Day 149: Game On!

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~145mm, f/4, 1/2000, ISO 320)

Practically a month after finishing school, the real deal of summer kicked off with Ekklesia's first game this past Saturday.  Couldn't have picked a better day too, with the sun out in full force and barely a cloud in the sky.  As such, the field was incredibly dry, leading to many a dust cloud or 'poof' whenever a ball was caught, slide made, or hard grounder hit as seen above with first baseman Patrick making a catch.

 

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~160mm, f/4, 1/2000, ISO 200)

Shooting-wise, it was a bit of a slumpy day for me.  Shot in Aperture Priority at a constant f/4 and very low ISOs thanks to that direct sunlight.  Autofocus was set to AF-C and Dynamic Area AF.  Ended up missing practically all the 'action' plays; tag out by the other first baseman Albert Leung (pictured above) made whilst he was mid-air after being drawn off the bag by an errant throw, several slides into second, two dives at short, and a slide at third.  Heck, I missed one play because I was enjoying a popscicle... you can bet I was pretty PO'ed at myself when that happened.  Chalk it up to the sun and probably not sleeping much due to all the catch-up blogging several hours prior.

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ 200mm, f/4, 1/1600, ISO 200)

Still, there was still plenty of action to be seen, such as below.  Of course, there are also some off-field moments to be had.  Above is a common Ekklesia tradition, nicknamed the "Tunnel of Love".  It bares resemblence to the rituals known as 'Crossing the Desert' and 'The Unblinking Eye' from an episode of The Simpsons (Homer the Great), during which Homer must endure the Stonecutters' initiation trials.  Well, except the fact that the Tunnel of Love is a bit less degrading and substitutes paddles for the occasional misdirected hand.

(Nikon D90, Sigma 70-200 II @ ~120mm, f/4, 1/1600, ISO 320)

After the game, most of the team headed out to a pub further north in Markham and proceeded from there to one of the team member's houses.  Much poker, watching the Phoenix Suns, yelling at the Phoenix Suns/LA Lakers, and Taboo to be had.  The last of which continued a little bit into the next day.

More coming.