One man, one camera, 160 teams

(click banner for original news story at OttoinFocus)

Written by Bob Otto on July 22nd, 2010

YUCAIPA, CA – I emailed Maddy Flanagan, ISC photographer extraordinaire, and the lovely wife of Fastpitchwest Editor, Jim Flanagan.

I needed some camera lens advice.

“Maddy I’m thinking of shooting the NAFA World Series in Des Moines, and I’m thinking (usually I don’t do much of that) of buying a 300mm lens. What f-stop is yours?”

“That would be awesome if you could shoot NAFA!” said Maddy.

Well, Maddy gave me her lens advice, I bought the lens (received it yesterday) and this morning I told NAFA Executive Director, Benjie Hedgecock, that I’ll be in Des Moines.

It’s been a long drought for me. My last national tournament was the 2000 ISC World Tournament in St. Joseph, Missouri. A great tournament and wonderful city, by the way.

Now, 10 years later, I’m off to Des Moines. And I’m jazzed about it. Just imagine, more than 160 teams battling in six divisions for World Series championships from Aug. 13 to Aug 22.

More than 160 teams!

“Gulp.”

I just realized that I’m going to attempt to shoot a LOT of teams and players. The most I’ve covered before was when the ISC World Tournament had the double-knockout, 48 team bracket.

Make that a double, “gulp, gulp.”

But since Benjie and I have emailed back and forth, I’m ready to go. Ready to photograph and report as much as possible. We want the NAFA website to sizzle and sing with game reports, photos, and ballpark updates.

And that’s where we need the help of the teams making the trip to Des Moines.

You’re going to see this guy – me – lugging around two cameras, one hanging off each shoulder, along with a notepad. Oh, and a tape recorder stuck in my pants pocket. (If you talk faster than I can write, you will be recorded.)

I’m going to be asking you managers for a few minutes of your time – perhaps BEFORE a game is about to begin. I’m going to be asking to talk with your players. I promise I won’t take much of your time because I know you want to focus on the games at hand.

And I’m always on the hunt for short profile stories. So if you’ve got someone on your ball club I should know about, then flag me down.

And if there’s someone who wants to help me out, perhaps gathering post-game information (I can furnish you with a guide), that’d be awesome.

I’ve been emailing and talking on the phone with many of you for the past year. I’m looking forward to finally putting faces with the names. This is going to be fun.

See you in Des Moines!

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