Behind the Lens | Horse Racing Free Tips

Behind the Lens: Bill Denver

New Jersey native Bill Denver is today's subject in TDN's rotating series profiling racetrack photographers. We ask about memorable horses, races, and people they've viewed through the lens, and also talk about how the craft of equine imagery has evolved.

Denver, 60, is the founder of Equi-Photo, which currently shoots the races and provides winner's circle photographs at Monmouth Park, the Meadowlands Thoroughbred meet, Parx, and Penn National.

Separate from his work at East Coast tracks, Denver has previously freelanced for college athletic departments and numerous newspapers, including the New York Daily News, and he also shoots for corporate clients that range from hospitals to power plants. His nearly five-decade portfolio includes everything from space shuttle launches to the Triple Crown.

In an interview that has been edited for clarity and brevity, Denver began by telling how he had to travel far from his Jersey roots before coming back home to find his professional calling.

TDN: How did you first become interested in photography?

BD: I really got into it on a cross-country bicycle trip I did back when I was 22 years old. I rode a bike from my home in New Jersey with the intention of going straight across to Oregon. But when I got out to western Wyoming, I headed up through Yellowstone, then decided to go up to Glacier National Park. I continued on, crossing the Continental Divide eight times, believe it or not.

And then I went into Canada, and kept going through to British Columbia, then down to Seattle. I eventually did end up down in Oregon. Then I just said, “Ah, I'll just keep going,” so I went all the way to San Francisco. It ended up being 5,000 miles in two months. And I took a lot of photos, all across America–a great way to see the country.

TDN: Once you got bitten by the photography bug, how did it lead you to the track?

BD: I grew up in Rumson, right near Monmouth Park. I had gone there with my parents when I was a kid, and I just thought it would be a neat place to work. So in 1984, I went over to see [track photographer] Jim Raftery of Turfotos, and he ended up hiring me.

But Jim ended up hiring me to work at Atlantic City Race Course, even though I actually wanted to work at Monmouth. At that time, back in the early 1980s, Monmouth ran on weekends in April. So he brought me in for two weekends to train me, and then he said, “OK, you're in charge–at Atlantic City,” where Turfotos also shot.

So I kind of got thrown into the frying pan down at Atlantic City. It was night racing, five nights a week, and then I would help Jim at Monmouth for the bigger races. It was like a 90-mile drive, but Jim used to have a camper he would haul up from Florida and leave in Atlantic City, and I would stay in that. Then in the winters, I would go down and help out at Hialeah and Gulfstream.

In 1988, I took over at Monmouth. Then Meadowlands followed. And then Suffolk Downs, from 1992 until 2001. Then I did Gulfstream from 1995 until 2007. That was the year that my son, Ryan, was entering high school. And I figured that was enough of being away all the time.

TDN: And now Ryan has followed you into the business, sharing the workload at Monmouth. How old was he when he first showed an interest?

BD: He's been doing this for years, way before Monmouth hosted the Breeders' Cup in 2007. My daughter, Jessica, also helped for many years, but she's a mom now, so she really isn't involved anymore. Ryan started out when he was nine, and he's been doing it on and off for years–he's 28 now. I'll just never forget him helping out during the massive rainstorms during that '07 Breeders' Cup, just drying cameras and equipment, non-stop.

I was asked in 2017 to join the Eclipse Sportswire team that shoots at the Breeders' Cup. And then Ryan got asked the next year, so we both have been able to shoot that event together the last few years. Ryan's been doing really well and is enjoying it.

TDN: About those the monsoon conditions at Monmouth's first and only Breeders' Cup–how does a professional photographer work under such adverse elements?

BD: Your strategy changes. Obviously, it goes from having a plethora of ideas of where you're going to shoot to, “What's the most important shot and how do I keep the cameras working?” That's the main thing. It just was finish line, winner's circle, dry the cameras in the scale house. I just got stuck out there. If you don't keep those cameras dry, they're going to fail on you, and you don't want to miss anything shooting the Breeders' Cup.

