On the Ball

Day 187

06 JULY 09

So, yeah, my "No soccer photos" rule is pretty much out the window by now. At least I'm not dependent upon soccer; I have managed to branch out and shoot other things. Things I would never have considered shooting before.

Day 187 saw the first day of British soccer camp for my daughter. Some days, that meant she ran around a soccer field chasing a little white ball while being yelled at by a man with a British accent. Overall, she enjoyed it. And she learned a lot.

As for me, I still get a thrill when I see my kid on the field, which is why I take so many pictures.

This photo needed major help. Unfortunately, I didn't have many pictures for Day 186, and this was the best of the bunch. But the quality wasn't good and the focus was off. I must have been off that day, too. The Old Newspaper filter in Virtual Photographer seemed to supply the help it needed.

Post-processing: noise reduction, sharpening, curves adjustment, black & white/sepia conversion using the Old Newspaper filter in Virtual Photographer, border addition.

Upstairs, Downstairs

DAY 76

17 MAR 09

On Day 76, my daughter had a soccer game, so off to the high school I went. I took a few pictures of the game, but after shooting so many games with my Canon 40D rig, trying to take soccer photos with my little point-n-shoot was a step beyond frustrating. It also required excellent timing to make up for the shutter lag. I did get some decent shots, but they weren't the most interesting.

The shot I felt was the most interesting turned out to be this lonely staircase to nowhere, sitting quietly at the far edge of the field. And while the stairs looked almost forlorn -- and mysterious, they really weren't a mystery. I knew exactly what they were for. The director of the marching band uses them during football season.

They're just not being used at the present time.

The colors in the original photo were vibrant -- the green of the field, the white of the stairs, the rust-colored backfield -- still, I felt this sepia-toned black and white conversion set a better mood.

Post-production: crop, noise reduction, sharpening, curves adjustment, black & white conversion, sepia tint, border addition.