Having spent the past weekend visiting the Bronx Bombers in Tampa, I've just posted a small photo album that marks the debut of my Pentax DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 ED AL IF lens for my K01D camera.
Being in the middle of a 9-week photo course, I'm still a DSLR newbie, but I was lucky enough to capture Alex Rodriguez's Friday home run (below) with the third picture I ever shot with the zoom lens. I also dig this seemingly ho-hum shot of A-Rod taking a ball below the knee. His eyes are right on that major-league pitch; the dude is scary-good.
A couple of the shots were treated with a fake HDR Photoshop action that I like to play around with on landscape shots. I used it on this recent Central Park capture that ranks among my all-time favorites.
A Few Notes:
• Thanks mostly to Frenchy's tiki bar in left field — which stays open, with a band playing, well after the meaningless game ends — the Clearwater-based Phillies have the best minor-league park. Way more social and casual than Legendzzz Field, which, like the original, pretty much pins you to your seat.
• Fans are at a greater risk of getting hurt at spring training, because those are the only games I've been to where fans who are paying attention to the game duck away from foul balls, exposing those not paying attention for a second to get brained. I guess the blood-thirst to own a genuine Allan H. Selig-signed baseball dissipates at age 70.
• I survived Waffle House and an airport hot dog on getaway day. Don't tell my stomach he can't hang.
• To win the Florida vote in the election I guess you have to cater to two demographics: fossils and skinny, white college-aged (though not necessarily college-educated) kids all tatted up and sporting New Era caps. From there, you can punt the other 3.4% of the state population to the opponent.
• Played 3.5 hours of $1/$2 poker at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa and earned $150. The play was so bad it was hard to not laugh sometimes. Players were astounded that I, in my third hand against an unknown villain who was up $400, did not call a $15 pre-flop raise from the big blind (and out of position) with 10-9 suited with a $100 stack, which was the state-mandated max in the game. (There is also a $100 max buy-in at the $2/$5 game. Lots of decision-making in that one: push or fold.)
