Honestly capturing highlights from the Astros’ charity game sounded simple enough, right? Grab my gear and go? Yeah, not so much. Let me walk you through how this actually went down.
Gearing Up Was Half the Battle
First off, I spent forever trying to find my good lens cap. Turned my gear bag upside down. Empty coffee cups, old batteries, weird cables… finally found it crushed under my monopod. Nice. Then the battery situation. Checked my main camera battery – flashing red. Great. Dug through my charging station. Found one with maybe a quarter charge. “It’ll be fine,” I lied to myself. Packed the bag: camera body, shaky tripod, that half-dead battery, and my janky field mic. Felt confident. Spoiler: I shouldn’t have.
Getting There & The Setup Struggle
Parking was its own kind of circus. Drove around the stadium for what felt like hours. Every lot was packed tighter than the team bullpen. Finally squeezed into a spot that probably wasn’t actually parking. “Ah, they won’t tow me,” another lie. Hauled the gear towards the staff gate. Security dude checked my pass three times, squinting. Seriously? Eventually waved me through. Found my assigned spot near the dugout. Perfect view! Unpacked… aaand realized the tripod plate was still at home, attached to my desk. Genius move. Balanced the camera precariously on the metal railing. Held my breath every time it zoomed.
The Game & My Heart Attacks
The players came out swinging. Some serious good vibes for charity. Got some sweet shots of kids high-fiving the players. Then, disaster number one: the power symbol started flashing angrily on my camera. Quarter-charge battery? More like five-minute-charge battery. Swapped it like a frantic pit crew, knocking the mic cable loose. Static. Pure static on the audio for a whole play. Cursed quietly. Disaster number two: while zooming in on a diving catch attempt, the camera slid on the railing. Lunged, grabbed it like a pop fly. Heart actually stopped. My neighbors probably thought I was having a fit. Just caught it. Not my brightest moment.
The Raw File Fiasco
Got home buzzing, dumped the footage onto my computer. Opened the editing software. Felt good! Loaded my best clips… and discovered the horror. The light had shifted weird in the late afternoon. Half the player close-ups were either too dark or blindingly bright. Like, squint-and-hope bright. Spent hours just trying to make Bagwell’s face look like a human face and not a shadow demon. Colour grading hell. Trashed so many clips that looked fine on the tiny screen out there.
Finally Getting Something Watchable
After wrestling with brightness sliders forever, I started cutting the good bits. Found that incredible over-the-shoulder catch. Had the mic static, but the crowd roar was clean. Used that instead. Genius. Remembered I caught a little kid getting a signed ball, pure joy on his face. Raw emotion beats shaky zooms any day. Threw those moments together. Added some basic text showing which charity got cash. Simple. Honest. Not fancy. Rendered it out. Watched the final cut hoping it wouldn’t look terrible.
There you have it. My glamorous, mistake-filled day trying to capture a fun charity game. Was it smooth? Nope. Perfect? Heck no. But got some genuine moments in the end. Proof that sometimes, even when you trip over your own gear, you can still grab something worth sharing. Maybe charge the batteries next time though. Lesson definitely learned.
