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Waiting for Barry... SF Giants Barry Bonds was 1 home run away from tying his godfather, Willie Mays' record of 660 career home runs. We sent 3 photographers to record the historic hit when the Giants came to town. I was one of them, assigned to shoot Barry with a long lens from the center field position. |
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Well, Barry did it and I had a photo (above) but not the shot I really wanted. Barry is so fast with his swing that to get the ball on the bat is mostly a matter of luck. Very few photographers at the game that day were lucky enough to get the ball even in the frame let alone on the bat. |
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The next day - a night game, we got to try again. Barry hit #661.This time I got the ball in the frame (before Barry hit it) but as you can see in the next frame, Barry has already hit the ball and it's long gone. All of this happened within a fraction of a second. The above sequence was shot at 8 frames a second and still, I had only one frame with the ball in it. |
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Shooting from the outfield, I used a 600mm lens with a 2X converter on it making it a 1200mm lens. It was the first time I've shot from this position. Above are two photos I made from this different perspective that I'm pleased with. Will have to shoot from the outfield more often. |
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