I think Matt could take pretty much any action shot he aimed for and it would be amazing! But could he get this one for me as a Christmas present? It’s one that is in my aging, often odd mind! Here’s the scenario…

My youngest kiddo is renting a room upstairs, two floors above my basement bedroom. He brought two kitty cats with him, one who loves me named Louie, and one who loves me not after she tried to eat my face when she was just a kitten and is now as big as a tiger and named Lucy Fur (lucyfur, get it?). Lucy really did take a little chunk outta my jowl when I tried to pick her up as a new timid little kitten to give her a big hug. (jowl- joul, the lower part of a person’s or animal’s cheek especially when it is fleshy or drooping, 😂 that’s me!) 

When Lucy first moved in upstairs, my kiddo brought his kitty condo that Matthew got him for Christmas one year. Lucy sits atop, filling in the entire condo level and lovingly watches her kitten daddy when he is home or awaits his return from work. 

Okay, okay, let’s get to the action shot… When my kiddo and the kitties moved home, my hubby and I would lay in bed in the morning and wonder at the banging upstairs, commenting, “Gosh, this kiddo sure walks angry when he gets up!” This went on every morning! When I went upstairs one morning soon after the banging, thinking I better say something to my kiddo, I found the kiddo had already left for work. “It couldn’t be Lucy making that noise?!” Oh, yes, indeed, it is!

Okay, really, now here’s the shot: Lucy, just a little ticked off but with a smile on her feline face, wants me to remember she is upstairs. She stands on hind legs atop the edge of her condo and raises her front paws in perfect adjacent diving ready position, points her back paw she kicks back while her other launches off the condo, gracefully but with tremendous strength leaps 12 inches (or whatever room is left between her and the ceiling) into the air as she prepares for the perfect front pike position, executes pike perfectly, has kitty spittle and light colored fur floating around her as she executes a double back summersault, and finally lands the combination on two hind legs with front paws elevated like a Simone Biles perfect 10 vault!!!!! 

Matthew’s action shot, of inside my head, would capture the details of Lucy’s physically focused and contorted torso and facial expression. He would capture the amazement of her important effort and goals. He would even capture the reflecting, tiny kitty spittles and fur flecks surrounding her and supporting her as she pushes through just a split second moment of something that is important to her. (Even if it is important to her that I need to know who’s boss!)

Check out Matt’s galleries of shots, he’s really that talented! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful sports season!

I know We Are the Champions comes to mind, but where are the little ditties that are specifically about the game? They are hard to find! Enjoy your summer vacay, kiddies ☺️  Can’t wait for the next sports season!

1. Take Me Out To the Ballgame (duh!)
2. Are You Ready for Some Football? (Hank Williams Jr)
3. Super Bowl Shuffle (1985 Chicago Bears)
4. Centerfield (John Fogerty)
5. Basketball (Kurtis Blow)

Check out #5 on he You Tube, it’s priceless!! 

When Matthew was a little leaguer, his Grampa gave him a personalized birthday gift. It was a cassette tape (remember those?) of a baseball announcer calling a game with the crowd cheering in the background. The voice announced Matthew was at bat and then revealed the names of me, his dad and his grandparents proudly watching in the audience. He then called the at bat counts before Matthew’s monster home run into right field stands! What a great gift that was. 

One day I watched him sitting away from me on his bedroom floor listening to his cherished tape. When he turned his head and saw me, tears were streaming down his tender cheeks and he passionately said,”Mom, I wanna be in the big leagues!” My little baseball freak no longer plays baseball but, believe it or not, he is now in the big leagues! 

What a moment! Graduations are within reach! Congratulations on your endurance and accomplishments ❤️ I wish for you…

1. …curiosity as you try different things and take chances
2. …confidence when you make a mistake, accept it, and move forward
3. …calm before you respond after something goes against your grain
4. …charity by getting out of your head and understanding what others may need or feel
5. …clarity so you may feel purpose and fulfillment in your long life

Spring season is winding down and I have had an absolute BLAST shooting these local high schools. I had to make a choice of which handful of sports to actually cover or else I would stretch myself out too thin. I missed out on Men's Lacrosse, Tennis, Soccer, Track and Field, Golf, etc. . But shooting Softball, Baseball and Ladies Lacrosse was awesome. As Ive said in a previous post, I had never even been to a Lacrosse game before so it was certainly a challenge to learn on the fly how to shoot it. I look forward to trying those other sports next year and bringing happiness to those athletes and their families with my photography! 

