afternoon. I'll be curious to see if any of them end up running. I looked at Julio's take and he had some great shots.

Sometimes it's difficult to shoot things like baseball but the more you practice the better you get at it and I'm hoping I have at least one or two more chances to shoot another game, just so I can keep building upon what I've already gained.

Tomorrow is another 9 a.m. start. We'll see what the paper brings in the morning.

Astros Photos:
http://www.chron.com/sports/photogallery/Astros_host_Giants.html#17759590