Category Archives: Lost Ballpark

Candlestick Park Red Chair Flare

08 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Football, Former home of the San Francisco 49'ers, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, San Francisco 49'ers, San Francisco Giants, sf 49'ers, SF Giants

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This Candlestick Park Red Chairs photograph was shot in the later afternoon before a night game. These chairs are the best memorabilia to remember the Stick! Maybe one day my wife will allow me to own an actual chair. I did buy an orange seat to use as a background for shooting my photo products.

Notice the light flare on the upper right corner. As per 2nd previous post where I mention about most of the time, a photographer will avoid this light flare in a picture. Well this is an example where I wanted the flare to show the light rays over the rows of chairs. The flare also reflects a nice glow on the bright red chairs.

A photograph should show off the best features of the subject. This light accentuates and highlights the good attributes for these chairs at the Stick. The natural flare also gave a great glow to these classic red stadium chairs.

Natural lighting is an important ingredient for a good picture.

My mother-in-law (who is only 99 years old) has a habit of wanting to save money and close the lights. If she gets up in the middle of the night, she will not turn on the light. She already does not have perfect sight, and light will illumine her path to prevent an accident. I have tried to help by putting night and motion lights to help her.

Just like my mother-in-law – we forget how important light is and how much we need it.

Practice shooting pictures with different degrees of natural lighting to see the reflection, flare, and glow in your results.

As always – my photos are not altered via software to give the “glow”.

Get the glow on in your photos!

 

 

SF Giants Opening Night at Candlestick Park Against the LA Dodgers

07 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants

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The fans were getting ready for the SF Giants Opening night game on April 15, 1991. This was before the game started as the stadium crew were getting ready for the pregame fireworks show.

It is always fun to attend a SF Giants Opening game. I cannot say I attended an opening game every year. But it is an exciting time to anticipate the beginning of a new season and the possibilities of victory.

This game was particularly exciting since it was against the Dodgers. You can see in the  photo how the seats were filling up with hopeful fans. Unfortunately, the SF Giants did not get a win that night.

Despite the outcome of the game, fans remember the good times they spent together with family and friends watching either baseball or football.

Even though, there were many games when the SF Giants did not do well, somehow we do not talk as much about the defeats. Instead we reminisce about the relationships we built as we spent time together at the Stick.

Candlestick Park taught us the importance of spending time together to create good memories. We get too busy with work, chores, and just life.

Prioritize to find a way to spend time with those you deem important. Don’t allow our excuses to prevent gathering with friends and family. Find a way to build stronger relationships in 2020.

Photos Inspire me to remember my good memories at Candlestick Park!

Destress with Photos!

 

Setting Sun at SF Giants Batting Practice at Candlestick Park

05 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants

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I arrived early to attend an evening SF Giants Game at Candlestick Park. It was nice to go earlier to watch batting practice in the late afternoon and relax by shooting photos at the Stick.

Notice the late afternoon sun created a flare at the upper portion of this photo. This occurs with sun’s light and reflection from the camera’s lens. We often would want to minimize this effect to not obstruct your photograph. Or you could use this effect to accentuate an aspect of your picture.

I took this photograph about 25 years ago. Today we can buy lenses that can help minimize the sun’s flare in our photographs.

Light is always important when we take pictures. But we need to be aware of the effects of the sun with the surroundings of the picture as well as the reflection from our lenses.

Just as we need good lighting and reduction of flare to get a good clear picture, we need “good lighting” to see ourselves.

I am thankful to celebrate a new year and am looking forward to continuing my quest to achieve my goals. It is hard to look at ourselves to see the reality of our strengths and weaknesses. Reality is sometimes hard to face. We can be blind to our personal reality especially in seeing our weaknesses.

I hope I can get “good lighting” from my personal reflections as well as from family and friends to have a good look at my life’s reality. I hope to reduce the “flare”effect, so I can see reality to improve in 2020!

Here’s wishing you a great 2020! My Candlestick Park photographs have always been a great inspiration to me in so many ways. Hope you can find photos to inspire and reveal reality in your life.

 

Night SF Giants game at Candlestick Park in 1988

13 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, Remembering Candlestick Park, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants, Sports Photography

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The SF Giants played the Montreal Expos (Now the Washington Nationals) in 1988 at Candlestick Park. I took this picture from the back of the lower reserved area behind home plate.

