I wish I had this girl’s socks.
Down by the Bay: Baseball + Fireworks
I’m procrastinating writing a paper for Qualitative, and figured now was as good a time as any to post the penultimate entry from my San Francisco trip.
On Friday, July 3, I went with my family and my friend Seth to see the San Francisco Giants play the Houston Astros. I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore Astros fan, but I did go to school in Houston for four years, so I’d probably err on their side when picking an NL team to root for. However, the Astros of 2009 are nothing like the Astros of a few years ago–the team that went to the World Series and had the power trio (the Killer Bs) of Berkman, Biggio and Bagwell. They ended up losing 9-0. Ouch. To be fair, San Francisco’s pitcher was absolutely brilliant- and it was only his second start!
There was also a fireworks show after the game, which rocked. I’m already excited for the fireworks in Oak Bluffs next month, but that’s partially because I’m really excited about going back to the East Coast for a couple weeks.
Baseball hooray!
I’m trying really hard to actually post Missourian assignments…so here’s an enterprise photo from today. I was waiting around for Show-Me State bowling to start, and started to head back to the newsroom when I realized they were playing Show-Me State baseball at Hickman Field. Baseball, for the record, is way more fun to shoot than bowling is.
Right fielder Brennen Wood of the West Plains Zs connects with a pitch from Eliel Malpica, back left, of the North County Indians during the pool round of Show-Me State baseball, held July 18 at Hickman Field in Columbia. Despite Wood’s efforts, the Indians won 10-1.
Hole-in-One!
Second time shooting golf for the Missourian. This was a loooooong tournament–and I only shot the back 9–which lasted about five hours, including a rain delay and the trophy presentations at the end. Whew. On the plus side, I got to use the 300mm, which I love…on the minus side, I had to handhold it because the monopod wouldn’t attach to the lens, and I needed to be able to quickly switch from horizontal to vertical framing. Whew.
The girl who won the tourney, Chelsea Schriewer (wearing the black shirt; Alisha Matthews, in the stripes, placed second), won by twelve strokes, tied the overall course record (as shot by a man or a woman) with a 66, AND got her first hole-in-one on the 16th. On the 16th, while she was hole-in-one-ing, I was, of course, changing lenses. CHANGING LENSES. Rotten, terrible luck. That’ll teach me to go out without two camera bodies.
Once again, these uploaded a little undersaturated…
Down by the Bay: Nom nom nom
I toned everything here to fix the white balance up- except for the next three photos (well, I made one black and white. But the exposure is as is). Those are the result of GORGEOUS and absolutely perfect natural light. I’d never seen anything like it. Maybe I should move to San Francisco just to get that sky-as-a-softbox effect all the time…
Down by the Bay: Independence Day 2009
As per family tradition, I went to San Mateo, CA for the 4th of July to visit my brother and sister-in-law, and their two daughters (Liza, 3, and Molly, who’s only ten weeks old!). My parents, fresh out of a trip to Vegas for my mom’s 50th birthday, also came. Angus and Lori just moved to San Mateo after several years living in San Francisco (it’s about 25 minutes north of where they are now; Angus still commutes to work in the city); the town is, as far as I could tell, close to the epitome of Suburbia. The neighborhood and community seemed great, and I’m so glad the family’s all settled in there…even if I did kind of miss their little SanFran apartment.
I also got to meet up with a few people from Rice (hooray!), go to a Giants/Astros game (Houston is so terrible this year. It’s hard to believe they were in a World Series four years ago), visit Berkeley for the first time (I prefer San Francisco, but then I was only on the other side of the bay for about an hour and a half), go to the BEACH for the first time in more than a year (that’s just sad) and eat oh so much excellent food. I got very carried away taking food pictures, so those are all going to get their own post.
Oh! On the way home, I bounced through Salt Lake City, and flew right over the lake on the way out. I couldn’t get any pictures of it), but wow. I’d fly through Utah again just for that sight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that color blue before, and the salt flats around it were beautiful. No wonder LG’s friends got married out there.
Anyway, I have so many photos to upload here (I’m still behind on my Missourian assignments, but I keep meaning to make a Soundslides for all of them…eventually…) that I broke everything down into separate posts:
Foul Balls and Fireworks
Fourth of July
Food (nom nom nom nom)
San Francisco
Down by the Bay: Pacifica
I like Missouri just fine, but the lack of ocean here drives me crazy. It was quite the sight for sore eyes to see the Pacific in all of its glory. Beautiful. 
Bean Hollow State Beach
Liza and Angus roaming the shore.
Liza at the beach makes for a super high-key portrait.
A dolphin! I love my telephoto lens! Now I need a 400 and a monopod, so I can get even closer next time.
Liza’s sandy sandals.
Down by the Bay: Family Time
Daddy and little Molly. Shot this at 1/6 of a second, and Molly the squirmy moved her head just enough thather bow has motion blur. Sigh.
I love all of the open spaces and giant windows in Angus and Lori’s house.
Miss Molly! I didn’t have time to frame this the way I wanted to (I wish Molly were more in the photo), but I looked up, saw the reflection, and made one image. Oh well.
Pretty afternoon lighting in Angus and Lori’s backyard.
Liza, Daddy, Mom, and pretty indoor lighting. Also, balance flash! Woohoo yay!