I recently attended a golf outing with my uncle and a couple of his friends. Up for auction was a photography experience at Citi Field with the Mets' chief photographer, Marc Levine. I had considered bidding on it, but ultimately decided that my priorities lied elsewhere and that I had plenty of time to fulfill my dream of photographing a professional baseball game. Unbeknownst to me until later in the night, my Uncle bid on it for me, and he ended up winning. I found myself pretty much speechless for the rest of the night, and I still don't think he knows how much I appreciate it.
Fast forward to last Friday... I got to the field, got my credentials from Marc, and walked straight down onto the field for batting practice. Everything was right there in front of me, and as much as I wanted to channel 12-year-old Garret and fawn over the players and scenes unfolding, I got right to work shooting anything and everything I could. My aim going into it was to obviously get some great action shots of the game, but more so to get photos that told a story and showed what was going on off the field. I thought of it the same way I think of weddings; the moments and candids are always what I'm looking for.
Here are my favorites from the incredible time I spent at Citi Field photographing my favorite sports franchise. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity I was given, and I'm hoping that I can make this a more regular occurrence in the future. I actually lived a dream in photographing this game, and now that it's in the past, I can build on that dream and work on turning it into a living.