 Let’s face it, we’re all guilty of embarrassing our children with over reactive emotions during the game.  Perhaps some exuberant behaviors are emotionally stunted, but some also add fun to the game, right? (Yeah, most of us can be a bit over-the-top and guilty as charged.)  Kudos to all of our umps and referees for putting up with this shenanigans. You are part of our youths’ life experience and very much appreciated❤️  

1. You gotta be outta your $#&@ mind, that was not EVEN CLOSE to being safe!!
2. Whaddaya blind, you idiot!
3. No way, that pitch was outta the box
4. That was not a foul, that was fair!!!!! Wake up, blue!!
5. I could do his job any day!!! #$=@&*-###@@

Always an unpredictable season, Spring is Mother Nature’s time to become mischievous and mess with us every year. I began listing several practical items I’ve needed through the years, but it all seems to come down to my favorite go-to!

1. Blanket to place on hot cement for the kids to play and eat on
2. Blanket to wrap up and keep warm
3. Blanket to take cover from the rainstorm
4. Blanket to protect bodies from wind blown in-field particles
5. Blanket to cushion the hard bench

Happy Spring!!

There was a really weird phenomena going on while I was shooting a ladies lacrosse game last week. Now, I'll start by saying I not new to night sports photography. I know what weirdness typically rears its head while shooting in low light. Sometimes these cameras have a mind of their own... Actually, that is probably more true than I mean it to be; these things are computers and Ive heard rumblings of computers taking over the world and making humans their slaves.. Ive seen Terminator 2! 
I digress. I was shooting at night under the lights of a football field and all of the sudden my photos started having these really bizarre highlights to them. Almost as if the shutter was going so fast it was actually able to see individual colors in the spectrum. Very strange. Ive never had this happen before. I was shooting with a Sony A9 and a 70-200 2.8 G Master. I tried to change my shutter from electronic to mechanical, but that didn't help. OF COURSE this was very close to the climax of one of the best ladies lacrosse games Ive been to this season because.... of course! Luckily I had my backup A7iii with me. I hurried and made the lens swap and the color thing stopped. The problem was my settings were set for video on the A7iii so I had to hastily try to bring my photo settings current. Uggghhhhhhhhhh.... Not sure what was up. Sometimes I wish I had a photography mentor on retainer. 

There was no Google or Pinterest during my team mom year, and I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing!  I’ve been reading up on your present team mom duties and I must say you are NOT the team mom, holy smokes, you are the freaking team CEO! Far more pressure  for you these days!

I had volunteered a few decades ago to be a team mom for Matthew’s team. It was his second year playing organized baseball, about 9 years old. Did I know what a team mom really did? Not at all, just something about assigning after-game snacks. I really wanted to show how much I loved my little slugger😍 Did I ask anybody what I should do? Well no, I didn’t want other moms to think I was stupid or something! I DID write little snack reminders with paper and pen to give to the moms when their turn was coming up. And my greatest achievement was the realllllly interesting “Go Get ‘em Tigers” Banner! 

It took some painful research, painful because I did not know the first thing about sign making and crafts nor what kind of library book one would need to research this. I also had a few things in life I obsessed over that took up all the room in my brain; my freaking awesome kids, my night shift computer operator job, my passion for a singing career. The future craft, writing, law enforcement and general creative juice parts of my brain had not kicked in yet. 

So, logic it was! It was logical to assume letters could be cut from colorful felt squares; felt could be neatly laid upon a banner; a banner…….  could be……. um…….. a bedsheet! Yeah, a sheet! Okay, how to attach the letters to the sheet…… Glue! I used glue……. Until the letters DEtached instead of ATtach. Dang…. I know! Safety pins! Genius! 

Game time, here we come! So nervous, not for my superstar, but to figure out how to hang the darn banner. Well, up it went. Corners tied onto the backup fence, sheet slouching like a damp heavy towel swaying in the breeze, fuzzy warped colorful hand cut letters curling at all corners, each affixed with one shiny safety pin; you get the picture!!!! With this memory, it’s best to pat my younger self on the back and tell myself, “Epic fail but darn good effort, younger self! You are a flawed, normal person with a lot of good qualities and still okay in my book!”

Moms and dads who stay involved with your kiddos’ sports lives, my safety pinned felt hat off to you all!!!

The word ‘moment’ is partially defined in the dictionary as:

-a minute portion or point of time, instant

-a time of excellence or conspicuousness

How does our brain recall a meaningful moment for so many years when it lasted only an instant? What do you remember? Here are a couple of ditty’s I recall like it was yesterday:

Finding 2-yr-old diapered Nicko had pulled out the kitchen drawers, only to climb a top the refrigerator!

11-yr-old Matthew keeping one foot on first base and performing Olympic gymnast caliber splits to catch a million mile per hour hit for the win!

8-yr-old Nicko finishing an amazing Lego creation from scratch with his only help being the complicated instructions.

