How Sports Photography Shaped the Way I Photograph Families

Eleven years ago, I became the default photographer for my daughter's softball team. No business. No website. Just a camera and a spot along the fence.

Then other parents asked if I'd shoot their kids' games too. Baseball, football, volleyball, eventually running. My late father introduced me to photography, but it drifted in and out of focus for years. Sports is what brought it back.

Here's what the sidelines taught me.

You can't ask for a do-over. A runner doesn't loop back to cross the line again. A swing happens once. You learn to read the moment before it arrives, so you're ready when it does.

Effort shows on a face. Nobody fakes the mile that's harder than the last one. That honesty is what I look for in every photo, on a field or off it.

The best frames aren't posed. Nobody poses a slide into home. The photo works because it's real.

Patience and speed go together. You wait, and wait, and then you have a split second.

Everything I do with families comes from that. When I'm photographing a kid who won't sit still, or a parent a second away from laughing, I'm doing the same thing: watching for the moment before it happens, and never asking anyone to repeat it.

Today most of my work is families and portraits, and I've recently added sports back into the mix. You can see recent work on my Sports page.

Whether it's a game or a family session, the job is the same: notice, wait, don't miss it.

Have a family, or an athlete in the family? Let's talk.