365 Challenge- Day #31 Grow

January 31, 2013 by allsortsofhope13

Day #31- Grow

“The Beauty of a Diamond~ through the eyes of a coach” written by Dan Clouser

Dan is a friend of mine. A boss of mine. A mentor of sorts. He also employs my son. My son, Nick plays baseball for Dan for several years as well.

This book is a story about Dan, and how baseball has affected him personally and professionally. The life lessons it has taught him along the way. It is an easy, gentle read yet it’s message is heard loud and clear.

It was interesting to read it and shows how Dan grew from a naughty little teen aged boy into the quiet , unassuming man that I know him to be today. Dan is one of the most generous men that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He owns Berkshire Baseball. Berkshire Baseball “raises” young men and teaches them that life isn’t all about baseball. It teaches about character, too. Life lessons.

The past few weeks have been trying at best in this household. Our community lost a young man who decided he was left with no other recourse than to take his own life. To say it has not affected my own family would be a gross understatement. The weather here has given us a few minor inconveniences as well.

My son, Nick has never ever given us trouble. We have rarely had to discipline him.We have been so fortunate. But these past two weeks we have had our hands full. He has had some “growing pains.”He has not been thinking straight. He has made some simple bad choices. He is a boy of great character and strength and I try to remember that once upon a time many a man, like Dan, had been lost and found their way, too. I know that he will get back on track. Boys do that. I read Dan’s book and several others like his when I need that reassurance.

I’ve never been a teen age boy ( haha) but I know that they grow and change and push a whole lot differently than girls do. The good news is that they do change, and carry on, and learn, and GROW.

Day #31. GROW.

The Sort of Hope Who Has A Daughter That Can Fly

January 14, 2013 by allsortsofhope13

Natalia’s first gymnastic competition was on Saturday. She competed last year as a Level 7 USA Gymnast and this year is now an Advanced Prep Optional ( it’s a level for girls who don’t quite have all the skills for Level 8 or those who for whatever reason just aren’t ready to compete the next compulsory level quite yet. )

We could not have been more pleased with her performance! Gymnastics is such a fascinating sport to me. These girls train so intensely. I can’t wait for competition season so that I can be surprised by all of the new tricks that Natalia and her teammates have mastered during the off season. This year was no exception. Natalia has added a layout full twist to her floor routine. Floor is my favorite thing to watch the girls compete and I honestly think it’s the thing that our gym tends to excel at the most consistently.

Yesterday was no exception. Natalia ended up doing very well for her first meet- she placed First All Around (36.00). Captured a 1st on beam (9.3) and floor (9.25), and a first on bars (8.95) and a third on vault (8.5).

There was a bit of a some excitement and a resurgence of interest in gymnastics last year following the Olympics. I could not have been happier for the girls at the gym. I feel like what these gymnasts go through is sometimes underrated and under-appreciated and surely under-valued because it is not a school sport. I get upset because I personally think that they don’t get the recognition that I feel they deserve. If people knew how much work these girls put into learning just one simple ‘trick’, maybe they’d value the sport a bit more. These girls are true athletes. Hours and hours spent in a gym to master their craft. They have to be braver and stronger and even more courageous than most other athletes. Fear is a word that they check at the door.

Competition days are difficult for me. (though surely nothing like they are for the gymnasts!) They often involve long rides in the car, sitting for hours on cold hard bleachers and then long rides home again. We never eat right. Traveling with me is like traveling with a toddler. I ‘ve got my “goody bag”- water, snacks, socks, meds, music -for distraction if the pain gets bad, pillows, blankets, gloves… If you’ve learned anything by now, you know that things like travel and long days I don’t get along real well, but the only times I have missed her meets were because of treatments. If it were up to me, I’d watch her and her team compete every weekend! I’ll just deal with a longer recovery time afterward. She won’t be competing forever and while she is , I’m going to do my darndest to make sure when she looks up, she sees her mom in the crowd.

I’m not sure why, but yesterday I really struggled to photograph this event. Out of practice maybe? You cannot use flash in a gym, the lighting is typically even worse than in a school gym. Gymnasts move fast. Very fast. This was the first meet with all new routines so I wasn’t sure how to follow them. AND to complicate the process, for every event but the beam, I was shooting through the safety bars of the balcony. I did manage to get a few decent shots of each event.

