Duck, dummy!

I just remembered the first time I tried to take a baseball photo. It was 1980, and I was at a high-school practice in Oconee County, S.C.

I was sitting on a bench and adjusting the long lens on my camera. I heard the crack of a bat, and I saw the ball get bigger and bigger through the lens. I ducked to the right, felt the spin of the ball move my hair and heard the ball hit a young player in the ribs.

That could have been my camera and my head.

It took me a while (maybe a couple of years) to get good at baseball photos. Still, I learned from this beginning; always stay alert.

And duck, dummy.

 EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be Eand would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Good Samaritan

• The PRESS cap and my friend Mike

• Watching TV

• No luck with Billy Sims

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing