Hats Off To Us

Sometimes a seemingly unimportant role like 3rd base coaches can give you the best pictures. 

Little League third base coach has his hat knocked off as he celebrates heartily with a fellow coach during his team’s 10th inning rally to win 15-14 in Dracut, Ma. Little League action (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun). 

The Photo:
Young kids usually provide the best sports feature photos because they aren’t at all inhibited about showing emotion, whether they’re playing, sitting on the bench, or reacting when the outcome is decided.  This means photographers should spend the majority of their time at youth sports looking for emotion shots, most frequently found in happy celebrations after a big play or winning the event.  However, even features and emotion shots can become too routine and similar, so you want to consistently look for an unusual photo to convey the winning team’s thrill of victory.

At this game, after a great winning rally in extra innings by the Little League team, I was anticipating a jubilant reaction, but didn’t want just another shot of kids hugging or cheering when the game was over.  I watched some animated players who were serving as 3^rd base coaches, and when their team scored the winning run, these two teammates shook each other in celebration and knocked each other’s caps off.  It was an uncommon photo that uniquely conveyed the winning team’s happiness.

3 Tips:

1) Remember to also watch players on the bench.

2) Be vigilant for coaches doing something unusual.

3) Spend the time to find variety in your emotion photos