Special thanks to my two photographer friends for responding to my panicked texts about how to try to take the shots from that meet. (and understanding that sometimes my panic is born of my disease and my over active nervous system making me forget every thing I already know!) You guys are life savers to me. Truly.

Anyway, for those of you who don’t have amazingly talented people who fly through the air with the greatest of ease, allow me to share mine! The girls of FGI. It’s a pretty short season – States is March 16- and our gym only competes about 5 meets- so enjoy these girls with me. They really are something special.

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The Sort of Hope Who $u<k$ at Basketball

December 10, 2012 by allsortsofhope13

Basketball moves fast. Very fast. Much faster then my broken lens and I were prepared to handle.

Natalia just started her High School cheering season for basketball and I thought I’d give basketball photography a go.

HAHAHAHA. Ya, no.

Indoor lighting + bad lens + fast moving sport = disaster.

However, never being one to back down from a challenge, I am going to learn how to do this by the end of the season. Not master it, mind you ( though that would be amazing, wouldn’t it? ) I am going to learn it. Goal = set.

I came home that night and spent the evening reading everything I could find on what I was doing wrong , and some of what I had done right. Bearing in mind that much of my challenge is a faulty lens.

Many thanks to my secret helper who sent me all the reading I did that night. I won’t disappoint you. I’ll get this.

Normally, I ‘d be much too vain to post photos that I’d consider anything less than good. This time, though, I thought it would be in my best interest to post my baseline. Then I can look back in a month or two and see how far I’d come. I will admit that the majority of what I shot that night was unusable. I was able to salvage a few good shots. Some of which I shared here.

I know my lens won’t fix itself so it’s up to me to do the best I can with the handicap of the broken lens.

I figure, in a way, my camera and I are a bit alike. We both have handicaps that I have to learn how to work around. And so far, though at times they both frustrate the dickens out of me, neither one has really managed to get the best of me. Yet.

Game on.

The Sort of Hope that is Passionate

September 16, 2012 by allsortsofhope13

Passion.

It is a quality I both admire and respect in athletes. My kids have it in abundance for their respective chosen sports. Their friends have it, too. My husband still has it for his first love- baseball. I think I’ve found it for photography.

Rather than try to write about it and fail miserably, I thought I’d share my weekend full of passion-the rated PG (for language, not content) kind of passion- with all of you. The passion for what you do, accomplished by using my passion for what I do. I hope in every photo the passion for what these kids are doing is evident to you. Their story… their happiness, their success, their sadness and their failure. I will finish by sharing my very favorite quote about passion…

“Passion, it lies in all of us, sleeping… waiting… and though unwanted… unbidden… it will stir… open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us… guides us… passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love… the clarity of hatred… and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion maybe we’d know some kind of peace… but we would be hollow… Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion we’d be truly dead. ~ Joss Wheadon

(I have another blog entry called “the mood of the moment” that I try to update semi-regularly with some of my other favorite quotes and favorite self portraits-check it out)

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The Sort of Hope Who Went to Berkshire Opening Day

September 10, 2012 by allsortsofhope13

: *all rules for photographing balls were followed* I happened by the SeaDogs vs Spinners and found this shot.

*all rules for photographing balls were followed* I happened by the SeaDogs vs Spinners and found this shot.

Oh Ballz

September 5, 2012 by allsortsofhope13

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If we are going to get to know each other , there is some thing you need to know. I’ve got a confes sion to make.. It’s balls. I am obsessed with them. I am not exactly sure when this obsession began.. but I’ve got it bad.

I’m not selfish in my lust. I’ve gotten my beautiful sisters and my niece and my daughter hooked too! I’ve even gotten quite a few friends in on my compulsion to ball. We’ve made it a quest for all things Ballz.

It’s become a game. To post the ballsiest pic you can find. But you can’t pose them. All balls must be photographed in their natural environment. They are more glorious that way. Just like any good 40 something teenager , I still giggle every time I hear an umpire shout ” 2 balls” or especially ” NO BALLS on the batter”. I just can’t help myself. I hope my inner teen never stops finding that funny. Balls are just fun.

And hey, it’s almost the busiest season for balls– so I invite you all to join me and grab your fav camera and BALLz Up!