What Drives Us Sports Photographers?

FB151017 15-55-24

There are probably as many reasons for photographing sports as there are sports photographers. We have many good reasons for what we do. Just today I was thinking about my personal reasons why I shoot sports and drive myself to get better at capturing sports photographs.

FB151017 16-17-24

One of my reasons for being involved in sports photography is simple: I love sports! All my friends know that I follow sports. I played football and ran track in high school. Before that, I played Little League Baseball and Boys Club Football. Then in college, while taking the obligatory gym class we had to run the mile. I accomplished that run in a personal best: 5:20. This got noticed by the instructor who was the track coach. He encouraged me to run on the team, but after one week I realized how outclassed I was at the college level with my running. When I was no longer an athlete myself, I got into coaching. I coached baseball and football for nine years, starting with coaching my son’s team and then a few others, and finally the local Middle School team. I still miss coaching but I stay involved in sports now with my camera!

FB151114 0681

Another reason I am a sports photographer is because I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of capturing the action on the field. I feel that my job is to capture the special sports moments in a game. The athletes work extremely hard to get ready to put their game on the field and compete against their opponent. My job is to capture the action of each exciting game. It is a challenge I enjoy with all my heart!

FB151114 0627

Still, another reason I am a sports photographer, is to improve my skills to get better at what I do every week. I learn something new just about every game, but I need to utilize this learning and apply it to my photography. I accomplished some sports photos that make the viewer stop for a moment and compliment me on that particular shot. However, I never feel as though I am an accomplished sports photographer yet. I am getting more consistent and feel quite confident that I can capture special photos in each game I photograph. But I feel the need to push myself to get better and better. This challenge in itself consumes me at times. After all, I owe it to the athletes who give their all to their sport. Hence, the name of the my sports photography website: Perfect Game Photos.

Photo of the Month

Each month I pick a “Photo of the Month” to display on my all-baseball website: Perfect Game Photos.

The idea is to feature my favorite peak action photograph in a given month. Sometimes this is easy because a cool photograph sticks in my mind. Oftentimes, however, I have a difficult time narrowing down the choices to just one. There can be a lot of good photos taken at one game let alone in one month!

Sports photography is a challenge I enjoy. The object is simple: tell the story of the game and capture peak action. Peak action is defined as the exact moment when a play is being determined. This can be a line drive caught by a diving infielder, a hitter just making contact with the pitch, or a base runner sliding safely into a base, as is the case with this month’s photograph

I am getting better in my sports photography skills and I am becoming more consistent in getting the peak action.