S2E1 Family Photography
I'm Big Zig. Welcome to the Moments That Last podcast. Coming to you from my shed, although we've got a different view this time because I've turned around and I've made a little desk here out of an old piece of hardware.
So I'm just going to settle back in and let's get on. Today is what I'm going to call season two, episode one of my podcast, because I've kind of had a, not necessarily rebranding, but redirection, refocus, as I discussed in the last episode and today being December the 2nd, I think. Yep, December the 2nd.
So happy birthday to my friend, Pete, who I grew up with. Pete, if you're listening, which, why would you? This is ridiculous. Anyway, happy birthday to Pete.
So as I talked about in the last episode, each month is going to have a theme and each week's installment is also going to have a sub focus on that. And this month of December, the theme is family and the focus is zooming. I can't zoom in or out that way.
All right. So we're going to do the manual zoom because I feel like, yeah, there we go. Now you've got a big old stare on my face for those of you watching on the video.
So family and photography and how it relates to sports photography in my perception anyway. And so I'm going to give a little background with how photography started for me and how it ties into family and how it's kind of directly goes back to the reason I started taking pictures was family. Our youngest son was playing rec basketball at the time and I was co-coaching with one of the moms of teammates and she had a camera and she was taking pictures and it came to pass, you know, she would try to take pictures during the game.
And it came to pass that we had one game in particular that the team was, the opposing team was way above my ability to coach our team to any chance of victory. I don't have a lot of background in basketball and strategy and things like that. So I was just kind of, I was out of my element in that game.
And so she said to me, I'll coach this game. You try to take pictures, get kids lined up on the bench and take pictures. And I was like, okay, sure.
So having her camera in my hand was kind of neat because it reminded me of back when I was going to college, my third semester, I worked in kind of their audio visual department or graphics arts department, I guess. And I learned how to shoot on film and I learned how to develop black and white film. And that was kind of cool.
So having a camera back in my hand was kind of neat. So I took pictures and then, you know, it was back in the earlier days, earliest days of Facebook even. And so we were posting and things like that.
And then I was turned out, we would go to the games and I would spend more time taking pictures than I would coaching, which is probably better for the kids. And so eventually it just became that I was just, I would just take pictures and she would coach and at games and I would take pictures and it worked out well as far as I'm concerned. And it seems like the kids had fun too.
And then also at the time, there was a company in our town that was, they had a photo studio. I think they had a physical presence and they were also the family who did like team and individual shots for all of the rec teams. And I don't know if they were stressed out or maxed out or fed up or whatnot, but there was a time when their pictures and whatnot were great.
And then they stopped being great. They just were just kind of like, okay, kids stand here, click, click, click, and then get out, get out with your day and seemed all really rushed and not fun. Oh, my wife is outside now.
I don't know. She's probably wondering what I'm doing in the shed. Anyway.
So it became kind of my mission, I guess, to kind of fill their void. Some parents had asked me to take some pictures of their teams for rec because they didn't like the way that the other ones came out. And so I would go in and take pictures of some basketball teams and then eventually some spring teams and things like that.
And then it just kind of developed from there. One of my earliest paying customers was a family in town who asked me to take their family photos. And I had never done that before.
And we had a good time. It's a good family. And so I started doing families.
And then there was a time where one of the local daycare businesses had had some trouble with their photographer that year. So they asked me to come in because I knew one of the managers and her kids were athletes that I had been taking pictures of. And so I went and took pictures of them.
And that was kind of funny because I had little idea what I was doing. My wife had run a daycare, so she came along with me. And we got through it.
And the editing process was crazy. I don't know if it still exists to this day, but there was an online place where you could, not like SmugMug, but like SmugMug. It'll come to me.
And they had like these minor editing tools that you could use. And so I used those. And then that was the last time I worked for that group.
But it was good. I had some fun times. And then what really kind of sparked the whole sports photography as a side business, because I was still taking pictures of my kid playing and his teams and whatever teams happened to be there when he was playing.