15-yr-old Matthew receiving a surprise baseball league Sportsman of the Year award during the year-end awards ceremony.  He was always the first one up, pacing the dugout, encouraging his teammates to cheer on the at-batters. Brought tears to my eyes!

I could go on and on, and I bet you could, too! This is a special moment that was actually captured on film!

Matthew has an enlarged photo on his wall which he took of his little girl on her 6th birthday. Gives me goosebumps every time I look at it! She was having a party at a splash pool. She is seen in the photo running toward the camera in her swimsuit, hair soaked, smile full of joy and laughter, and detailed droplets of water enveloping her like a protective cloud of sparkles. But the funny thing is she was not running toward the camera, she was running toward ME when she saw I entered the the splash pool room behind Matthew and his camera! I think that kiddo of mine has something special to share with you, too! He believes “your moments matter.” They DO! 

Hello! I’m Matthew’s mom, Peg! Time goes by so quickly, doesn’t it? It seems just yesterday I was hiding a pained expression after watching my young loved ones go through an embarrassment and breakdown, or smiling so hard my face might break as they enjoyed momentum and success. 

Oh, wait! It WAS yesterday! How lucky can I be, observing Matthew and his brother playing sports and learning and growing through adulthood, and then my grandson enjoying a baseball youth through high school, and now my granddaughter being a baller on the basketball court in middle school!? I think of you moms all the time, too! When I watch a rookie playing professional sports on the television and making their first professional bucket, or hit, or goal, or reception, I instantly blurt out,”Their mom must be so proud!” What a journey you all experience through the years. 

And what about those dads? I’m tickled pink watching Matthew coaching and cheering on his kiddos. Dads are so important in these young lives, I’m impressed by all of you, yes! 

And this mom is extremely proud of her little guy and his life journey. I have the pure pleasure of assisting my favorite baseball freak and camera guy with his photography business and couldn’t be happier!

I’m currently retired and now working part time as an elementary orchestra teacher. I was a working mom and a pain in the neck with the stress of juggling career and child rearing, but I think my kids still think I’m OK!!!! Haha yay! I hope you are all finding balance in your lives. Your children's adventures in sports and hobbies are the best part of that balance. Take care! Peg

So, a few weeks ago I started to mix up my preferred sports to photograph. My longtime favorite sport to shoot is baseball but I tried shooting lacrosse for the first time in my 12 years of being a serious photographer. I was hooked! There is action EVERYWHERE! As a sports photographer action is key. There are even little rules that we photographers keep to that are happily broken when shooting lacrosse (Im referring to the rule about making sure to have the athlete's face in the shot). Some of the coolest shots Ive gotten are when the player is rearing back to shoot the goal but from behind. That is ok by me. Some of those shots are down right frightening! These athletes are intense! So I am happy to shoot 500 photos at a lacrosse game because I genuinely like it that much. 

All that said.....

I just shot 1450 photos at a baseball game today. 

I am still a baseball junkie. 

It is Spring in Utah. That probably means absolutely nothing to those abroad, but to the residents here, it means a white winter wonderland just when we are starting to get a taste of warm weather. For example, today was supposed to be Opening Day at Smith's Ballpark. That is the Home of the Salt Lake Bees, the Triple A Minor League affiliate of the Los Angeles Angeles of Anaheim. It is also the current home of the University of Utah Mens Baseball team. Spring in Utah means plans to see professional baseball tonight has been foiled. It was dumping snow and now the field is unplayable. Almost every high school game was canceled as well. Lacrosse and soccer are still playing in some spots i believe. 

Now the flip side to Spring in Utah is that it will be a beautiful 70 degrees this week as well. so if you don't like the weather in Utah, just wait a minute. 

So I launched HeyCameraGuy.com after YEARS of trying to figure out how I could use my photography skills for the forces of good. Ive been a huge baseball fan my whole life and have always shot baseball games since my fist camera. From my son's games in t-ball till he finished high school as well as the Minor and Major Leagues. Basically anytime a stadium would let me in with the gear. That's how I learned photography. Trying to nail a good exposure on a progressively darkening field in the evening and how to quickly focus on middle infielders turning a double play really ramped up my photography chops as the seasons rolled on. 

Then I started to do paying jobs of other people's kids, portraits, recruiting media, etc. 

Now here I am . Im creating a business model that makes getting professional photos more accessible. Im easy to get ahold of, I'll get the shots for you and I know how to capture those emotions during the games that seem to go by in an instant. 

As time goes on my assistant/mommy Peg and I will post various thoughts on this blog feed. Im thinking I'll mostly talk about the photoshoots I do and the gear I use, best practices, etc. I may even recruit some folks who have things to say about professional sports! Who knows?? Just something a little different to add to the world of photography websites. 

Anyhoo, if you've made it this far, thanks for reading and checking out the site! 

See you soon.