TDN: You've now been shooting trackside for nearly 40 years. What have been the big game-changers in photography during that span?

BD: It all does come back to the transition from film to digital photography, whether it be in the printing or the editing. Or in the way we save photos–we don't have boxes of negatives anymore. It's all on hard drives, which makes it more mobile.

I'm finding that the ability to do things remotely is great–like if I don't go out to Penn one night, I can just check in with my staff and see the photos, or even post them on social media from our archives. That's something you could never do years ago. I think of way back when, we used to transport a whole, full-color darkroom down to Florida and back on a U-Haul.

TDN: Conveniences aside, do you ever pine for the aesthetics of film photography? I know some photographers say film produces richer prints with better color and contrast.

BD: I don't really feel that way. If I go out in the morning, it really doesn't matter if it's film or digital to me. Digital makes it a lot easier to see what you're getting, and you get a lot more shots. You can go right back [to the office] and see it on a screen. So that makes life easier. I see a lot of photographers now who are shooting film, but they end up scanning it anyway to try and do a digital image. I don't really see any disadvantage with digital as far as that's concerned.

TDN: How much of your time is spent managing Equi-Photo versus actually shooting? What's the ideal balance?

BD: Obviously, I have to manage the business, but I do still get out and shoot a lot. I always wish I had more time to shoot. But I keep a pretty good balance; the exact ratio I'm not sure of. I do go out and shoot a lot of races, edit a lot of photos, and things like that when it comes to publicity.

That's one of the things I want to stress: We've always made it a point, right from the beginning, how important it is to publicize racing and to publicize the tracks we work for. So we're always sending out photos with captions, whether it's a stakes race or just something interesting. We've also started to do that on our social media as well.

It can't be done without a good crew. We also have teams of two at Parx and Penn. They all understand what needs to be done–what the horsemen need, what the track needs, everything from action shots to marketing to win photos.

TDN: Photographers see things differently from the rest of us. What goes through your mind when you're prowling trackside for shots?

BD: That's something we try to do every day–get something artistic, try to see something that other people don't see, or from an angle that they can't see it, and get a good photo of it. But at the same time, it's just as important nowadays to edit. When you go back and look at those images, you really have to take your time and find the right one. You might end up in the editing process selecting a photo that isn't your best shot. You're looking for good light, emotion, and good action.

TDN: Today everyone with a smart phone has a fairly powerful camera with them for a day at the races. But the average joe can't access the restricted areas open only to credentialed photographers. Any advice for hobbyists who want to get good shots from the track apron or grandstand?

BD: Just find your own spot. There are so many great angles at racetracks that you don't have to go where the professional photographers are to get nice, beautiful pictures of horses the whole length of the track. And with today's phone cameras, you have the luxury of being able to take lots and lots of shots. Keep shooting. The more you shoot, the better you get. Just keep learning.

TDN: What's in your portfolio that stands out?

BD: I've got a few shots that I'm most proud of. I've got one from the 1997 [GII] Fountain of Youth [S.], with Shane Sellers on his way back after winning with Pulpit. The horse was covered in mud, and right as Shane reached forward to kiss him on the neck, Pulpit kind of bowed his head a little bit and the shot came out really nice.

And in 2010, Lookin At Lucky was here at Monmouth getting ready for the Haskell. I just got a great shot of him covered in soap while being bathed by his groom, Roberto Luna. Those were two that really stood out as memories.

TDN: To wrap it up, let's say you have a day off with no obligations. You can just grab a camera and go shoot, anywhere. Where do you go

BD: I'd go to the backstretch and get some good photos with the early morning light. That would be my preferable day-off thing to do.

The post Behind the Lens: Bill Denver appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Behind The Lens: Kurtis Coady

This is the fourth installment in a series highlighting racetrack photographers.

