Mike Orazzi

Found this guy on Flickr. He is a sports photographer who has also shot field hockey. Not normal high school field hockey, but he has images up from the NCAA D1 final four. Softball, track and field, tennis, baseball, lacrosse, golf, rodeo, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics, soccer, cheerleading, football, and wrestling. Wow, that is a lot of sports to be shooting. After looking through a lot of his work, I decided that I like the pictures with a lot of action that show the players' faces, and I like the ones with emotion and action together. Some of his pictures are great but could be improved if he shot from a different vantage point. One picture is of a soccer goalie who is diving to make a save. When Mike pressed the shutter, he got the goalie as he was 3 feet off the ground and horizontal. However, we see his feet and legs. The picture would be more impacting if it showed his face as his was making a last ditch effort dive. The ball got passed him. Anyway, I think that being a good sports photographer depends largely on being in the right place at the right time. And being ready to snap the shot of course.