Cubs @ Diamondbacks for Sports Illustrated

Posted on May 10, 2011

Home plate umpire Tony Randazzo works during the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 1, 2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

A few weekends ago I had the fun opportunity to shoot a little baseball outside of the Bay Area. My editor at Sports Illustrated sent me to Phoenix for two days to shoot the Cubs and Diamondbacks with legendary staff photographer John McDonough. John is based down in San Diego so I rarely get to work with him. Whenever I do it is always a special treat, so this assignment would be extra fun.

Our main assignment was to shoot young Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro. Castro is a 21-year-old kid from the Dominican Republic that I first wrote about last year after seeing him in spring training. Castro is off to a good start this season and our job was to try and get a great defensive picture of him. John was there early and shot the first two games of the series on Thursday and Friday nights, and by the time I got there on Saturday Castro had not done much on the field. This is always how it goes. You get sent to shoot one player and spend all your time focused on him at shortstop, and not one ball gets hit to him.

On Saturday night I went upstairs to shoot overhead. I was in a great spot behind the last row of the main concourse at Chase Field even with the bag at first. I was ready to shoot Castro turning a double play and flipping in the air as he made the throw to first. I felt like a painter with a blank canvas in front of me. All I needed was for Castro to turn a double play and I was in the perfect spot to record it with my camera without getting blocked. Even though that never happened I got a few frames I liked that night, including the one of Alfonso Soriano breaking his bat (above) and of manager Mike Quade arguing with an umpire (below).

On Sunday the roof was open, the light was nutty and there were heatwaves to deal with as I shot on the field from the inside third base photo well. Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is not my favorite place in the world to shoot. I am very spoiled working here in the Bay Area with two great parks to work in, but man the park in Phoenix really blows. No outside positions, only inside. Bad light, bad team, bad luck. Once again our kid did not see much action at shortstop and he had a terrible day at the plate.

Castro started the game on the fielded shrouded in harsh, awful light and ended the game in the shade. I didn’t get any good frames of him, but I did have fun shooting silhouettes late in the game as the light became out of control (see top).

As I packed up my gear and sent my pictures after the game I looked back on the weekend and was glad I was able to make the trip. Not only did I get to work with John, but I also got to work with super-duper assistant Shawn Cullen. Sean is always there when I need a hand or make a huge computer error, and he was no different in Phoenix. Photographers like me are very lucky that their are nice people like Shawn still in this business. Without guys like Shawn I would be in deep trouble. Thanks Shawn!