I used my camera quite a bit in August.
Unfortunately, it was either something work-wise, or mostly baseball. So… it seems my black and white is going to take us to an older time. See, I love black and white sports photos. There’s something special about them. It’s a throwback in time to older newspapers and such.
As a kid, I always liked looking at newspapers and seeing the photos. There’s something really cool about the images on newsprint. I remember a few times I had my photo in the paper and it was pretty cool. As technology improved and such, more papers started having color photos. While that is pretty cool, at the same time, it’s also kind of stinks as it almost takes away some of the magic that is photography in a newspaper.
Of course, we are now seeing newspapers go forth with being digital and it’s rare to have black and white photos. So, this month allowed me to look back a little and think about these in a newspaper.
Anyway, let’s move on with the photos! Here are my five for the month. Please make sure you stop back here in a day or so and check out all the other links to go visit others and hopefully comment!
1. Strike!
This comes from the trip down south where I saw lots and lots of baseball. I really like how this photo came out.
2. Waiting
This batter was waiting to get up to bat.
3. Sliding in!
Shots like this remind me of old-school newspapers.
4. Soccer
My niece started her second year of college and her soccer season is underway.
5. Still rocking
I was at the State Fair and the free concert was Survivor. I watched a few songs before being told I couldn’t use my “professional grade lens,” so I left. I did like this shot though.
There are my five and I look forward to seeing what others had this month!
If you took part in this month’s challenge, make sure to link up below. And for those of you who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment (here, too!). Let’s continue to grow this challenge and have a strong community. Come back and check out the others who link later on, too!
Also, don’t forget to get back here tomorrow, September 1 for the September theme!
NOTE: I set up a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.
Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!
Love the facial features of them all – fabulous black and white shots 🙂
Thanks so much!
Love the sports action shots. You captured them fantastically. I laughed about the last one….I suppose your “professional-grade lens” was causing some to become nervous about what you might do with the photo? 🙂 Guess they preferred people to take them with their phones.
Thanks so much! I love action shots, so if I can grab them, I do. As for the professional grade lens … well, I think it’s because they think people will take and sell the photos. Joke’s on them … pretty sure nobody is going to buy any photos I take of Survivor at a free concert!
Survivor??? As in Eye of the Tiger? How awesome! The picture fits your post’s retro theme perfectly! Also it’s a nice contrast to the sports photos.
The Strike one is my favorite. It’s as if he threw the ball directly toward us!!
Thanks for another great month’s prompt!
Tamara recently posted..Black and White
Survivor — yes as in Eye of the Tiger! It was pretty cool, but I only stayed for a few songs.
Thanks for the comments! 😀
Great job PJ! I think the last picture is my favorite, it just looks so good in black and white! I really like your new watermark, too!
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed!
The professional grade lens thing is becoming quite laughable. Our local college has a maximum length, in inches, the lens can be. I have a mirrorless with a tiny lens that rivals some of my best Canon glass.
But enough of that. I like sports photos in B&W. Maybe it’s the nostalgic feel.
I agree. I didn’t bring my zoom on my California trip with me because two of the three stadiums noted nothing more than six inches. My zoom is eight. It’s crazy and ridiculous because the reality is most people are just taking photos for themselves, not to sell or do anything with. And I’m with you on sports photos.
Wow… the first one is especially amazing – the cheek movement from the force of the pitch. Fantastic!
Your niece action shot is so good too… I don’t think even when I was her age I was that flexible!
Thanks so much! I think kids now are doing way more athletically, that’s for sure!
Love the action
Thanks!
Great photos! I especially love the action shots numbers 1 and 4.
Thanks so much! 😀
These are all photos. They bring out the most in your subject. You really have something here.
Yes, they are all photos. That’s what happens in a photo challenge.
I love the baseball photos & agree that black and white newspaper photos were special.
Weird that the fair wouldn’t let you take photos….
It brings me back to when newspapers were great. Now, they tend to not be. Even with black and white.
Great set of photos! The B&W has really worked well on your sport shots. The emotions and action have been well emphasised. I like the mid tonal range apparent in most of your shots too.
Thanks for the thoughts. I never think about tonal range in black and white and photos until somebody mentions it … and then I start looking closer at it!
Always love how well you capture sport in your pictures. My favourite is definitely the first one, as it’s such an action shot but I also adore the look of determination on the pitchers face – I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that throw.
Thanks so much. I’ve always been an action photo nut, so when I get the chance I like to take advantage of it.
What a great set of photos. I particularly like how you used a shallow depth of field to isolate the pitcher in that first shot. And the attempted tag out…isn’t that the ball just outside the baseline? Were you using high speed burst or was it a single shot and great timing on your part? The other thing I like about that image is how you narrowed in on the action and leave the rest of the field to our imagination.
I had the same kind of interference from security at a hockey game once. I was just trying to practice taking action photos and they made such a big deal of it. Irritating!
Thanks, Denise! I appreciate the kind words! When I am shooting sports, I’m usually at a very shallow depth of field as it focuses on the play at hand. The tag out photo — that is indeed the ball. In front of it is the poof of dust from where the ball hit the ground. My camera shoots 10 fps, so I always have it firing away when shooting sports. I probably had 10-15 shots from this sequence to pick from. Action photos are hard to leave out a bit because if you don’t really focus on the action, it can take away from it. So if it’s a wide shot, the full image might take away with what you are trying to capture. I do that sometimes, but more with the idea of showing action inside of something. Most places are very open to photos etc. There’s just a few who level restrictions, and even then it’s usually pretty lax.