Seattle Mariners

I had an incredible experience at Safeco Field on Sunday. The Seattle Mariners hosted the Anaheim Angels after defeating them the previous two days in a row. For the first 3 innings I was allowed in the press pit to photograph the game. I have to admit, I absolutely love shooting sports! It is so intense. Since I was very young I have been a huge Mariners fan. My Grandmother used to watch every game and knew pretty much everything there was to know about every player that ever played for them. Each time a Mariner would score a run she would go out on the lake she lived on and ring a super loud bell over and over again. All the neighbors knew when she rang the bell, the Mariners just scored a run. It was her that got me started collecting Baseball cards and one of my greatest memories as a kid was going to watch Gaylord Perry pitch at the Kingdome with my Grandparents.

Being down on the field is so amazing. You get to witness the comraderie between the players and best of all you can see the joy in the eyes of the fans as the players toss a little boy a baseball or sign an autograph or simply offer a handshake or a high five. The Seattle Mariners are an awesome baseball team and it was an absolute pleasure to photograph the game. Below are a few of my favorite shots from the day. I hope you like them.

These images are property of Mat Hayward Photography and are NOT authorized for use in any way shape or form at anytime by anyone. Thanks.


It's not uncommon to find players signing autographs for the fans before the game.
Pitcher Miguel Batista just before the game started.
Even though he's a player for a division rival, you have to take your hat off to Vladimir Guerrero. This guy is dominant! Where I was stationed on the field you could hear the bats swooshing through the air as the Angels warmed up while on deck. It really changes your perspective of the intensity of the game when you are that close.
Just before stepping up to the plate Ichiro looked right at me as if to say "Watch this!"
It's as though he knew it would happen. When Ichiro swings, he usually connects.a>
Pitcher Cha Seung Baek was told two hours before the game that he was going to be the starter. Check out the intensity shown in his face a split second before the ball is released.
Richie Sexson is always on first base. It's especially nice to see him there when the Mariner's are at the plate!
Another stolen base for the super speedy Ichiro and Erick Ayber of the Angels is mad about it!
The fans go nuts when a fly ball heads their way! I love the expression on the face of the guy in the white hat.
A close play at 2nd.
I think he's out at the plate!
The Umpire Agrees!
Mike Morse suffered a subluxation injury on his left shoulder during this play. Ichiro was there to back him up. After the play, Ichiro urged Mike to sit out of the game but his determination was stronger than his shoulder and he played on.
They say Vladimir Guerrero can hit anything...not this time! Notice how far away the ball is.
Double Play!
Strong effort by Ibanez on the last play of the game.
What it's all about.

Go Mariner's

Here's a shot I grabbed yesterday of Ichiro haulin tail down to First Base. Something I love about this guy is that no matter where he hits the ball, regardless of whether it's obvious he will be thrown out he runs as fast as he can. Check out the intensity shown in his face and the height of the dirt flying in the air behind him. I would love to know how fast he was running.

I'll be posting more from this game this week. I got a lot of great shots and had an awesome experience on the field!

Lion

Monday I stopped by the Woodland Park Zoo. It started out a bit dreary with all the animals snoozing. The two Lions were no exception. They were chilling out on a rock near the viewing window so I added my 2X teleconverter to my 70-200 lens and was going to shoot a close up of the female sleeping. Just then the big male woke up and started to do his thing. Here are a few shots I grabbed...

Crazy Uncle Mat

Last weekend my Mom (the crazy lady throwing the baby at me..thank goodness I was quick enough to snap the photo, drop the camera and catch her!), Sister and her two rug rats Ella and Mini-Mike aka Avery drove up to Seattle from their homes in Portland for a visit. What visit to my house would be complete without breaking out the studio equipment right?

Now that I think about it, I wonder if my Sister didn't have this planned the entire time. She did order an awful lot of prints for a spontaneous photo shoot after all...hmmmm

My oldest niece Ella has always been Miss Smiley whenever a camera is pointed in her direction. Not this time, let me tell you what. She did not want anything to do with smiling for the camera. Crazy Uncle Mat had to step in and show his serious (lack of) dance skills for a minute or two before she cracked a smile. I got a couple quick shots and that was it. Children's portraits I realize are not as simple as they seem. I think my Sister was lucky she didn't hit the JC Penney studio like my wife always threatens to do. Between Grandma, Ella, Mommy Meg and the star of the show Avery we fired off a few hundred shots. It was difficult to narrow it down to 50 great pics and then I felt a bit guilty as she ordered a whole heck of a lot of photo's. At least this way I know I'll get a photo of my Nieces :)

Until the end of May I will be offering a 25% discount off of my portrait pricing found on my Wedding Photography site under the category "Pricing."

You can tell it's a lot of fun by looking at Avery's reaction in the last photo when she realized we were going to call it a day :)





Of course Savannah and Sophie had to get in on the action.

