Here’s how a Globe photographer got the shot of Andrew Benintendi’s catch
"It wasn’t that difficult."
Jim Davis isn’t sure what the fuss is all about. The veteran Boston Globe photographer would rather focus on getting ready to head to Los Angeles for Game 3 of the World Series, but first he is asked about the picture.
You know the shot. The one of Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi making a leaping grab just shy of the wall in the top of the fifth inning in Game 2 of the World Series.
As Alex Speier noted, Benintendi was able to change his body angle so that once he landed on the warning track, he would be able to avoid crashing into the Wall.
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When Fox paused a replay for a freeze frame of the catch, play by play announcer Joe Buck said “There you go. We can just send that to The Globe right now.’’
Thanks, but we’re good Joe. We’ve got Jim Davis, even if he downplays the shot.
“I’m not the only one who got that picture, believe me,’’ said Davis. “It wasn’t that difficult. There’s probably a dozen photographers who got that same picture.’’
Still, we wanted to get an idea of what goes into capturing such a great shot, so while he packed his bags for his trip to LA, we fired off some questions.
Q. Where were you when you took the picture?
A. I’m in a different spot than I was during the regular season. There’s a little photo pit to the right of the Red Sox dugout. This year they put in the Jim Beam dugout seats, for the fans, to our right, but for the postseason, with the increasing amount of photographers, we took over the Jim Beam dugout seats.
Andrew Benintendi about to leap to make the catch to rob the Dodgers Brian Dozier of a hit in the top of the fifth inning.
So I moved all the way as far down the line as I could get toward right field. I kind of looked at it as a little different angle than we’re used to getting. A little cleaner background at second base. You could see a little more of third base, you could see a little more of right field, and you could see a little more of the players going into the dugout than you could from the other pit.
Q. Did that affect the shot?
A. No. It just made it a little bit of a different angle of the wall than I used to get. It’s a little bit of a different angle than I used to shoot from, that wall would have been a little more straight on, it’s just a little bit more on an angle now, nothing significant.
Q.Have you gotten any reaction?
A. No. We post the stuff on Instagram. The Globe and Sports have Instagram accounts. People react to that I guess, but it was a relatively simple picture to get. You just gotta follow the ball. The only thing is, in a situation like that, you could get blocked by, depending on your angle, you could get blocked by another player or an umpire. That’s totally out of your control. I’m sure there were other photographers who were on it, but because of their angle they got blocked by a player or an umpire or something like that, it doesn’t work out. Luckily for me, I didn’t get blocked by anybody from getting that picture.
Q. How does this rate among all the great sports moments you’ve been able to capture?
A. Not that great. I mean, it didn’t save the game. He didn’t slam into the wall or anything. He caught it, came down, and he was still in front of the wall. I think what makes it more of a dramatic photo is because of the wall. If that was just a play without that wall there, it probably wouldn’t look as dramatic.
Q. What makes shooting sports different than shooting other news events
A. A lot of things about sports is knowing the angles and trying to avoid being blocked as much as possible. It happens in football a lot too. The difference in football, you can move around from place to place during the game to try to get a better angle, baseball you’re parked in one spot, and so you’re more at the whim of lady luck, or who runs in front of you. Football you have a little more control of where you want to be.
