Our publisher here at The Columbian-Progress, Charlie Smith, had an idea to drum up some buzz for the upcoming baseball season last week, and that idea turned into something pretty great in a short time.
He approached us last Tuesday about making a baseball poster with schedules on it for Columbia, Columbia Academy, West Marion and East Marion. We discussed some ideas about how to make it look good and got to work.
The big one was how could we make it interesting — make it pop. We decided on using action shots from last season of players who will be returning this season and cutting out the images on top of a background.
So I spent about three to four hours last Wednesday looking through every baseball image we have in our archives from last season, picking out which ones look the best but also could be cut out in Photoshop. That isn’t always easy because there is always some sort of background behind the player and if it clashes with the player, we can’t use it as a cutout.
Then we had to decide on a background. Charlie looked through some sample backgrounds but didn’t find any he really liked. That led me to driving over to John Sapen Field at Columbia High School to take some pictures that could be used for a background. We wanted something that would obviously signify baseball but wouldn’t clash behind the players.
I had an interesting time trying to pull that off. When I got to the field, Columbia was beginning an intrasquad scrimmage. So I was trying to take pictures of the field while the Wildcats were gearing up for the season. The image we ultimately settled on for the background came from me laying chest down on the ground behind first base, shooting the outfield grass and fence, while my head was turned away from the action. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.
The baseball poster came out looking great and was finished by Friday last week. The posters should be arriving at our office on Friday and will then be distributed to the schools and local businesses throughout Marion County.
Working on this poster brought back some good memories from last season — Columbia Academy’s title run and West Marion’s journey to South State namely. I’ve always been torn on which sport I love more — football or baseball. It’s a lifelong debate for me that I likely will never solve.
But I know which one I enjoy covering more, and it’s not even close. There’s just something about being around the game of baseball that sticks with me. Being able to be out on the field during the game is like nothing else. Though, while it’s close, I probably enjoy watching football a little more than baseball from afar.
Either way, I am beyond excited for baseball season to get underway here in Marion County.
