SURPRISE! a sport I like to shoot

So last week I shot softball practice for the first time and I surprised myself--I actually liked it. Looking back on it now, I think it might just have been because of the informal atomosphere of it. I was allowed to go anywhere the ball wouldn't hit me in the head, the action was repetitive so I couldn't miss anything important changing angles or positions, and the lady wildcats really didn't care that I was out there, they were just having fun doing something they love. Practice is definately better than a real game, I think. And once, I thought I heard the 8-year-old tomboy in me craning her neck to reach my ear and whispering, "see! girls can too play baseball...just not you."


I really liked this angle, the ball in action about to be caught, but the background could have been cleaner.

This girl undoubtedly hates me, as this was the picture that ran in the Optimist and her facial expression isn't the most flattering. Alas, I seem to be following in the footsteps of our photo-editor, attempting to catch the most embarrassing facial expressions...lets face, they're a lot more fun.

The obvious critisism: another inch on the right side of the ball would have been nice.

In this one, I really like the way her body is positioned...kind of like a goalie blocking the ball/puck/whatever. In the three last pictures I really like the clean backgrounds and the ration of dirt to grass. It seems kind of soothing to me...until you look at their faces.

One last thing: these photos were shot entirely on manual settings...manual settings that I set. And it really was easier to have a consistant setting than to battle the automatic systems.