Baseball umpires make good pictures too

Sometimes covering baseball can be boring as watching it on television. But each game is different and something exciting can happen: double plays and steals, plays at home plate, and diving catches in the outfield. While editing the games I came across a series of umpire pictures from one of the 15 Big League baseball games covered. An errant pitch hit the home plate umpire in the, yes, you guessed it. The game was stopped for about eight minutes or longer so the umpire could regain his composure. So, while he was bent over catching his breath, the three other umpires came over to see if he was okay and they all assumed the position. It was quite funny...they must have had sympathy pains for him.

Know When to Duck

Many have asked, “What’s it like to be a sports photographer?” Well, I can say one thing, you are assured the best seat in the house and along the sideline of action, but sometimes that comes with a price. There’s always a degree of danger when covering sporting events. A friend of mine was hit in the head by a baseball thrown from the outfield and ended up with a brain injury that sidelined him for over six months. 

Even through I haven’t been hit by a baseball, (knock on wood) I did have the lens hood from my 400mm f2.8 get knocked off, and crashed by a line drive foul ball that went into the first base photo well while covering a Mariners game.  So, when you are viewing baseball, either on TV or at a game and wonder why so many pro sports shooters have their lens hoods wrapped with duck tape, now you know the rest of the story. Fortunately, the lens was protecting the left side of my head while I was waiting for a pick off throw at first base.

How fast do those errant foul balls travel? Fast damn fast, and you have to be quick enough to duck or get out of the way when you see them headed your direction in the viewfinder.

There’s been games where I’ve had three or four foul balls coming crashing into the photo well and bouncing around like a pinball. So far, I’m only been grazed, but three over thrown baseballs in the first base photo have hit another friend well in one week. I told him he’s a ball magnet and I always make it a point not to be in the same photo well.

While covering sporting events and standing near the action you must process cat-like reflexes and know when to drop the camera from your eye and either dodge right or left. Whether you’re covering little league, high school, college or pro sports, your chances of getting hit by a ball, bowled over by wide receivers, linemen and running backs are one of the chances you take every time you step out onto the field.  And believe

 me, the higher the level the players are, the quicker you have to be to get out of their way. I’ve been bowled over by Santana Moss, landed by Jamal Williams and stepped on by Reggie Bush as he was chased out of bounds, but nothing more scared they hell out of me when Shaquille O'Neal landed next to me. The floor actually shook! I looked at him as he picked himself up and all I could have said was, “Damn, that would have hurt if you had landed on me!”  He laughed and said, “Consider yourself very luck.” You know what? I was indeed very lucky and still so to this day, I am.

I captured this photo last week at the New York Yankees vs. Mariners game. Notice the 3-D TV cameraman and where the position of ball is. Now, that would have hurt.

30 Years of War Honored in Granite

Monuments are everywhere. In Hanoi, Vietnam, there are statues, a tomb, museum and plaques to honor their heroes, and martyrs.

Near a traffic circle by the Lake of the Restored Sword, there is a bas-relief monument that commemorates the capture of John S. McCain III, son of the admiral who headed the U.S. Pacific Command. McCain was captured on October 26, 1967, when he bailed out and landed in the lake.

“Our People must never be allowed to forget, “ my guide says. “They defeated France, a major European power, forced the Americans to withdraw and battled the Chinese Communists to a standstill.”

Constant tribute is paid to the Ho Chi Ming.

He’s never out of sight and lies in a great tomb built with Soviet help. The massive red stone tomb has all the looks of a Soviet monument, with a parade ground the size of a Wal-Mart parking lot.

On any Sunday, workers, peasants, soldiers and the Young Pioneers, red-scarved school children pay their respects to “Uncle Ho”.

Elders, attending from a distant providence bring a wreath, bright flowers on a bamboo rack; follow the white-gloved guards who carry it in slow motion goose step to the marble entrance.

Also in Hanoi is a museum that displays ‘air pirates’ booty among other weapons used and captured in their war against imperialism. There is an outdoor gun park full of relics, one of which was a 105mm howitzer, captured from the French and then used to dump explosives on them at Dien Bein Phu. Also on display are two torpedo tubes used in an attack against the American destroyer USS Maddox and the tank that broke down the gates to the South Vietnam presidential palace and ending the war.

An entire room displays booty taken from American ‘sky pirates” – the helmet and oxygen mask of Everett Alvarez Jr., who was shot down and held prisoner for eight- and- one half years. Helmets are piled high besides broken tail assemblies. There are also photographs showing captured American pilots and airmen.

After viewing room after room of captured American weapons, I decide to go to the second floor to get a high angle picture of the MIG-21 belonging to the North Vietnamese fighter pilot, who had shot down over 21 American and Chinese war planes, when a Russian approached and asked, ” What did you think of this place with all your things in it?”

“Well.” I replied, “After being kicked out of Afghanistan, maybe one day when the country settles, maybe they will build a big museum full of your stuff.”

Red-faced, the Russian walks away.

In Vietnam, sacrifices are a way of life

In Vietnam I found a mountain of red tape to toil through, as my photo wishes had to be resubmitted because Vietnamese officials in Tokyo didn't pass it onto those in Hanoi.

Once we walked by Hanoi's infamous "Hanoi Hilton," a prison used to house American pilots during the Vietnamese War. But my escort, Dy, hadn't arranged a visit. I suddenly left the press tour to get a closer shot of the prison only to get chased off by a pith-helmeted guard frantically waving his arms.

They're very strict," Dy said as I rejoined the group. This is still used as a prison for our worst criminals." There would have been nothing to see inside anyway, he insisted, only the inner courtyard and a long block of crowded cells.

