In 2006 I assigned my studio lighting class at BYU to shoot a baseball.
I got a box of old worn-out baseballs from the BYU baseball coach and gave one to each student. I wanted to also shoot the baseball, but I wanted to shoot it in a unique way. I wanted to take a portrait of a player holding the baseball.
I asked Vance law, the BYU baseball coach, if he could suggest someone to model for the shoot. He suggested that I photograph his father, Vern Law.
Vern played Major League Baseball from 1950 through 1967. Vern was the Cy Young Award winner in 1960. The Cy Young Award goes to the pitcher who has the best record in all of baseball that year.
I had done some research about Vern and was actually kind of nervous to photograph him. I asked him to come dressed in his Pirates uniform that he wore when he won the Cy Young Award. I hoped that he wouldn't feel goofy about it, and he didn't. He even brought an old ball glove that he used when he was playing.
I picked out the oldest most worn-out baseball I had from among the ones Vance had given me. I chose one that was losing it's threads, it's cover was scuffed and was generally in pretty bad shape. I had asked Vance to give me some ugly balls, and he picked out a bunch that were going to be thrown away from the pitching machine. These were beat...but they were perfect.
The old ball, the wrinkled hands, the worn mitt, everything was working really well. I shot a bunch of different detail shots of the hands holding the ball, then kind of as an afterthought I decided to back up a little and make a few portraits.
I think I only shot about four or five frames that showed Vern standing holding the ball in the glove, and really only one good expression on his face. It was almost an accident that I shot the frames at all. I was pretty intent on capturing the shot of the baseball in the mitt that I hadn't given myself much time to shoot some portraits of his face.
I'm glad I did though because I think it's one of the best portraits I've ever shot.
Tonight Vern calls me at home and says there's a writer who wants to publish a book about his life. He wants to know if they can use the image of his hands on the cover.
I don't know how this story ends, but there is a larger lesson...and here it is.
You NEVER know what kind of a life these images will have after you make them. They take on a life of their own and find ways to be seen that you can never dream of. Keeping that in mind, you should ALWAYS strive to do your best and make every frame count.
A friend of mine who photographs for National Geographic gave me this advice: "Always photograph like you are the last one who will ever take those pictures".
It's good advice, because sometimes it's really true.
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