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Where it all began

I thought I’d kick off my blog by posting a column I originally wrote for Xtreme Video magazine. I will be covering the world of shooting extreme sports and a few of the other subjects I shoot here, and I welcome your comments and questions.

Chances are if you work in the action sports world, you got your start here. You probably participated on some level as a kid, then moved your way into the industry shooting stills or video or both. Lord knows you didn’t get into it solely for the money, there are other industries where it’s far easier to make a living.

My career started in much the same way. At around 12, my parents bought me a BMX bike for Christmas after much begging. After a couple of months, that bike had been significantly modified. I showed up to the bike rack at school when the weather finally allowed, and instantly my circle of friends expanded. I met the other kids with their BMX bikes. We started riding together every day after school.

It was just a couple of months later when we started racing. Wow, what a ton of fun. Most of us were the same age and class. Our families took turns taking us to the track on weekends, during the week we’d ride and hit jumps, ride some flatland or street, and occasionally study.

By the time I was 16 I loved the freestyle side so much that I built portable ramps, bought a sound system, got a couple of friends together and we started doing shows throughout the midwest. It was a blast, we got to be some sort of rock stars every weekend. That lasted till I went to college.

I wanted to be a journalist of some sort, writer or photographer, so I started taking journalism classes and working for the college paper. Then things started happening really fast.

A friend of mine, Seth Perlman, knew I had an interest in photography. He also happened to be the local Associated Press photographer. He invited me to a University of Illinois football game. It was exciting. Being on the field, using one of his cameras. What a rush. He loaded a roll of Tri-X into a Nikon F3/T (the titanium version of the F3), with a good-sized piece of long glass, a 300mm f/4.5 (anybody remember those?). He taught me the basics of metering, focusing, and told me to follow the action and shoot tight.

At halftime he went into the darkroom, processed his film, and sent a picture over the wire. I had stayed on the field. When he returned, I was waiting there for him to help me change to another roll of film (my second ever!). I shot the second one during the second half. After the game Seth processed his film again and moved another picture. Cool stuff. I was inspired. And I still had my first two rolls of film in my pocket.

We went to a womens’ volleyball match after that, he photographed while I watched. I wasn’t ready for the intricacies of shooting indoor sports with available light.

Seth processed my film after his from the Volleyball match, showing me how to load film reels and tanks. When he was looking over my first two rolls I’ll never forget his reaction. I’d gotten the quarterback upside-down over the line scoring a touchdown. “I’ve been trying to get that *!&%ing shot for FIFTEEN years!”. He’s a good teacher, what can I say?

After that, he took me under his wing and taught me more of the basics. We went to the park and he rode his bike by me to teach me panning. He worked with me on tight compositions, good focusing, better metering techniques, and more. It just so happened that the Presidential Primaries were coming up, so I started tagging along with him on those assignments. After a few I started shooting some of them for him as a stringer when there were a couple at the same time.

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