St. Patty's Day 2010

This year the Los Angeles' St. Patrick's Day celebration was a bit different. There was no parade but instead a festival which was held at the LA Live complex. This complex sits in the middle of downtown Los Angeles and is quickly becoming the place to go in downtown Los Angeles. Surrounded by large venues (Nokia Theatre, Staples Center), loads of restaurants and nightclubs it is a vibrant center. It was no less so on St. Patty's Day when the wonderful Dublin All-Star Marching band played for our fellow Angelenos. We were also graced with the wonderful sounds of Ken O'Malley and the Twilight Lords and no less impressed by the ballads sung by Ms. Connie Monroe. The ever-present Emerald Society's Bagpipers were there as well bringing that special Irish touch which only bagpipes can bring. All in all, despite there being no parade, it was a great Irish celebration and I was happy to be there and see it all unfold. You can see photos of the day at our 2010 St. Patrick's gallery. Enjoy!

2010 AAU International Tournament Photos Posted

The photos of the 2010 AAU International Tournament have been posted in the 2010 AAU gallery. The tournament as always was excellent thanks to the hard work of Alex Linares and Ken Hackmeister who are the brains behind this wonderfully run tourney. Thirty eight teams graced the fields of Disney's Wide World of Sports and I was there to see (and hopefully, capture) it all. I am a lucky girl (ahem, photographer) indeed!

This was my seventh consecutive visit to this tournament and I have to say it just gets better every year. It also gets harder to try to photograph everyone and everything that happens on those fields. So, if you don't see yourself in the photos, do not despair; I shall be there again next year with camera in tow. Just tap me on the shoulder and let me know you are out there and I will do my darndest to capture you in your full glory! Enjoy the photos.

Slideshow Update

I have updated the opening slideshow on the homepage to include some more recent photos. For those of you not familiar with the slideshow, it resides in our home page and it plays a series of photos of different events that I have photographed throughout the years. I know that many of you are familiar with my sports photography but I also do a great deal of event photography and some travel photography as well. So, if you have a few minutes, log onto our website and take a look at our updated slideshow. Who knows? You may be featured on it!

Go to www.maddysphotos.com or click on the photo to go to our home page.

2008 ISF Jr Men's Championship - Yukon, Canada

Some of you may have wondered whatever happened to the photos I took in 2008 at the Jr Men's World Championship in White Horse, Yukon, Canada. I was particularly excited about this tournament because of its location: the Yukon and because I do not often get to shoot young fastpitch players. However, access in this tournament was limited as the tournament already had an official photographer. Nonetheless the good folks at White Horse graciously allowed me to shoot anywhere around the ballpark as long as it was not on the field. I have not posted these pictures until now in deference to the official tournament photographer and to not impact her sales. It has been almost 18 months now but reviewing these photos brought back all the excitement. In particular the game between Argentina and New Zealand stands out. The heart shown in that game can be seen in many of the photos but those of us who were lucky enough to watch it in person will never forget the hair-raising ending, the reaction of the winning Argentine team, and the standing ovation given by the fans.

The photos are posted under 2008 ISF Junior Men's World Championship (click link or photo above).

Santa Con

Today, I participated for the first time in a nation-wide tradition called "Santa Con". For those of you not familiar with the event, you can look it up in Wikipedia but in a nutshell Santa Con is a mass gathering of people dressed like Santa Claus who for one day roam the streets of the city bringing holiday cheer. I was intrigued by the concept and so joined over 500 other individuals and roamed the city streets of Los Angeles (in costume, of course). There were many photo opportunities most of which you can see in our 2009 Santa Con gallery; however, some costumes were not for (ahem) public consumption; I will leave that to your imagination . Nonetheless, you can enjoy the many versions and interpretations of a Santa suit. I think the women in particular were most creative but there were a few guys that showed incredible ingenuity. So, pour yourself a cup of hot cocoa, pull up the gallery and view hundreds of Santas as they wreaked havoc on a cold and rainy Saturday in Los Angeles. Ho, Ho, Ho!

Red Rock Revisited

I'm playing catchup this weekend and so have posted the last set of photos I took at the Red Rock tournament in 2007. As I reviewed the photos for posting it brought back many memories of that field and that tournament. One of my favorite tournament for many reasons: location, players, quality of game, I still miss shooting this tournament two years later. Click here to take you to the gallery of photos for the 2007 Red Rock Tournament and enjoy revisiting one of the greatest tournaments that men's fastpitch has to offer. Let's hope we can one day soon return to this beautiful venue.

Field of Dreams

I was in Quad Cities photographing the ISC II Tournament of Champions this past August and it just so happened to be a couple of hours from the actual Field of Dreams. So, off we went to look at this famous site and I must say it did not disappoint. It is the film site for the baseball movie of the same name. As baseball movies go, this one quickly became a classic and the field, I suppose, became a must place to visit for baseball and movie fans.

If you are not a baseball fan, this may not strike you as all that interesting, but I can tell you that if any place can convert you this one can. A pristine field of green grass against a jaw-dropping azure sky, a striking (and ghostly) corn field, visitors reverently walking and playing in the grounds, and you have a magical place. You need not be a fan to recognize that.

So, as you peruse the photos, may it bring back some joyful memories of playing in your own backyard or as I did, may it help you recognize the beauty of something as simple and beautiful as a baseball field, on a hot summer day.