"This is frustrating," I yelled, "you only want me to photograph images that shows your country's successes. You want me to photograph the great war museum full of captured war trophies, the impacted remains of a B-52 in a community pond, your export textile and rug weaving factories, where luxury goods are made for wealthy customers elsewhere, not in Vietnam. You want me to photograph the school that Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden made famous during their 1972 Christmas visit. I need images to show our readers, that not only is your country a first-rate military power, but a fourth-rate economic one with a per capita income of less than $200.00," I said.

"If only you had asked us when the Visa was submitted in Tokyo," Dy replied, "in Vietnam, there is no such thing as freedom of movement, of following a lead where it may take you."

Photographing people in any country has little to do with taking pictures. It involves trying to understand people and their culture.

In Vietnam's controlled society it's even a challenge to meet average people on the streets. But after my guide dropped me off at the hotel, I soon found, I could wander around Hanoi at will and photograph people, who lived in poor gloomy ghetto - old French villas fallen to shabby decay and general life, but outside the city, all travel was regulated to the foreign visitor.

What likely will remain are the images of a country where beauty and ugliness lives hand-in hand.

Images like:

     Construction crews using a crowbar to pry, one by one, bricks out of a wall;

     One-hundred-year old French streetcars;

     Old men playing a Vietnamese version of Chinese checkers in a city car;

     And, always the children with their smiles.

When the Rules are in Vietnamese

“Impossible! Permission denied!” During my trip to the Republic of Vietnam I learned to expect stringent restrictions, suspicions and endless surveillance. To start things off, there’s prohibited list. You are forbidden to photograph the frontier, military equipment movements or installations, fuel storage facilities, seaports, railroad junctions, tunnels, railway and highway bridges and so on. Even aerial photography is strictly prohibited.

In Vietnam’s tightly controlled society, just meeting and talking with the average person is a challenge in itself. Even through I could wander about at will in Hanoi, outside the city all movement was closely regulated. This policy is of great value in allowing the government to show off its accomplishments – schools, hospitals, and factories – while quietly hiding its failures.

Even the Government Press Guides both help and hinder. It would be impossible, especially for an American, to work in Vietnam without them. They set up trips, arrange for interviews and protect the visitors from harassment. But their main job is to observe our comings and goings and make sure all journalist and photographers don’t come into contact with “unauthorized” citizens.

But even with all the frustrations, working in Vietnam was filled with fascination and excitement. I like to think of my work as a people-to-people project, and my lens as a peephole into a world seldom seen. I wasn’t always able to get the photographs I wanted, but at times I did manage to penetrate the fears of the Vietnamese people. And perhaps I may have helped calm their suspicions of me, my country and our way of life.

Photo 1 – With the Polish of an adult performer, a Young Pioneer at the Dong Da School in Hanoi sings a hymn of praise to Ho Chi Minh, the constant image in Vietnam’s Capital.

Photo 2 – A worker weaves stands of wool into balls to be used in Rug Making A the Hai Hung Rug Factory.

Photo 3 –A Vietnamese worker trims a hand-woven rug near Hanoi before it is prepared for export. The ornamental rugs will be shipped to Russia, Germany, Canada and Iraq.

Photo 4 –Workers operate a machine that weaves spools of cotton into long textile sheets that will be cut and sewed into towels. The factory makes over 100,000 towels a day.

Photo 5 – A woman sews seams on towels. She is one of 2,000 women workers at the factory.

Photo 6 – A factory stacks towels for shipment.

Getting the right angle in shooting Wrestling

Wrestling is one of the oldest sports in the world and certainly an interesting one to take pictures of. I find it gets kind of hectic when you're shooting at a tournament when there are two or more mats set up with action going on all at the same time. I normally try to use at least two camera bodies, one equipped with a 24-70mm, another with a 70-200mm, and if possible a third body equipped with a 300mm f2.8, that way I have all my focal lengths covered. When shooting, I try to get story telling shots of most of the matches, the winning, loosing, happiness, you know the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. Guess it's all those years of shooting sports for newspaper and magazines that has taught me that capturing the reaction after the action is just as important.

I try to get vertical shots of takedowns and escapes and then zoom closer, filling the frame to get pinning combos and closer action. Sometimes the ref in the photo will also tell an important moment in the action.

 Be careful, when you're near the mat you start to develop a six sense to know when to drop the camera from your eye and either duck or move. I once had two heavy weights land on top of me. I hurt the better part of a week.

Here's some images that might give you an idea. I shot these inside a gym with decent lighting at 320 sec. at 2.8 with an ISO 1000. Normally, when they set up a single over head flood light for the championship rounds, I set up two or three Canon 550 EX speed lights and use a Speed lite transmitter ST-E2 to fire them.

Having to Deal with Publicists

Taking pictures of celebrities can be a rush job. Most of the time they really don’t care and generally try to accommodate the photographers needs, but it’s their publicists who actually control their clients time and this can be frustrating.

It actually took me longer to find a parking space near the W Hotel in downtown Seattle than it did to set up four of my 550 EX Speedlites, and take a couple of tests shots than it took for me to get some pictures of Carson Kressley, the flamboyant star of TV's "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", in the lobby. Kressley, who was in town promoting his fashion book of tips for the straight men, "Off the Cuff”, was really great to work with, but his publicists was not.

I’m not trying to say that this individual was hard to work with, but, having him constantly look over my shoulder, wanting to view each captured image was gate keeping at it best and cutting into my allotted shooting time.  Finally, after seeing my frustration, Carson suggested to his publicists, the shooting session would pass quicker if he’d look at the images after they were all taken instead of one at a time.

 Kressley was great to work with, having model underwear for many years, he was natural in front of the camera and didn’t require any guidance in posing at all and I able to squeeze about 30 pictures off in the 30 minutes photo session before the publicists called it a wrap.