Around 1960, a funeral director decided he’d had enough of the cold Chicago winters, so he uprooted his family to Phoenix to ply his trade in a warmer clime. Upon arrival, Jack Coady, Sr. learned his Illinois mortician’s certification didn’t match Arizona’s requirements, so he set out to look for another line of work. He liked photography and caught on with the Arizona Republic newspaper. On one of his very first assignments, he was sent to shoot the races at Turf Paradise.

Jack Sr. enjoyed the racing so much that he accepted a position as the Turf Paradise track photographer in 1962. As the years went on, sons Jack Jr. and Jeff helped to expand the family business, taking winner’s circle pictures, operating the race timing, and later providing video services for numerous small tracks across the Southwest.

By the 1990s, a third generation of Coady photographers started getting involved. Jeff was based primarily in Texas, and his sons, Shawn (now 44), and twins Kurtis and Kevin (now both 40) took turns behind the lens while also learning the bookkeeping and how to move the whole operation from meet to meet.

In high school Kurtis wanted to be an architect. But then he took an advertising design class that was progressive in 1996 because of its use of computerized technology to edit and lay out photos. This sparked an interest in computer programming, and even before Kurtis started pursuing an information systems degree at the University of Texas, he began laying out for his father a vision of how digital photography and transmitting images over the internet was about to revolutionize the industry.

The Coadys bet big on that transition to digital, and the gamble paid off in the form of landing more track contracts. The family decided to get out of the timing and video end of the business to concentrate on what it did best: shooting and supplying racetrack photography for 32 venues across the country, including all the Kentucky tracks and as the official photographer of the GI Kentucky Derby.

Kurtis now splits the shooting with Shawn, and together they oversee a staff of 50 Coady photographers who rotate from track to track. Kevin handles the accounting while Jack Jr. remains involved as an ownership partner. Jack Sr. (2008) and Jeff (2013) have both passed away. But speaking from his home and horse farm in Fisherville, Kentucky, Kurtis detailed how the third-generation family business still resonates with their founding spirit. An edited and condensed transcript follows.

TDN: Describe the “Ah-ha!” moment when, as a kid in high school, you convinced your dad to alter the fundamental way the family had run its family business for close to four decades.

KC: At the time, we were all film. And that jump into digital, at that time, was very expensive. The very first professional body camera was the Nikon D1, and it was stupid expensive. Especially if you consider that we owned all the film equipment and had no overhead. But my father said, “We need to do this big. We need to go big.” So we went full-steam ahead; a huge investment for my father. But we went from a handful of contracts to the point where we now serve 32 tracks. My father, he’s second generation. I’m third generation. That was very inspirational, because all we did day and night was work together to make that transition.

Compared to other photographers, we’re very data-oriented. So much so that everything we do is on one server out of Phoenix that we built ourselves. It’s 120 terabytes. And every Coady computer across the country is synched to it. So if I’m at Keeneland and an owner walks into the office who just had a horse win at Indiana Grand, no problem. I can print those photos in two minutes. I programmed our first six generations of websites along with my father and Shawn. On our current website, we have 250,000 races available for sale. And some of those races have 30 photos posted.

TDN: Coady Photography’s first all-digital meet was Delta Downs in 2001. But it still took a few years for larger tracks to embrace that format. Where and when was the big breakthrough?

KC: Our biggest, biggest break was getting the Oaklawn Park contract in 2003. At the time, I always thought we we’re a mom-and-pop business. And, at the time, I didn’t want to be a photographer. I wanted to be an architect and go off and do my own thing.

Then we went to Oaklawn and we had Azeri, Smarty Jones, Curlin. All these big horses just kept hitting, year after year. And as the racing got better for us and the bigger tracks started noticing us, I kind of just realized that this was my calling and what I was born to do. It was so amazing for us. You just felt so alive. And that’s pretty much the same for my brothers. Shawn has worked for the family company since he was 16 years old. And Kevin’s actually a commercial pilot. He quit flying cargo planes and working as a flight instructor to come work for the company.

