Matthew R. Hibbard

Ever since U2 came to town and brought their octopus (OK, octopus-shapped stage) to Busch Stadium, I had one question nagging me everyday as I came into work. Where did St. Louis’ coveted grass go?

Checking around, I found out that while most of the sod went to a landfill, about half of the good stuff was hauled on a truck, transported down I-64 and arranged at Westminster Christian Academy in Town and Country. The new $70 million school now has a bit of Cardinal DNA tucked away at its softball field.

Belleville-based Perfect Play Fields and Links managed the sod movement . The timing was what sealed the deal, said Charles Waldron, Westminster owners’ representative.

“We have been under construction since June of last year,” Waldron said. “None of this was known until the last minute.”

The whole process took about 12 hours to complete. Workers laid the sod in the early morning and watered the grass as soon as they could. The move was a challenge and the 100-degree temp didn’t help matters, said Mike Munie, president of Perfect Play Fields and Links. “The simpler thing to do would be to move it to a landfill.”  

According to the Cardinals, the approximately 110,000 square feet of sod cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace.

When it comes to taking risks, I routinely stay on the side of caution. Yeah, there are times you just gotta let loose, but we can't just jump off a bridge or (if you're completely crazy) a plane all the time, right? Well, sometimes even the thrill seeker in me needs to come out and this time the urge took me to new heights.

A few weeks ago, I traveled to New Florence, Missouri with my brother and a couple of his coworkers. We arrived at Eco Zipline Tours late in the afternoon and were ready to fly through the forest. According to the companies website, this tour business claims to be Mid-Missouri’s largest, longest, highest, fastest and most exciting zipline canopy tour. I guess if you are seeking adventure, the best is the only option.

As you can tell from the video, ziplining isn't that bad. Yes, the first jump is a little nerve-racking, but once you jump off one platform you can't stop yourself from doing it again. Come to think of it, there seems to be something therapeutic about taking that leap.

We decided the beginners course was sufficient enough for that day. Next on the list? Night time ziplining, complete with a head lamp and a vibrant sunset.

While everyone at the Superbowl party was watching the game, (or at least watching the commercials) I was watching everyone else. I entered the party with one goal in mind - get reaction shots.

The party gave me the perfect stage. On football’s biggest night, when fans’ emotions are running at full throttle, I merely had to sit back and wait for the right moment.

Like a lot of things in photography, you have to do a little predicting before pressing the shutter button. In the photos above, I was lucky enough to capture great emotion and action all at once.  

I scanned the room and picked out the spectator who seemed invested in the game the most. Clearly, it was the woman above with the Stealer’s jersey. When the moment finally came, I was ready. All it took was a little preparation and some keen intuition.

All throughout the night I was shooting in the “A” mode. For non-DSLR users, this meant that I was able to manipulate the aperture and ISO settings while my camera selected the shutter speed. For the most part, the pictures were in focus but the color was a bit off. The photos ended up being oversaturated and had a yellowish tint to them.

I worked with the white balance, but nothing really brought back those true colors again. I ended up changing the images to black and white thus eliminating the colors all together.

The Superbowl is over, but my knowledge of photography has grown. It just goes to show you can learn anything, anywhere.

Before I talk about this picture, I just want to let everyone know that I have been busy with a lot of things in my life these past couple of days. With exams starting to come up in full force along with my job and other dilemmas, my chance to update my blog fell to the bottom of the list. But…fear not I’m back with a new post and a new adventure.

 Growing up I was fortunate to attend tons of major league baseball games, hockey games and even the occasional soccer game, but a professional football game was never in the line up….until today.

My dad was able to get free tickets to the Rams vs. Vikings game and I was able to come home from college and go. It was a lot of fun, even though the Rams lived up to their true potential and added another loss to their record losing streak (that’s a whole other story to get into, I mean come on, there were more Viking’s fans in the building than Ram’s fans).

Moving on…the one thing I did realize, while watching the game, was the organization of the game itself. I found that who directs the football game is not the players or couches, it’s the television networks. Players just stood around on the field and waited for the commercials to end, it’s interesting being on the other side of the TV screen.

The above photo was hard to take, not because of the subject, but because of the lighting. I turned up my ISO as high as I could and I increased my shutter speed to allow multiple shots with as much light as possible. Here’s what I got.

Even though the home team lost, I still had a great time at the dome. If anything, I can check off going to see a professional football team live off my bucket list!