And we would travel. And it wasn't long before that first person who had me use her camera, she upgraded her camera. So she sold me her smaller camera, which was just a Canon Rebel 6. And she sold me that and the lenses.
And so that's where I got started with that. And then the athletic director at our local high school, I guess I had taken pictures of one of his kids for the team and individual shots for Rec. And he liked the way they came out.
And his kid said that I was fun to work with and it was better than before. So this was like pre-COVID. It was like the spring of 2019, I want to say.
And so he asked me if I would consider working for the school and taking pictures for the school. And I said, well, let's give it a shot. Social media was just kind of up and coming at the time.
Schools were starting to use it to promote their teams and their schools and things like that. And so we worked out an agreement that I was going to be shooting varsity sports and team and individual shots with a focus on senior athletes. And that was great.
And then COVID hit and it wasn't so great anymore, but it was okay because that spring, the first spring of COVID, of course, we lost all sports. We didn't play any. But then when fall started up again, we did.
Oh yeah. And so with COVID spring and graduation, we were able to set up kind of a booth at the school and we had the kids would come in one at a time. They would put on their cap and gown and they would stand there with their diploma holder and take a picture.
And so senior pictures or graduation pictures that year were done like that. It was ridiculous. And we had families out in their cars on the football field and we had a graduation ceremony like that.
It was kind of surreal when I think back on it, but there were no sports. And then when fall hit, sports changed a little bit. Everybody had to wear masks.
There couldn't really be any spectators at the games, even if they were outdoors. Football went from contact football to flag football. And that was quite interesting, but I was allowed to be there to take pictures, which was fantastic because parents still got to see their kids somewhat in action, even though it was just moments.
It was just pictures that I took. My lenses weren't that great at the time, but I did the best I could. And I learned a lot during that time.
But it was nice to be able to provide some proof or some memories of their kids playing sports. And that morphed into winter. And for basketball, we didn't allow any spectators in our gym for basketball games, but I was allowed in because I was considered part of the school and part of the teams.
And so I was able to take pictures of kids during COVID playing basketball. And then in the spring time, things kind of relaxed a little. And I remember we were out there.
And so I was still able to use my photography, my sports photography specifically, as a way to kind of keep families able to share those memories. And then they could share pictures of their kids playing sports with family members who lived in places where they couldn't come because of travel restrictions and all that kind of thing. And I think it really helped develop a sense of community and support around me and my photography, as well as within the kids themselves, because social media was really blossoming back then in terms of things like Instagram.
And kids could really share pictures of themselves with their friends who couldn't be there to see them play. And I think that was kind of what really solidified it for me. It felt like I was really doing something and able to tie families together as best I could.
And then when kids were starting to come back and be able to be out at games and stuff again, I wanted to share these pictures with more than one person at a time. And what I did was there was one particular student who was kind of like the leader of the student section at games. And he would get people cheering and he would get people yelling.
And so I created an Instagram account that was based around the student section at our high school. And I asked him to please follow me on Instagram and then to share it so that the other students would follow it, so that I could post pictures during the games or shortly after the games or even before to kind of develop a little bit of hype. But I wouldn't have to share it with every student because I couldn't figure that part out at first and it was just really bogging me down.
So I created one and then they all could come to me and that worked out great. And that's been fantastic for the past, gosh, I think we're in our sixth year of that, fifth year, maybe sixth year. And it's fun because I'll post images there and the kids who are in the pictures will share it on their picture, on their accounts and across social media.
And so they can get it seen by by a wider audience and they can share it with their families who live far away. And so it's kind of, it's, it's kind of helps tie things together, which I think is great. We started doing, I started including families and fans in those pictures too.
And that's just, you know, there's of course the action that's happening on the court or on the field or in the rink. And that action is great. But for me also, there's all that stuff that's happening behind me as well.
There's the families, there's the drama of, you know, their son is at the foul line about to take a foul shot that could win the game and what's their expression like and what are they doing and what emotions are they going through? And so I try to tie things in to be able to connect to that as well. And so, you know, if somebody is lining up to take a foul shot, for example, I'll get a picture of them while they're going through their routine or they're starting to focus. But when they launched the ball, I think it's important to swing the camera around to the crowd because that's where, you know, you're going to get reactions from the crowd.
