Category Archives: Sports Photography

I Photographed the Pocono IndyCar 500 Today!

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PRI 2014-07-06 812Today I photographed the Pocono IndyCar 500 for the Easton Express-Times. I arrived early for the mandatory photo meeting to receive the important instructions. Then it was out to the track for the pre-race festivities.
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One of the nice surprises I stumbled upon was Mario Andretti signing autographs for the fans. He knows how to work a crowd and the people love to get a chance to talk with him and receive an autograph. The pre-race activities are priceless! It didn’t seem like long before the National Anthem was sung and the green flag was dropped!PRI 2014-07-06 2742It was a beautiful day in the Poconos and the fans were on hand to watch history, literally. More about that later. I positioned myself toward the end of Turn #1 from the inside of the track. It is a steep-banked turn that can give troubles to drivers, especially as they move through it at this incredible speed!PRI 2014-07-06 2879Until you see this kind of racing with your own eyes, you can only begin to imagine the breakneck speed these guys turn out. It is absolutely incredible! I readily confess that it took some work to keep up with these guys, too. Photographing an Indy race is nothing at all like photographing a baseball or football game!PRI 2014-07-06 4227
I then walked up to Pit Row to see if I could capture any action there. I was not disappointed! It wasn’t long before I saw Team Penske getting ready to pounce over the wall for a pit stop. I got ready, too, and the first photo was the pit crewman getting ready to drop the sign marking the end of the pit stop. PRI 2014-07-06 4377Then I photographed the pit crewman fueling the car at this pit stop. It is amazing to watch these guys work so quickly! I wish the fill-ups in my Chevy truck were anywhere nearly as fast as this!PRI 2014-07-06 4383As the car drove out onto Pit Road, I photographed a crewman who thought the pit stop was a success. Thumbs up, is the universal sign for, “I liked that!” or “That was good!”PRI 2014-07-06 4311While I was photographing at Turn #3, there was an accident near Turn #2. I obviously couldn’t see or photograph this accident from my location, but I did capture the wrecker hauling the National Guard car back to the garage.PRI 2014-07-06 4545The winner of the 2014 Pocono IndyCar 500 is Juan Pablo Montoya! Here he is pulling into Victory Lane. Oh, by the way, this race broke the Indy record for fastest average speed per lap in a 500-mile Indy race: 202 mph!!!PRI 2014-07-06 4615And here he is celebrating with one of his pit crew members.PRI 2014-07-06 4843Roger Penske is the team captain for Juan Pablo Montoya, and here he is in Victory Lane. What a legend!PRI 2014-07-06 4864Victory is so sweet! Congratulations, Juan Pablo Montoya, on your sweet victory!

 

 

Little League All-Star Action

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Sports photography is my passion. There is nothing more challenging, and thrilling, than trying to capture the action on the field. Today, I had the opportunity to photograph the 9/10-year-old All Stars between Pocono Mountain East and West End.

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I really enjoy this age for baseball. The players are serious about the game and yet still want to learn the finer points of the game. They are plain down teachable! The games are fun to watch, too. Bet safely with เดิมพันอย่างปลอดภัยกับ UFABET where security and fairness are always guaranteed. Parents sit on the edge of their seat or pace back and forth like an expectant father in a maternity waiting room!

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No, these Little League All-Star games are not for the faint of heart! And my job is to capture the action on the field with my camera. It is a challenge I embrace and enjoy thoroughly! Today I carried three cameras at times because a lot was happening and a lot was expected of the sports photographer.

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Shooting sports is not only my passion, but I am learning it is one of my real talents in photography. I am not trying to brag; I am just learning more about myself and I am learning that of all the types of photography out there, sports photography is what I do the best. I believe my nine years of coaching Little League and three years of coaching Middle School football have a lot to do with this, too. There is nothing like a baseball game with your kids to bring out the entire family. My interest in sports photography has actually made me start working towards my own brand in the family entertainment center franchise industry.

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Serving as a freelance stringer for the Pocono Record and the Easton Express-Times teaches me a lot, too! I don’t get it right on each and every shot, but I am getting more consistent at getting it right at every game. The task of a sports photographer is to capture the action of the players and tell the game’s story in our photographs. Knowing the game is essential and learning each player’s tendencies is crucial. For example, when you are looking down the barrel of your zoom lens through your viewfinder, can you predict when the batter will swing his bat? If not, you will most likely waste a lot of shots, and worse, you might miss some key moments. Learn to pay attention to minute details like the slight twitch of an arm muscle. This might be all you need to know to make the best next great sports photograph!

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Strike!

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Last night at the Legion Baseball game, I tried a new angle from which to photograph. I’ve been doing some experimenting with shooting the pitcher from behind the backstop and shooting through the chainlink fence. It is not my favorite spot by any means, but I am getting some interesting and different perspectives from this location.

The pitcher, Dylan Pasnak, was striking out a lot of hitters so there wasn’t much fielding action with the infielders. One inning I decided to go behind the backstop and take some photos of Pasnak throwing strikes. I did, but then I tried this angle with the batter swinging at the ball and missing. My goal was to get the ball in the photo before it got to the catcher’s mitt. It took some trial and error to time the shot, but I got pretty close with this one. I’d prefer the ball to be a bit more away from the catcher’s mitt, but at least I did capture the moment. I also like the third baseman in the background to provide some depth to the image.