TDN: To what extent, if any, do emotions creep in now that you’re routinely shooting elite-level horses at history-making events?

KC: My first Derby [that Coady Photography had under contract] was Nyquist in 2016. I wasn’t nervous, and neither were my brothers or my staff. We were just meant to be there. We were ready. And it didn’t hit me–at all–until the crowd started singing “My Old Kentucky Home.” Then I had to turn away. I was a wreck. I just started bawling. Because my dad missed it. When my father died, it was before the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. He had shot the Breeders’ Cup before, but never as the official photographer of the host track. And that was hard, knowing he had missed both his first official Derby and his first official Breeders’ Cup. Those were his gigs as much as mine.

TDN: What are some shots you’ve taken that stand out?

KC: The most important photo I ever took in my life was Justify [at the 2018 Derby] with the rain coming down; the toughest lighting. And everybody on my staff nailed it. You would have thought it was full daylight outside. It was beautiful. My shot, the shutter was perfect. I stopped the rain. The background with the military personnel standing at attention. Everything in my picture was perfect.

I also had a shot of American Pharoah in the [2015 GII] Rebel S. at Oaklawn. It had rained really bad. A small puddle settled on the track after they floated it. And he hit that puddle and broke his shoe. So in my shot going to the finish, his shoe’s halfway off. You can see it perfectly. And the way he stumbled just a little bit, yet prevailed with that monstrous energy, I remember thinking, “This horse is going to be the only Triple Crown winner I’ll see in my lifetime.” And that was at the Rebel S. in March. Then Justify came around the corner three years later to win his Triple Crown, and that too was life-changing.

TDN: Lately there hasn’t been much energy at tracks because fans either aren’t permitted or attendance is scaled back because of COVID-19 restrictions. What was it like this spring shooting big races in front of empty grandstands?

KC: For a while, we just had Oaklawn and Will Rogers going. Normally, we would have had about 16 tracks running at that time. I was shooting at Oaklawn, and it was tough. It was weird. And all I could think of every day was, “I wish so many people were here.” So many great fans, people I’m friends with, horse owners who couldn’t get in because of the lockdown. I was just thinking how fortunate I was to be one of the ones actually allowed on the grounds.

TDN: Your work takes you to far-flung tracks that most people only see on the simulcast feed. Can you list a few that stick with you because of either the background or the ambience?

KC: It’s so hard to nail them all. Shooting at Hialeah, very briefly in 2001–the flamingoes and the absolute beauty of all of it. And then you go out west and see a place like Sunland Park. It looks like it’s in the middle of the desert. You watch it on video, but it doesn’t do it justice with the mountains in the background.

Turf Paradise–the amount of work they put in that infield and the condition of that turf course. And everything there is that 1960s architecture. It’s like going back in time.

Then you have the small tracks like Delta Downs. It’s just a little bullring. But the feel is amazing–it just feels “Louisiana.” The same with Evangeline Downs.

It’s neat because we get to see every bit of this country going to all these tracks. And every track has an appeal. There are so many things that people don’t get a chance to appreciate.

TDN: What advice do you have for photographers who aspire to shoot horse races for a living?

KC: I think the best advice I could give is come shoot with us. Drop me a note saying, “I just want to shoot for the weekend to learn how to get into this.” We’ll teach you the ins and outs. We love it. We’re happy to help. We want to be there for the community of horse racing photographers. And the same thing goes for amateur photographers. If you can actually show to me that you’re dedicated and I feel it, I’ll put you on the track right next to me and we can shoot together.

TDN: What about words of wisdom for fans who just want to get decent shots on their phone cameras from either the stands or near the rail?

KC: Of all the cell phone shots I’ve ever seen, the shots that really hit home are the shots where the crowd stands out. Get that finish with the crowd in front of you. Show that excitement. Show those hands in the air, the screaming, the cheering. Everybody gets the shot of the horse. But get the shot of the reason we’re running that horse–the crowd. Those are the best shots.

The post Behind The Lens: Kurtis Coady appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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