We can see this was not a good year for the SF Giants, since we can see the upper deck and center field seats are empty. Often times there were lots of empty seats during the weeknight games.

Notice also the red glow due to the incandescent lighting over the people in front of me in the photograph.  This lighting accentuates the vintage appearance to this photograph.

The fans who are willing to attend a weeknight game are special and important. It shows their desire to be faithful to their team even when the SF Giants were not performing well. These fans are willing to be an encouragement to the players who are stressed about their ability to score to get a winning game.

It is a good lesson about loyalty to a family, spouse, friend or any association entity group. How faithful are we to stick with someone thru good and bad times. When our relationships get difficult, are we willing to endure and find resolutions to situations. Often times, we prefer an easy way out and leave to avoid difficult times. We need to be available to those who are important to our life. Do your loved ones know they can count on you when they are in need? Do we find ways to serve and help even when we are not asked specifically.

I have been a loyal SF Giants fans since my days of shooting pictures at the Stick. I was depressed in their bad years. I was super excited when they achieved their great triumphs and victories. Their championship wins were even more exciting since I (like many other fans) waited patiently many years.

Whether you are a faithful SF Giants fan like me is not as important as answering the following question — Are you as loyal and faithful to take care of the important people in your life?

Learn Lessons from Pictures!

 

 

 

Glorious Afternoon before Game 4 of the NLCS at Candlestick Park

11 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, Remembering Candlestick Park, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants

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Being at Candlestick Park in the afternoon was a treat when there was sunshine and not fog. There was excitement in the air, since we were waiting for Game 4 of National League Championship Series with the SF Giants playing. We can see the fans are slowly filling up the stadium

I love the striped fields with the plaid pattern behind home plate. I noticed that this pattern is much less pronounced at Oracle Park. It would be cool if the Grounds Crew spelled out SF Giants on the field at Oracle Park for a special occasion.

Do you ever imagine crazy ideas and dismiss them thinking they are dumb. As I was writing this post and imagining field patterns at Candlestick Park, I was realizing how we need to relax and spend time daydreaming ideas. Do we allow ourselves the luxury to dream?

When I started roaming around the Stick, I never dreamed this stadium would be gone one day. I had the best time of my life looking for my art before watching the SF Giants play baseball. I never imagined that I would even share my photographs in any way like I am doing today.

My attitude is not always very optimistic. I do not like being disappointed, which is why I am more cautious with my dreaming. We do need to “let it go” and dream. I’m sure there are many successful individuals who were not afraid to dream and “go for it”. This is a lesson I am trying to learn.

If you have seen any other interesting field patterns, please share with me.

Hope this photograph encourages you to dream your own “Field of Dreams” and let your imagine go wild!

Find your inspiration in a photo!

Upper Box Looking Down at the Luxury Box Windows and Field at Candlestick Park

08 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, Remembering Candlestick Park, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants

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I took some pictures back in the late 1980’s with my 35mm Canon film camera. I used high speed Kodak 35mm T-Max 3200 black and white film. This type of film produces fairly big grain in the pictures. I processed the film myself in my darkroom. I no longer have the darkroom, but scanned the negatives with my Epson flatbed scanner.

I took this picture from the Upper Box section down the first base line at Candlestick Park during batting practice at a SF Giants game. It was cool to see the reflection of the playing field on the top windows of the Luxury Box section just below.

Using window or other objects which show a reflection add another dimension to ones photographs. Span a perspective scene to see what you can shoot to add an interesting view. Look for any shiny surface where you can catch an interesting reflection.

Reflections remind me about how we look at own reflections to see either our flaws or attributes. Often we are more concerned with our flaws instead of our good features. A reflection can show off a scene favorably.

So can we be less critical about our reflection and appreciate who we are?

#PhotosInspire

 

From the Upper Deck to Being on the Field during Fuji Photo Day at Candlestick Park

05 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by in Baseball, Candlestick Park, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, Remembering Candlestick Park, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants

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Fuji Photo Day was one of my favorite promotions the SF Giants had at Candlestick Park. These pictures were taken back on Saturday, May 14, 1988, when the Giants played the Mets. This was back in the days when there were no digital cameras, and I shot with 35mm color film.

