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Who is this Tony guy?
One of my best friends, from my youth, told me that I have a comic-book mind. At the time I was not too excited to have my friend stick me with what I perceived to be a negative descriptive tag. It seemed shallow somehow. Over the years I came to see the insightfulness of the observation. The truth is that I really do process thoughts in pictures. Someone can ask a question and I envision the answer as a descriptive image, kinda like a storyboard.
I developed an interest in photography in my late teens. Under the instruction of a great photographer, Ed Bogenschild, I found a calling behind the lens. Timing was not my friend however, and after HS graduation, I spent the next 32 years doing anything BUT photography.
In 2002 my son started playing high school baseball and football. Each season led to either a better camera system or new lenses, and my old passion started to reemerge. As he played more and advanced further, I ended up with many more opportunities to hang with and shoot amazing athletes. My son's developing baseball skills led to a college scholarship out of state, and I ended up driving across the country a few times a year. There wasn’t a single road trip that didn’t also come with images of great faces or cool landscapes, and ultimately some pretty fun stories.
Good Sports and Event photography is the antithesis of thinking in the Twittersphere. Valuable images are more than a mere click at an event. They represent the art of anticipation and spacial awareness, as well as a willingness to see something special "show up" after I have done my best to be a patient man. There are no more valuable things in life than when someone sees what I see in one of my galleries and then asks me to be part of their event. Since those early days of sports shooting, I found that my style of photojournalistic shooting also worked well in the street event experience. I have always believed that people were far more attractive and expressive when photographed candidly.
A good photograph is a powerful reminder of unique moments in time, life landmarks, you might say. While landscapes and staged images can be really awesome, the significance of a great moment is worth its weight in gold. That is what I look for when I grab my camera bag and head out for the day.