Tag Archives: baseball

Morning Musings

Camera Gear… and Baseball (Morning Musings 10/3/14)

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The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park
The Bleacher Seats, AT&T Park

Recently someone posed — for the 11,535th time — a question about camera brands: Who is truly winning when it comes to the sensor game?

The context of the question had to do with recent advances in digital camera sensors from Sony, found in certain Sony cameras and in Nikon DSLR bodies. (These recent sensors have pushed a few boundaries forward, as always happens when new components are developed and released. In this case, they increase the photo site density and dynamic range.)

As a sometime Bay Area baseball fan, I understand that the concept of “who is winning?” is a nebulous and ephemeral one. Take the Oakland A’s, one of my SF Bay Area teams. A few months ago no one could touch them — they were on a record-breaking winning streak and were the hard-scrabble, underdog heroes of baseball. By the end of the season they couldn’t win and they slipped inexorably from a sure bet to “ain’t gonna happen,” barely scraping out a chance to get one wild-card playoff game… which they lost.

The other Bay Area team, the SF Giants (my emotional favorite, since I grew up following them) was up, was down, and never, even at their best, looked like a sure bet for anything. They had been in the lead, but not by that much, and in the end they came out just a bit behind the (evil, nefarious) Dodgers… but also qualified for a wildcard spot. And they won that wildcard game in fine fashion and go on to a division playoff today. (Giants fans have a word for this, though the full context perhaps only makes sense to those who have watched the team for a while: Torture.)

So, the answer to “who is winning?” is either a very much “in the moment” answer that means virtually nothing over the long run OR there could be some final competitive event at which a final winner is determined… for this year. And then the process starts all over again, and someone else “is winning.”

Extrapolated to photography equipment, right now I would say that Nikon is something like one of the two teams in our California Giants/Dodgers rivalry. Depending on which week you check, one of them is doing better than the other in some ways, but neither will ever be proven (says the Giants fan… ;-) to win in a a final, ultimate, never-to-be-challenged way. Ahead? Yes. How long? Probably not very? The winner? No.

Right now Nikon has an edge by some measure. On the basis of other factors, it doesn’t. A few months or a year from now… who knows? And, really, when it comes to photography — as differentiated from fawning over gear specifications — who cares?

But, yes, the Dodgers won the division title. This year. I’m not bitter. Yet.

Morning Musings are somewhat irregular posts in which I write about whatever is on my mind at the moment. Connections to photography may be tenuous at times!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Third Street Bridge, Morning

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Third Street Bridge - The Third Street Bridge near AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.
The Third Street Bridge near AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.

Third Street Bridge, Morning. San Francisco, California. July 8, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Third Street Bridge near AT&T Park in San Francisco, California.

This bridges sits in a newly revitalized area of San Francisco next to the Giants’ AT&T ball park, which is visible in the background along the right side of the frame. In an area that was (and still is, if you look around a bit) somewhat “seedy,” there are now, for better or for worse, lots of new buildings including businesses and condominiums. This bridge seems like a sort of surprising structure to see in a place like this. It is a “draw bridge” that can apparently be lifted to allow boats to pass underneath to go in and out of a small inlet that extends from the bay (to the right of this photo) and inland a ways.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

America’s Pastime

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America's Pastime - Baseball fans along the outer walkways of San Francisco Giants' AT&T Park, with scoreboard, commercial messages, and twilight sky.

America’s Pastime. San Francisco, California. May 26, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Baseball fans along the outer walkways of San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park, with scoreboard, commercial messages, and twilight sky.

This photograph comes from a couple of years ago, and is one that I “found” again recently during a scan though a half dozen or so years worth of old files. I tend to be rather cautious about deleting old files, but I finally decided that some of the older files really not worth keeping – and the side benefit of cleaning out some of the photographic cobwebs is that I often rediscover photographs that I had forgotten.

We go to a few San Francisco Giants games every season. While I like the baseball, other things also draw my attention. In addition to the garlic fries and beer (!), AT&T Park also provides a lot of interesting photographic opportunities. At some point during every game I tend to just wander around the facility and see what might make an interesting photograph. Most often I use the elevated vantage points around the park to photograph San Francisco and the Bay, but sometimes I also photograph subjects within the stadium, too.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Seagulls, Night Sky

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Seagulls, Night Sky
Seagulls, Night Sky

Seagulls, Night Sky. San Francisco, California. September 7, 2007. © Copyright 2007 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Seagulls fly through artificial lighting at night, San Francisco, California.

I wouldn’t mind if you speculated about how in the world I managed to get this king of lighting on a photograph of birds in flight. Let’s see, it couldn’t be on-camera flash since the light is coming from the side. Perhaps I concocted some elaborate multiple flash setup and then waited for the birds?

I’m afraid that the explanation is much more prosaic. To be honest, we were at a San Francisco Giants game on this evening. We go to Giants games for several reasons: the hope that the Giants might actually play well (not at the moment!), the great views from AT&T park, garlic fries (!)… and for me, photography. I always bring a camera and a lens, and partway through the game I usually take advantage of the upper areas of the stadium to photograph San Francisco and the Bay, often at sunset and dusk.

One more fact. Giants fans who attend games have discovered something astonishing about wildlife, namely that the sea gulls seem to be able to tell when it is the seventh inning or so. At about this point in the game, flocks of them begin to assemble over the park, circling above the field and the stands… and waiting for their chance to feast on the discarded food that is left all over the stadium. (My working theory is that they have somehow learned to associate a full stadium with the appearance of good stuff to eat about two or three hours later. They are apparently as fond of garlic fries as we are.)

So, on this evening when the gulls showed up they began to fly in and out of the stadium lighting, creating a somewhat stark and dramatic effect against the dark sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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