These pictures provide 3 levels of perspective of the field at Candlestick Park – looking from the top, overview behind home plate, and directly looking at the grass.

One of the things I loved about the Fuji Photo Days was being allowed to walk on the field. When we are allowed to be on the field at Oracle Park, I love to walk on a well groomed baseball field. I get really excited to be on the SF Giants playing field. Whenever I had an opportunity to walk on the field at Candlestick or Oracle Park, I touched the grass with my hands. It was also nice to sit on the grass to feel the softness of world class natural turf.

We can learn how to approach personal problems from the 3 levels as seen in these photos.

  1. View a problem from a broader perspective. Analyze the total effect of a problem.
  2. Narrow down to see various effects of a problem.
  3. Get up close to see one part of the problem

Let me translate this approach.

When I was mugged while shooting the demolition of Candlestick Park, I experienced anger, frustration, and bitterness.

  1. So I examined my past to see where my problem originated to get the broader perspective. These feelings originated from childhood bullying experiences.
  2. The effects of the problem continue to haunt me when I feel I am treated unjustly.
  3. Getting up close to find a solution revolves on my desire to replace the anger with peace via prayer and surrender.

Candlestick Park is not just a baseball stadium. It continues to show me life solutions are possible when we examine ourselves at all levels.

Find photos to inspire!

Red Chairs From Candlestick Park to Oracle Park

03 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in 49ers, AT&T Park, Candlestick Park, Former home of the San Francisco 49'ers, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, niners, Oracle Park, San Francisco 49'ers, San Francisco Giants, sf 49'ers, SF Giants

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Everyone loves the iconic red and orange seats from Candlestick Park. Whether you prefer red or orange, you can purchase the stadium seat from $599.99 to $689.99. I actually purchased just the seat portion and not the whole chair for a reasonable price. It would take a miracle for my wife to allow me to ever purchase the whole chair.

Since I cannot actually own one of these old chairs, I’m so glad I can sit on one in Oracle Park. It is so cool we can visit these stadium chairs behind the Centerfield Scoreboard at Oracle Park. The chairs are a little aged and old. But are still functional and bring back good memories.

These chairs are one of the few mementos left from the Stick. Many of us share good memories from watching the SF Giants and the 49ers at this stadium. We spent precious moments with friends and family enjoying baseball and football. It is important to preserve these warm feelings to remind us of our past.

Thank you Oracle Park for keeping these old chairs to remind us about our times at The Stick.

I love my old stadium pictures of these chairs. I love how they glowed with the sun shining on the bright colors. The warm glow made them look even more special.

We need to see and keep the old photographs from the past to remind us where we came from. The pictures remind me of the person I was when I first started shooting photographs.

Think about your good memories when you attended sporting events at Candlestick Park. Who were you then? And how have you changed and grown to be who you are today? Are you happy with who you are today compared to the person of your past?

Keep the good memories from Candlestick Park!

Sweeping view from the Candlestick Park General Reserve Area

30 Saturday Nov 2019

Posted by in Candlestick Park, Former Home of the San Francisco Giants, Lost Ballpark, San Francisco Giants, SF Giants

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I was in the (Bleacher Seat) area at the General Reserve Area at Candlestick Park on a clear afternoon for a day game in 1988. I took this photograph in front of the big center field TV camera. Being up at an angle does provided a good view of the entire field.

It is a good strategy to take photographs where the TV cameras are located at any stadium. The cameras are positioned at good spots for a good reason.

This also was a perfect day at Candlestick Park. No clouds were in the sky. I probably took this photo around noon before an SF Giants day game. The sky was perfectly blue. The lighting was perfect.

Position and timing to get perfect light and conditions are key to taking a good photo. The same could be said about life. Being at the right place at the right time is a nice thing. For example, my wife got her present job at the right time to be able to earn our lifetime medical benefits upon retirement with a minimal 10 years of working. She happened to be at the right job at the right time before the benefit was taken away.

Looking for good opportunities can be key in being at the right place at the right time. Nobody has a magic ball to tell what tomorrow will be. When my wife had to find a new job, it turned out to be beneficial for both us which was very fortuitous. It paved the way to be a little adventurous to share my photographs via this blog and with an Etsy store.

We are still searching for opportunities and learning to see how we can position ourselves on this journey to share our photographs, and how to inspire others in their life journeys with pictures.

Photos Inspire!