I have hundreds of pictures of balls going through a net, right? But I'm trying to get more pictures of families and their reactions and the fans and their friends because that's where some of the excitement lies too. So look forward this year to me trying to get a lot more pictures of that. And shooting family pictures, family group shots, it's such a pleasure because I already know them on one level at the games and I know their kids as athletes and it's nice to see them outside of a game environment and it's somewhat of a contrived situation.
You know, it's not their natural environment when we're shooting family shots because, you know, let's face it, most people don't like to have that sort of thing done and it's difficult for them to be on and perform in that kind of situation. It's nice, it's fun for me to see them in that situation. So that's been fun.
And then, you know, when it comes to athletes or even performers, because I've been able to take some pictures during some musicals or plays, some theatrical performance, performing arts kind of thing for the schools as well and in the community, it's nice to see family there, it's nice to see that support. And I want to start showcasing that a little bit more. When I was a kid, we really didn't have any of that.
You know, we had one gentleman who was the dad of one of my classmates and he was at seemingly, you know, I kind of see myself almost in his role because I'm at most home games regardless of the sport and it seems that this guy was at most games regardless of the sport. You know, he would be at our soccer games even though he didn't have any kids on the team, but then he would also see him at field hockey games where he did or basketball where he did and he was just always taking pictures. And this, of course, is back in the film days and it would be neat to sit, you know, to be able to sit down and just look at some of the pictures that made it because, you know, digitally now you can take 20 photos and if none of them come out, no big deal.
And, you know, I think, I mean, I played soccer on a team two years of junior high and four years of high school. I have, I think, three pictures of myself playing soccer and I think they were all from this gentleman that I somehow got a hold of. But, you know, it's just, I'm glad to be able to take these pictures.
And whether or not anybody looks at them in a year, five years, ten years, that's okay. At least I was able to provide the opportunity for people to be able to do that. And I think that's important to me to be able to do.
And, you know, it's like I was saying, capturing families' reactions versus capturing what's happening on the court or the field or the rink is hard. So I try to balance it out. And I think there've been a few times where I've missed some pictures on the field of things happening because I was looking at the fans, but I got the fans' reaction to whatever was happening behind me.
And that's kind of cool too. So, you know, that's been fun. And one of the things that to tie it all in with family that's important is that our high school, our mascot, if you will, is a hurricane and it's historical thing here in our area.
And they're welcomed right back in by the coaches. And they're happy to have the kids standing in practice. And some of them even work now as assistant coaches.
And it's nice to see that when we say once a hurricane, always a hurricane, that it actually does happen. And I know it happens as well in the performing arts arena. And I'm sure it happens in the academic side of the school, which I don't really have much involvement in yet.
So I don't, you know, I can't say for sure that it goes on because I've never seen it, but seeing how it applies everywhere else, I'm sure that it's happening inside the school too. And I think that's just fantastic. You know, we have alumni nights, we have anniversaries where if a certain team had won a state title or broken some record and it's an anniversary kind of year for that sort of thing, we celebrate it.
And, you know, during the games with special stuff, I'm just noticing that as I'm recording this in my video, my microphone is really far away. It's like, I can barely touch it. So I wonder if this video will come out at all.
And if it doesn't, that's okay, because it's a podcast, right? Hey. Okay. So I want to kind of wrap things up.
Looks like we've been here about 20 minutes. Thank you very much for hanging in with me. And, you know, family.
So we're talking about family and sports photography next month, January. I look forward to the topic being new beginnings and we'll see what that involves in terms of video. If you're listening to audio just now, that's fantastic.
Thank you very much. You can head over to my blog to see some of the pictures that inspired me during this episode. Link to the blog will be in the description below.
Is that what they say? It probably just in the description below the podcast, if that's how that works. So thank you very much for hanging in here to season two, episode one of moments that last podcast. And as always stay rooted, stay connected and stay focused.
Thanks everybody. Take care.
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