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It’s not every day that you can whip out the old tuxedo and attend a black tie event, especially not one at the lovely Pacific Bell Park. On Saturday night, the home of the San Francisco Giants played host to the annual holiday party of the San Francisco Tennis Club.

PacBell Park was really something to see. Up until Saturday night, I hadn’t ever been to the park to see a game or to visit. I’d drive by it and always thought that it looked great, but I have to say that it’s much better in person. There really is something to be said when every seat has a great view of the game.

The staff at PacBell Park provided a tour of the baseball facilities at PacBell. Guests were able to walk onto the playing field (though not on the infield grass), as well as the visitor and home team dugouts. Underneath the field, we saw the batting cages and pitching rooms for the visiting teams, complete with clear partitions for studying the opposing team’s techniques and tactics. Overall, PacBell Park was an impressive facility, making stadiums like Candlestick or Jack Murphy Stadium look like second-rate!

“Black Tie” by definition means men are expected to wear a tuxedo. The invitations didn’t say “Black Tie Optional” or “Black Tie Preferred,” which would have given guests the option of wearing either a tux or a dark suit. Most of the men were wearing their tuxes, but there were quite a few who were in standard suits. Still, everyone was dressed sharply for the evening, including one gentleman who was garbed in a kilt! I last wore a tux four years ago at a family wedding. That was a rented tux, but on Saturday night, I wore my very old tuxedo, which has gotten a little tight around the shoulders. I guess it’s time to purchase a new jacket. Rae had on a lovely red and black dress with matching black gloves. I must admit that it felt weird going to the party dressed so formally. I felt as if we were in a James Bond movie!

As the photographer for the holiday party, I was responsible for photographing the revelries of the crowd. The conditions prompted for a healthy dose of flash photography, but my D30 and 550EX were up to the task. I must admit, however, that photographing a party entails a different approach than what I would use for shooting a conference or forum, like what I did at the recent Churchill Club/The Tech event in San Jose.

In hindsight, I think it would have been better to have set up a photography location at the party, providing the party-goers with a special memory of the event. Looking through the images collected in this photo gallery, the likely choice would have been taking pictures of people with the baseball field in the background.

You may note a distinct color difference between the three images above and the two at the beginning of this page. For those at the beginning of this page, I accounted for the difference in color balance between the harsh, bright stadium lights and the off-camera flash I used to illuminate the subjects. While the two types of photos both work, I feel that by balancing the color between the background and foreground, you’re able to create a more compelling and memorable image.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the photographs, please contact me for more information.