On the Road with Little League

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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2006-08-21

On the Road with Little League
SportsShooter.com members Rick Berk, Shane Psaltis, and Paul Alesse covered the Eastern Regional Little League Tournament in Bristol, Connecticut recently.

By Paul Alesse

Photo by Shane Psaltis / LiSPN

Shane used his "fishstick" cam for this jube picture.

When is taking over 50,000 photographs of just 12 Little League teams important? When those 12 teams are all battling for a berth in the Little League World Series, which is just one stop away from a tournament that started in early July with over 150,000 teams competing across the globe. Shane Psaltis, Rick Berk and myself set out to cover the Eastern Region Little League Tournament in Bristol, Connecticut like no other youth baseball tournament has been covered before, shooting from a variety of unique angles with a wealth of cameras and lenses that rival a Major League World Series game. Following are some of our techniques.

We covered batters from four different angles, shooting from the first and third base photo wells, from directly behind home plate, and from centerfield with a Canon 400mm f/2.8 with a 1.4x TC. A variety of camera bodies were used throughout the tournament including two 1D Mark IIN bodies, a 1D Mark II, a Canon 1D, and a Canon 20D. The glass lineup consisted of three 400mm f/2.8 lenses, two Canon 200mm f/1.8 lenses, two Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses, a Canon 300mm f/2.8 lens, a Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 lens, a Canon 28-70mm f/2.8 lens and a Canon 17-40mm lens.

In addition, we rigged up a "fishstick" cam for home run and team jubes, and introductions. The "fishstick" cam was nothing more than a Canon 1D MarkIIN body with a 15mm fisheye lens attached to a Bogen monopod and a boatload of rubberbands fired remotely by Pocket Wizards.

Having photographed hundreds of youth tournaments and taken well over one million photos of young players in action, this tournament separated itself like no other. There is a point in the tournament where you make the move from youth sports photographer to photojournalist. You are no longer an event photographer, but become an integral part of the experience for these youngsters as they play

Photo by Paul Alesse / LiSPN

With an at-bat of a lifetime, Staten Island's Frankie Smith hits a walk-off HR in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat Livingston, NJ 2-1 and catapults himself and his team to the Little League World Series .

their hearts out in front of millions of viewers on television. We wanted to make the images special for these kids and let the photographs tell a story of the ebb and flow of the entire 10-day tournament. For that, you have to get to know the players, know their batting and pitching styles, and learn what makes each player unique in their own way.

Before the first game, we did a photo day, shooting team and individual photos of each and every team. Once again, we wanted to offer individual poses that were different from the norm. For that, we had three poses as part of the package. The relaxed pose, the "big stick" pose and "the Mr. Peanut". As an added bonus, as teams got eliminated throughout the tournament, we did a limited edition, "Final Four- Fast Track to Williamsport" photo shoot for the final four teams of the East Region.

All images from this event were made available for on-site purchase through our view stations located next to the field under the pavilion. Players and parents could browse and place their order right on the view station. Galleries were broken up by game number and team for easy reference. We offered a variety of event posters, photo packages, sequence and event panoramas.

The final game of the tournament had Livingston, NJ facing off with Staten Island, NY. The winner would be crowned the Mid-Atlantic Champions and advance to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Staten Island's, Frankie Smith pounded a 2-2 pitch over the leftfield fence for a walk-off homerun. We had to get ready for a walk-off homerun and prepare for team jubes in the bottom of the sixth inning. This meant abandoning our 400 and 300's and going with wider angle lenses even if it meant shooting loose on an actual home run blast. Second and third bodies were all being tied up for other shots. When the blast came, I grabbed what I could on the homerun trot and quickly charged the field for the remainder of the jube action.

Knowing the game could end at anytime, Rick used his 28-70 and Shane rigged up the fishstick in the bottom of the sixth inning. After the ball just cleared the fence, Shane came out of the press well and just fired away. The first few shots from the fishstick had near perfect images of his sneakers as he was coming out of the well...LOL. The tough part was navigating the fishstick around ESPN who had to get their shots for television.

Rick Berk, Shane Psaltis, and Paul Alesse.

After years of shooting the pros for Pacific Trading Cards, several newspapers and magazines, and some of the more memorable pro events like David Wells's perfect game at Yankee Stadium, Rick Berk commented that nothing compared to this experience. "This is one of those events where you are proud to say that you are a youth sports photographer. This tournament and the week we spent in Albany just prior doing the girls softball regional compare to nothing like I have ever experienced," said Berk.

I have since headed to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA to shoot for Little League Inc. Shane Psaltis will be spending the remainder of the month preparing for his upcoming wedding in September. Rick, after having spent nearly three weeks away from his family, drives off into the sunset and will be spending some much needed R and R with his wife Jill and two children, Emma and Matthew.

Paul Alesse is a freelance photographer based in Long Island, New York. Paul has been involved in Little League Baseball for over 25 years serving as East Region and Little League World Series scorer, statistician, game reporter and now Official Photographer for the East Regional Tournament. Paul's ties with the East Region also include working as the Baseball Camp Director during the summers of 1995-2002.

Related Links:

Paul Alesse's member page

Shane Psaltis' member page

Rick Berk's member page