Have you ever wondered how Softball Victoria gets such amazing images from its tournaments?

For a number of years, images from our events and tournaments have been captured by sports photographer Sharyn Walker, and are among the best in the game.

Sharyn founded Change of Focus Photography more than a decade ago, with a mission to provide players, families, and clubs with memories that will last a lifetime, and her philosophy has always been to create customised photos with different action, logos, and colours, ensuring no image is the same.

Sharyn became involved with Softball Victoria in early 2018, when she decided to step outside of her comfort zone of shooting basketball, and promote the face of softball.

Growing up playing the game, Sharyn knew how exciting softball could be, making her decision to get involved with Softball Victoria a no-brainer. She approached Softball Victoria and began shooting tournaments, focusing on action shots and the emotions of players and coaches.

Sharyn is now the official photographer for all Softball Victoria events, and will be covering the Under 23 Men’s National Championship at Waverley this week.

She admits shooting softball can be complicated for someone without previous experience, but it's now almost second nature for the experienced photographer. She can instinctively position herself to capture the perfect action shot and knows what direction players will be heading, but she also admits that picking what to shoot can be slightly more complicated.

"Having to choose between someone sliding into second or running to home makes it harder to know where to look," said Sharyn.

As good as a sliding shot is, she says nothing beats photos of players watching their coaches before they go into bat, or teammates cheering one another on in the middle of a game.

In this way, Sharyn attempts to capture the raw, intimate moments of a game, so that participants get to remember the true feeling of a game for years to come.

She admits some shots come down to luck, but years of experience also means Sharyn has built a connection with players, coaches, and umpires, so she can capture the perfect shot without interfering in the game.

However, her luck as run out on more than one occasion, and she recalls being near the field during a warmup, when a hard fastball hit in the back, creating a nasty bruise.

Some close calls also have led to amazing shots however, such as when she had to duck a ball coming her way at a Masters tournament, creating the perfect image of the ball heading towards her.

So keep an eye out for Sharyn next time you're at a tournament, and try to avoid hitting the ball her way.

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