Game Time!

 The local grands are heavily involved in sports. My granddaughter is a basketball player and her brother is a baseball player. Their parents' lives revolve around practices, tournaments and away games, so it's probably as well that the third child has no interest in sport at all! Sometimes, when schedules require our daughter and son in law to be in three places at once, Nana and Papa step up to fill the gap. It's something we do gladly, happy to be involved in their daily lives. Now that school is out for the summer, we are helping out with getting them to other appointments and social events too. It won't be long before the oldest grand will be driving, so, while they still need us, we are happy to help.

Last week, I photographed my grandson's baseball team. This is their first year as a team and they have grown by leaps and bounds. A combination of positive coaching, mutual respect and opportunities to play in different positions has resulted in an excellent record for such a new team.  The shoot took place on a day with temperatures in the mid 90s but we found a spot with a bit of shade.  With grandson Mike as my guinea pig, we came up with four poses and ran through them with all the boys pretty quickly. Only the team picture was taken on the field in the sun. All the pictures came out well and the families were appreciative. Prints were ordered and will be delivered today.

Last school year, Maddy, the basketball player, was on the high school team. They had team photos taken by an excellent photographer who turned out to be a grandparent of one of the team. Along with the other families, I have shared her picture proudly! The pictures are part of the team experience.  (Teenaged girls are a self-critical lot, so she won't admit to liking them.) 

I volunteered to take team pictures for the boys because I wanted them to have the full experience too. One of the kids' grandparents put it this way: "(The kids) will be able to look at them for years and remember what an awesome time they had!" That is the essence of my "Why" as a photographer. Photographs let us hang on to our memories and I'm sure this hot and stormy summer will be one that Mike and his teammates remember for many years.