I am not a photographer. (Duh -- have you SEEN these blog pictures?) Todd took a photography class in college, but that was so long ago, it was with film. Yes, really. So for our June Relief Society Activity, we asked a sister who is a very good amateur photographer (she regularly does senior photos) to come and do a class on how to take better pictures.
This was right up my alley. Isn't it amazing how I can plan RS activities on things that I'm interested in? So I sat through the class, asked a few questions, took a TON of notes, and came away with the best advice of all: read your camera manual.
I thought it would be a good thing to do in the Suburban, as we were leaving on a 2-hour drive for last weekend's softball tournament. The one kink in the plan: I couldn't FIND the camera manual. I found every other camera manual we own, including the old film camera from 20 years ago, but not the one I needed. Wouldn't you know it!
In the mean time, I took some photos this weekend, and of course, the majority were softball photos. I've still got to find the camera manual, but in the mean time, here are a few photos from our weekend.
(Alyssa doing pre-game infield at first base)
While both girls played in the tournament, they were in different ballparks. I did not get photos of Darcie playing, because they were eliminated after their 5th game, and before I pulled the camera out. Whoops. So Darcie has my apologies, and she will get exclusive shots next time.
Another thing I got from the photography evening was that you should share your photos. So instead of taking 200 pictures of Alyssa, I only took 100 of her, and took a lot of photos of her teammates.
I thought it was very interesting to hear the different comments from the parents as I showed them the camera's playback photo of their daughters. They ranged from the extremely positive: "I love it! I don't have any pictures of my daughter playing softball -- will you send me a copy of it?" And then there was the non-committal: "Mmmm. Nice picture." And then there was the parent who didn't care at all about the photo itself, but what it recorded: " She's way out in front of the ball again!"
I understand there's different levels of competetiveness. But if you were looking at a photo of your kid playing ball (any kind of ball), would you appreciate the photo for what it is: a photo of your child doing something they enjoy, or would you pick apart the child's faults & mistakes?
Anyway. Alyssa's team got knocked down into the Silver Bracket after their first 3 games, but they came back to win their bracket and earned their trophy & t-shirts. It was kind of a sweet victory, since the other team in the championship game is one that beat us 3 weeks ago (score was 1-0, that they scored on our fielding errors). Coming back to win that game 6-4 was a nice retaliatory win for us. Alyssa pitched the entire championship game, even after she got nailed in the ankle by a hard line drive. We're pretty proud of her.
There is plenty more softball to come this summer. Life is good!
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