Last night, after I finished up my assignments, I ended up sitting with Seattle Times photojournalist Rod Mar. I've been enjoying Rod's blog on The Seattle Times website (http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/bestseatinthehouse/) for a while. I asked him when he would again be shooting a Mariners game. He said he'd be shooting that evening. I asked if I could tag along and he was more than happy to have me. After my first attempt at shooting a Mariners game last week, I was a bit disappointed in my performance. I was stationed next to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer and I was impressed by his knowledge of the game and the "storyline." This means he know he knew which players to look out for as far as what they might do, giving him the advantage of being able to anticipate where the next photo would be. He also had at least 20 years of sports shooting on me. Needless to say, he kicked my butt.

Being the competitive person I am, I thought going out with Rod would give me the opportunity to spend time with him, watch him work and ask him questions. It was a lot of fun, especially since I wasn't "on the clock" and didn't feel the pressure of having to necessarily deliver. The only competition was myself. In the end, I actually ended up with a frame I liked. If the Mariners would have lost, it would have run on the sports front. However, they won, but it ran inside the section nonetheless to show how they almost blew it earlier in the game.