The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown is a storied institution.
Being local to the Hall — and covering it as part of the baseball beat for several years at the local daily — I’ve been through, in and around the Hall for much of my life. I’ve seen it change through the years, expanding and growing. I’ve watched Induction Ceremonies, saw players visiting and had a chance to get to know many people who help make it run.
I’ve researched in the library, too, which is one of the most wonderful tools available to those who are working on things in regard to baseball history.
And each year, I try to visit the Hall a few times.
Part of that is being a member. Though I haven’t been the past few years, I recently re-upped because they offered me an excellent deal and one I could afford. Being a member gets me admission throughout the year, whenever I feel like going.
That’s pretty sweet.
What that does is makes it possible for me to go check out new exhibits and then leave, if I want. It usually doesn’t turn out that way, though.
A couple of weekends ago, I decided to visit the Hall, with this little idea in mind. I wanted to take many photos throughout the Hall, using Hipstamatic.
For those who don’t know, Hipstamatic is a really cool photo app for the iPhone/iPad/iPod. It gives you the ability to switch films and lenses to get old and crazy film looks. If you use flash, there are many flashes to choose from, too. Basically, it gives you some “old’school” looking images.
I’m a fan, usually, of this app. The last few updates have been frustrating as it seems to crash in odd times, sometimes losing photos (it happened to me while doing the Hall shots). Basically, each shot needs time to “develop” and if something happens in that amount of time, you lose the photos.
Still, the idea was to see the Hall through the eyes of Hipstamatic, using as many films and lenses as I could to get a different look at things. Those of you who follow the blog may remember I did the same thing this past July when I did a post about shooting pro wrestling with Hipstamatic.
I figured I’d zip through the hall, snapping photos and getting out of there within about an hour.
By now, I should know better.
I spent about two hours and change in the Hall, looking over things I had seen many times before. There weren’t many people there, so I had time to look, snap shots and enjoy the afternoon. I pretty much zapped my iPhone battery with the amount of shots I took. But, it’s all good.
And I got some cool Hipstamatic shots.
I think the one cool thing is being able to check some of those shots and get that old feel — almost like it really captures the history of baseball.
The Hall is a magical place to visit, no matter what you use for a camera. But if you visit, try it through the eyes of Hipstamatic — it really gives awesome results.
More of the images from that day are below.
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