I am liking this perspective. Do you?

 

Photo of the Month for May

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At the beginning of each month I enjoy going back over the photos from the previous month. My goal is to pick the best photograph or moment captured with my camera to display as “The Photo of the Month.” Sometimes the competition is stiff. Other times, one photograph stands out easily above the rest.

The grand slam in baseball is one of the most exciting moments of them all! Down 4-1, Madison Shaneberger came to the plate with the bases loaded. You can read what happened here: http://www.perfectgamephotos.com/Photo%20of%20the%20Month.htm

PV Lady Bears Win PIAA District 11 Semi-Final!

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The Pleasant Valley Softball Team was victorious in the rain-delayed PIAA District 11 Semi-Final against Bangor at Patriot Park on Wednesday night! They now advance to the Championship Game tomorrow night against Parkland. (You can view more photos of this game here.)

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Yesterday’s game resumed with two outs in the bottom of the first inning with a PV runner on first base. Bangor got out of the inning but trailed the game 4-0 going into the top of the second inning.

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Bangor did fight back by putting three runs on the board, but PV responded with four more runs to seal the deal and advance to the Championship Game. They broke a school record by earning their 20th game win of the season. They face Parkland tomorrow for the District Title at Patriot Park in Allentown.

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Pleasant Valley Advances in PIAA District 11 Softball Playoffs

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The Pleasant Valley Bears Softball Team continued their destiny this season sparked by a dramatic grand slam by Madison Shaneberger in the bottom of the sixth inning. PV was trailing Freedom 4-1 going into their half of the sixth inning but they did not give up nor would they be denied. Shaneberger connected on the second pitch of her at-bat and drove the ball deep and over the fence in left-center field where the PV football team was cheering for the Lady Bears.

Both of these photographs were published in today’s Pocono Record and accompanied a story about the exciting game written by Joe Miegoc.

Crystal Morales slides across home plate for the first run in the game…

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Hit by Pitch – in Softball & Baseball!

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Do these two photographs look similar? They were published in the Pocono Record about one year apart.

Both batters were hit by an inside pitch that completely knocked their helmet off their head! It was a scary moment in each game, but both players were able to stay in the game, none too much for the wear.

Softball and baseball can be a scary game at times, but these athletes take it all in stride. They expect a lot of themselves and put some incredible talent between the lines at every game. Our hats should be off to them (seriously!).

Here is the sequence of photos from each batter getting hit by the pitch:

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Pleasant Valley Girls Advance to the MVC Championship Game!

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Kiersten Griesback took the mound for the Pleasant Valley Bears and pitched a solid game allowing only two runs. The Bear’s defense was solid, too. They did not commit an error in the game!

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Madison Shaneberger was hit by a pitch during her first at bat. Fortunately, she was not seriously injured and remained in the game. In fact, she laughed it off with Coach Beck when she reached first base.

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Jess Altemose slid across home plate to score an early run for the Bears who didn’t look back. They kept the pressure on Pocono Mountain East and scored runs in each and every inning of the game!

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The Bears now advance to the MVC Championship Game against Stroudsburg. The game will be played at Pocono Mountain East – a neutral field for both opposing teams. If they can play another solid game like this one, the Bears should be able to secure the MVC Title.

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Pleasant Valley Upsets Stroudsburg in the MVC Playoffs!

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Pleasant Valley struck first. It was the third inning and Matt Pierce reached first on a single. Then he reached second base on a wild pitch. Brendan Kearns came to the plate and laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt, which moved Pierce to third. Then, on another wild pitch, Pierce scored the first run of the game!

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Chris Burke pitched a masterful game for PV. He only gave up four intentional walks, all to Mike Nikorak, the MVC Most Valuable Player. The Bears defense was solid behind Burke and he kept recording outs in a very efficiently pitched game.

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Stroudsburg kept trying to apply pressure, but they kept hitting ground balls or flies to the outfielders. They had a few base runners but could not bring more than one around to score.

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In the bottom of the fourth inning a hard ground ball was hit to PV’s shortstop, Travis Van Houten. He fielded the ball cleanly, threw to Adam Raseley at second base, who then pivoted and threw to Ariel Mejia at first base for a beautiful double play!

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The Bears tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh inning. The last of these insurance runs came when the #4 batter, James Shank, executed a great bunt in a well-coached two-out squeeze play. There wasn’t even a play at the plate!

Congratulations to the Pleasant Valley Bears Baseball team in their MVC Playoff victory over Stroudsburg 4-1! It was a great game!

My New Sports Photography Portfolios

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Sports Photography Portfolios by Bob Shank

US Women's Open - Tuesday Practice round

I just finished updating my photography portfolios. Periodically, I go through my portfolios to add some of my better photographs to share my work with others. I believe my sports photographs are getting better over time and I hope you agree!

One of my frustrations is finding a good way to present my photo portfolio so the viewer does not have to wait long to view the photos. I appreciate any feedback you can provide on this matter because I want to be able to get my photos out quickly and efficiently.

The link at the top of this post will direct you to my newest portfolios: published photographs, baseball, football, and golf.

There are some upcoming sporting events I will be photographing and I am always looking to broaden my horizons and get better at the craft. I now have well over 60 photographs published and my sports portfolio is growing!