A Day with Dad at Channahon Pony Baseball Fields
It’s that time of year! America’s favorite pastime season has begun. I’m talking about…baseball! Jackie has had the idea of doing a baseball session for her son, Kellen, for awhile now. With it being his 10th birthday coming up, the family not having pictures for awhile and the love Kellen and his dad share for the game….it seemed like triple play.




Timing
We decided to do our session early in the morning due to the field being wide open to the elements (including the sun). Sun in a family photographer’s world means weird shadows and squinty eyes, so I normally avoid middle of the day sun unless the area we are shooting is completely covered with shade (which the wide open field did not have). Even with morning sun, I still worry about the direction in which I will be shooting, etc so I normally scout out the location at the same time I will be shooting the week prior to our shoot. This also allows me to be sure there aren’t any surprises we were unaware of (i.e. construction of bridges we may want to utilize, flooding, out of order areas). Due to the session being planned so last minute, none of my systematic planning was able to take place. With it being so early in the morning on a weekday though, we shouldn’t have any challenges, right?!?




The Challenge
I woke up Friday morning thankful for the thick layer of clouds. Remember, I hadn’t had a chance to scope out the location before hand due to our session being planned last minute as well as the distance between my and Jackie’s house. I drove down to the Minooka/Joliet area and headed over to the field. To our surprise, there was a team having early morning practice…on a weekday! We continued on and saw that early morning team practices and wet fields seemed to be the theme of the day throughout the area. We finally settled on a field in Channahon at the Channahon Pony Baseball Fields. Ok…all set…right?





The Sun!
That darn sun! It had been hiding for weeks. For WEEKS! And just as I was pulling my photo bag out of the car…I see it popping thru the clouds! By the time Kellen had his batting helmet on, the clouds had parted and we had full-on sun. And I realized as I set up that I would be shooting straight into it! How funny that, personally, I had wanted the sun so badly for so many days, and now I was shoeing it away! Be careful what you wish for, right?





The Solution
In the end, we made it work. We made it ALL work. Dug outs were used for shade, and I shot at different angles to avoid the dreaded squinty eyes. We did a lot of action shots…which was super fun for me as I loved watching Kellen and his dad play. And I love that we were able to get a few full family shots as well…all while wearing Kellen’s baseball team gear and doing something that means so much to all three of them. Go Rhinos!









Kim Novella is a lifestyle family photographer based in the Western suburbs of Chicago. She services Naperville, Warrenville, Wheaton, Oakbrook, Lombard, Downers Grove and surrounding areas.
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KatieBeautiful captures, Kim! He’s going to look totally different the next time your photograph him, I’ll bet. They grow so fast! This kind of a session is a really good idea. Thanks for sharing!
KateLooks like an All Star in these shots! Great Job!
Anja Jepsen Fotografie BlogMany thanks for sharing such good content on your blog.
Your approach to showing the intricacies of photography turns
your posts truly engaging. Keep up the great work, and thank
you for expanding our knowledge of photography. Kindly, Anja