Updated: January 2003

"Equal-Opportunity Pastime. Late summer has always meant boys competing for championships on the dusty diamond. Now it's a girls' world too. Look at all that space put there in right field. An iniviting target—if the batter can get the ball there. Most likely the four outfielders have shifted left because they know their opponent and trust their skills—the coming pitch certainly won't be a lob, and check out the coiled player in short center—to bail them out if they overplay the batter. In other words, these 14-, 15- and 16-year-old girls know the game. That's what Eric Payson, the photographer, discovered when he spent a couple of recent summers in Tucson following a friend's team, the Bobcats." —New York Times Magazine

"A few images depict game action, but most picture the teenage girls and their coaches off-field practicing, on the bench, and horsing around. Night games under the lights have an eerie glow; a player smiles proudly while getting her scraped elbow mended; another player wipes her mouth with her T-shirt. Players high-five each other or playfully flex their biceps; pitchers unleash their fastballs. In the end, these crisp, matte photos suggest what belonging to a team is all about. A good choice for comprehensive sports or contemporary photography collections." —Library Journal

"...the impression is one of teamwork, concentration, physical strength, and skill. There is some sense of the girls' burgeoning sexuality, but that is not the main focus of the book—nor, it would seem, of the girls themselves.... there are some mighty fine images: the pitcher, mid-throw, who looks like a dancer under a baby blue sky; a blond girl striding off a blurred, bright yellow, dusty softball diamond (the cover image); and a simple but suggestive shot of the idamond itself at dusk, bathed in the glow of lfoodlights for a night game, surrounded by a low, darkening sky." —Jean Dykstra for Art on Paper

"Some shots are simply lovely or graceful, like when a pitcher is winding up on the mound or when two players exercise in sync with each other.... Bobcats is a delightful examination of these young female athletes and well worth purchasing." —Entertainment Today

More Press Coverage !!
While You Were Sleeping, 4 Page Photo Gallery (October 2002)
Special Events !!
Book signing, Ursus Books, NY (September 19, 2002)