Tucked away in boxes at my parents house sit some of the baseball cards I collected while growing up. While 99% of the cards could be worth to a recycling facility than to a collector they all tell a story about my youth. I remember looking at some of the cards and wondering about everything which went into the production of the cards. Gene Wojciechowski recently wrote a column about Gregg Forwerck a photographer for Topps. While it doesn’t get into the details of the photographing process, it is interesting to learn about the photographer, his backgrounds and some of what he has come across in his 19 years of being the “Annie Leibovitz of sports trading card photographers”.

Here is an article I found about picture day at Giants spring training in 2006, while it is from two seasons ago it is still interesting to see what happens during photo day.

Also for those keeping track, 15 days until opening day for the White Sox.

This past Friday evening I headed to Phoenix with a friend I’ve known since I was 10 for the First Friday Art Detour as well as a party he knew of nearby. After crashing at a friend of his house we headed back to Tucson for the Saturday afternoon baseball game. On the drive back we had some time, so Mark suggested stopping at the ostrich farm in the shadows of Picacho Peak. I recall when at the University of Arizona this being added, but I had never stopped.

For a $5 fee you can feed the ostriches, emus, lorikeets and a few other animals. Once we feed the ostriches and lorikeets we headed south towards Tucson and the baseball game. It was an interesting experience, and here are some fun facts about the ostrich.

This past weekend I headed to Tucson to watch some spring training games featuring the Chicago White Sox. While on Friday they got crushed by the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was a split squad game featuring mostly players who will not be on the opening day squad. On Saturday it was a better outcome with them winning the game over the San Francisco Giants. The below image is one I took of Matt Thornton warming up in the bullpen, prior to being asked not to lean on the fence as well as place the camera over the fence to obtain additional images of the warm-ups. A few minutes after this image was taken he did enter the to pitch a scoreless inning.

With the White Sox wanting to move to Phoenix, there could be only a few years left of spring baseball in Tucson. I recommend checking out a game for one of the three teams in the area if you get the chance.

The snow has been falling this season giving some good skiing and boarding this year, however if you are thinking about entering the amateur photo contest held by Loveland ski area… photographer beware. As stated in the terms of the contest…

“All entries will become the property of Loveland Ski Area and will not be returned. Contestants grant Loveland Ski Area and contest sponsors unlimited usage and unrestricted rights of any photograph submitted to the contest. Any submitted photograph may be used in products, promotional materials, or in any manner Loveland sees fit.”

This seems quite reaching and was posted as a warning today on the blog Photo Attorney. Sure it is nice to enter a contest and possibly win, but you should always read the terms to find out just what you are giving up by entering. With that in mind, what do you win?

As I mentioned yesterday it was a record high temperature in Denver at 74 degrees. Sunday morning I woke up with the wind howling against my house and upon looking outside snow. While most of the snowfall had ended by the afternoon, I ventured out to Washington Park for a walk around the main loop with my camera. A few people were out jogging in the elements, and I found out the walk back to the north end of the park was a little brutal when the wind would gust. The following image was captured during the afternoon, and I decided to convert it to a style which would tell the story of a snowy Sunday.

This month the Society for Photographic Education (SPE) will be holding their 45th annual conference for three days in Denver. To help mark this the local arts community has made March a “Month of Photography in Denver” with many local and national artists showcasing their photographic imagery at various venues. Details regarding the various venues may be found at the Month of Photography site.

Record high 74 degrees Fahrenheit today in Denver, Colorado.

Tomorrow… 35 degrees cooler and snow.

Felt good to be out enjoying the nice weather.