Marching Arts

I’ve been inspired to capture memories my entire life… as have most people who enter this profession.  I would be the guest at a wedding who would take 6 or 8 rolls of film just for fun.  The advent of digital cameras gave me even more freedom to click, click, click away.

But it was my involvement in the marching arts that led me to step beyond the point-and-shoot camera into the world of DSLR and to begin seriously studying this craft.  Anyone who has attempted to photograph a winter guard performance with a point and shoot camera quickly realizes it’s harder than it looks.  High speed, low light, no flash photography permitted… grain, blur, and strange colors result.  It was my passion for capturing the beauty of these moments that has driven me more than any other aspect of photography to study, and practice, and learn the technical aspects of action photography.

But there is another side to my drive as well – born from my years of coaching.  Year after year as sports teams were offered professional team photography by the school, our team – classified as an activity rather than a sport – was overlooked.  I wanted my performers to have professional quality images just as their athletic counterparts did.

But more than that I wanted them to be able to see themselves in action – to be able to see the beauty they were creating.  To see themselves as I saw them – with all the confidence, poise, and beauty that they possess – laid out there on the floor for the audience to enjoy.

I wanted my performers to have those images to look back on their time and be proud of all they had accomplished.

I want to create images that truly encapsulate the beauty of the “Sport of the Arts.”

Here are just a few images I’ve captured at marching arts events over the past two years.