The ol' ballpark

You know how it is when you win free tickets to something, and then everyone bails on you, and hours before the event, you're stuck with tickets but no-one to go with?

That's what hapened to a co-worker yesterday. She won excellent tix to the Braves game, but suddenly discovered she had no-one to go with. Having been raised with, as it turns out, wildly misplaced notions of gallantry, when she asked me I, rather than acidly point out that I was the bottom of the barrel, instead accepted.

I snagged my G3, and off we went. I wasn't really thinking about our challenge, nor about Cletus' Digital Darkroom assignment. But you'll see a repost in each. It's been a while since I used the G3, and I didn't take the accessory lenses or tripod. I wanted to play with the basic camera and see if I could grab any shots.

The first order of business was to get my ticket winner a beer and some nosh. Here's her beer... just waiting for some advertising copy in the darkened area.:evil




Here's some of the nosh we could have grabbed, but didn't. I'm partial to dogs (with their legs cut off, of course.) And she had a turkey sandwich. But these suckers were flying out of the oven, especially late in the game. Turns out folks take pizzas home with them. Who knew? :dunno



From there it was a walk back up the tunnel to get our seats. The Mets were in town, a divison rival, and even if they weren't a rival, everyone hates New York. All of which is a long way of saying there was a good crowd at the game. Do you have any idea how long you have to wait to get an empty-ish tunnel to photograph when the Braves play the Mets? :wxwax Patience is truly a virtue for a shooter.




OK, so now we're in our seats, and it's time to check out the game. Who needs a program when you have neighbors?



Things got exciting towards the end of the game. The Braves rally to tie and then go ahead. And we have the privilege of witnessing a charming little Braves tradition. When they get excited, the fans grab their big, foam digits and thrust them vigorously into the... um, into the sky. Repeatedly, rythmically, to a vaguely Native American beat.



Phew! That's a lot of work. After putting in that much fan fanning, a fan needs a refresher. Hey, beer man!



So what was it like using the G3 after hogging the 1D for the last few weeks? Not bad. As some of the shots suggest, greater shutter speeds and a slightly wider angle lens would have come in handy. But it's nice to have a camera that doesn't make people gawk. Plus, I shot in RAW, and discovered that the G3 produces a different RAW file to the 1D. So when I got home, I finally learned how to use Photoshop's RAW software, and even upgraded to the latest version.

All in all, a night well worth being the bottom of the barrel for, I'd say.