When photographers Jane and Michael Shauck got the call to shoot the New York Mets during spring training last year, they didn’t know what to expect.

“We flew down to Port St. Lucie, Fla., and never knew how much time we were going to have,” Ms. Shauck said. “It turned out we shot 69 players and coaches from 7:30 to 9 in one morning.”

What could have been a disaster turned into a bigger success than the Shaucks ever imagined. The couple is returning to Florida this coming weekend to again shoot photographs that will be released on opening day.

“Everyone loved them,” she said of the black-and-white portraits. “Mets fans started blogging about us.”

The photo shoot was done for SportsNet New York, a cable channel devoted to covering all New York sports through its shows and website. Jane Shauck was hired for the job by Julie Frahm, supervising producer for SportsNet New York.

Ms. Frahm, a West Hartford native, received an article from her mother, still living in town, about Jane that was featured in a past issue of West Hartford LIFE.

“She thought I would make a great wedding photographer for her daughter and sent her a copy of the article,” Jane said. “I don’t know if she was getting married or not.”

Frahm “saw something” she liked in Jane’s work.

“I think she thought it would be good to have someone come in and take shots of the players outside the box,” Jane said.

She wanted black-and-white photos and journalistic portraits.

“She definitely went out on a limb,” Michael said.

The shots were printed up for SportsNet and are used as stills and through video.

It didn’t stop there.

Some of the photos were picked as winners of the “Faces” contest sponsored by the Photo District News (PDN), the “magazine of record in the photography industry,” according to Michael.

“We won,” Jane said. “Our photos are right up there with the photographer who shot all of the ‘Mad Men’ cast members.”

They were among 20 featured photographers in the American Society of Media Photographers’ fifth annual “Best of ASMP” Bulletin. Jane can add her wins to previous awards.

Two years ago, she was ranked as the best wedding photojournalist in the state and 20th internationally by the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA), of which she is a member. She’s won four awards from the organization since she joined it in 2006.

She’s also worked as a photographer for the Associated Press, Hour Magazine and shot Time Magazine’s 10 most influential people at its annual gala.

Business has been good, which is why Michael left the corporate world in September 2008 to help his wife full time. Both were executives in the automotive industry.

“She dragged me into it,” he joked. “But I like it. I have a good eye and I do the marketing and the website.

“Eighty percent of our business is weddings. We did 28 weddings last year. Twenty percent is corporate and documentary.”

They would like to grow the corporate and documentary end of the business so that the split between what they do is more 50/50.

The New York Mets job has “given us instant credibility,” Jane said, even with clients they had before, such as Swarovski and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“My elevator speech is much better now,” Michael said.

The best part? They’ve been hired to come back for spring training again this year on February 27. Maybe they’ll get an extra half hour to shoot this time.

Call the Shaucks at 860-810-5480 or visit online for weddings or corporate and advertising.