Leavenworth, WA

Last week as I mentioned in my previous post was Lea and my 8th Anniversary. We headed over Steven's Pass which is an incredibly beautiful drive and found ourselves in a Bavarian Village known as Leavenworth, Washington.

It's hard not to like Leavenworth. It is truly a quaint, charming town with trees decorated with pretzels, dozens of stores with unique shopping opportunities ranging from thousands of Nutcrackers to Pretzel Dip. There is a Beer Garden smack dab in the middle of town and everywhere you go there is Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, great German Beers, cooked to order gigantic pretzels (something everyone must have...this is not your typical 7-11 hot pretzel). You do not go to Leavenworth to lose weight. This is genuine, stick to your ribs, keep you warm in sub-zero weather food.

The town is at the base of the Cascade Mountains and with snow still on the ground I was in awe of the natural beauty. We found a great little park along the river and the girls were patient enough to endure several photo sessions in different locations. I even talked my beautiful bride into laying down in the grass for some stock photo opportunities. Something in addition to her willingness to get a bit dirty for my art is her ability to get embarrassed in public places. The first restaurant we went to she asked what was on the kids menu. When the server proudly announced Pasta, chicken and then German Wieners Lea grinned and a tiny giggle discretely escaped. The ever tactful husband that I am brought full attention to the matter when I announce "You just giggled when he said German Wieners!" She turned a brilliant shade of red and it's no small miracle that we did make it to our 8th year of marriage as that was 2 nights before our official anniversary. Now that I think of it, that first night, Sophie was upset and couldn't sleep so she slept in my room with Lea and I slept in the Kid's room with Savannah..she couldn't have planned that...nahhh

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Auf Wiedersehen,

Mat



This May pole is a center point of town.
One thing not lacking in our house are photo's of the family :)
Dang! I am a seriously lucky guy aren't I?
Doesn't she look at peace?
It's a Wedding Chapel and a Cafe!
You gotta love those German Wieners!
We made a special trip back to the park at dusk as I knew the light would be pretty on the mountain then.
Savannah sure loved it.
Seriously, if you need a nut cracked in Leavenworth..you have nothing to worry about.
Pretzels do grow on trees!
This is a town with it's priorities straight.
This was a risky shot to take as you can imagine.
Even more Beautiful at night.

Unbelievably Sexy

All kidding aside (see the post below this one for that :) I am amazed and awed every day when I get to wake up to this beautiful woman. Here is a photo more representative of Lea than the one I posted earlier.

8 Years!

Because we were fools in Love...April 1, 2000 Lea made the dumbest..er, I mean I made the smartest decision (emphasize the good right?) of my life. I married my beautiful, sweet, sexy, funny wife Lea on a private beach in Maui, Hawaii.

To celebrate, Lea, the kids and I packed up our car and headed over the pass for a beautiful drive to Leavenworth, WA.

I'll post about Leavenworth when I get some more photo's done. In a nutshell, we loved the town, the experience, the hotel, all of it. Charm on top of charm.

As I was going through my initial edit of photo's, these two stood out as a pair of photo's that define our marriage. I am the luckiest man alive. I don't know anyone who would dispute that fact. Lea is wondering what the heck she was thinking by saying yes! I know she is going to be so mad at me for posting this. I just can't help myself. Besides, it's what you get for marrying me on April Fools Day :)

Dr. Seuss Night

The other night was Dr. Seuss night at Savannah's school. They put on a fun show with singing and reading in the library. Savannah had an important part. She was both One Fish and Two Fish (Red Fish and Blue Fish was on the other side). Here are a few pics from the night.
I felt so discriminated against

Savannah, just before we left the house.







The big moment!

Savannah and her super fun teacher Ms. Halverson.
What better way to celebrate a successful show than ice cream!

Pink, Pink and More Pink!

Can anybody guess what Savannah's favorite color is? Lea spent several days painting Savannah's room this week. For those of you thinking to yourselves.."What kind of monster lets his wife paint a room without helping?" Think again...to put it delicately, Lea likes painting to be done a certain way. She takes it very seriously and I must admit, she does a great job. Who am I to stop her? That reminds me though, I need to let her know it's time for the lawn to be mowed next time we have a sunny day.

The cool thing about this paint job is it made for some good stock photo's. Here are a couple and the last is the lucky kid in her newly decorated room. You can see, she loves horses too.

My crazy cat Jasmine

I've been playing with lighting quite a bit the past few weeks. Especially since I've purchased my new Pocket Wizards to fire my flashes and strobes remotely. Tonight I was setting up to shoot some wine glasses when the meanest cat in the West Jasmine plunked herself down on the carpet next to me. I stuck a flash under her chin at a low power and fired away. The interesting thing about these shots is they were taken in a fully lit room. I've always wanted to show how vibrant green her eyes are in a photo. I think I've done it this time.