In our last installment of photographer features, we are going to highlight Joe Garcia (jpegJoe), who happens to also be our managing partner.
Joe has loved photography since high school, but his professional photography experience began 10 years ago with shooting random events. He picked up steam in his sports photography in 2017 when he and his wife, Sara, returned to Amarillo from College Station. Up until that year Joe photographed mostly on-location weddings around the country.
The first big sporting event Joe participated in was at a Texas A&M football game in 2015. A friend who was lined up to shoot an Aggie football game needed a backup photographer. The atmosphere was fun and exciting, but what he remembers most about it is the speed: FAST. It pushed Joe as a photographer, and it pushed the capacity of his gear.
Despite working a full-time in the technology industry, Joe has continued to make time for his passion. After shooting a few sporting events in 2017, mostly just for fun, parents got super excited about the images Joe was capturing of their kids.
“I saw an opportunity to bring pro level photography to high school athletes. It’s so much fun capturing images that make them look like superstars.”
When asked about which sport was his favorite, Joe responded,
“This is so hard. I’m going to give you my top three for different reasons:
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- Baseball – Hands down this is my favorite sport to shoot. I played catcher from the age of 5 thru high school and I love the game. I can watch a batter swing and know if he’s early or late, and better predict what side of the field he’s going to hit to.
- Track – They are long days, but the raw emotion of track and field athletes always makes for great images.
- Volleyball – Low light, fast action, and players constant crossing your lens make for the most challenging shooting environment. Shooting volleyball has help me improve my photography skills so much over the years.”
“I always thought it would be a great craft to learn so I could one day take amazing photos of my own kids. Long story short, we may never be able to have children of our own. This is one way we’re able to give back to the community.”
Originally from Stamford, a small town north of Abilene with just under a population of 3,000, he didn’t have many photos taken of him and his teammates as athletes. This has been, in large part, the catalyst that brought him to where he is today in his photography journey.
Joe is always happy to venture out to small towns in the Texas Panhandle to provide the quality photography he never received as a young athlete. Joe attended WT, has been around the Amarillo area since 2004 with the exception of a 4 year stint in College station.
“Usually the local news just covers the big schools and popular athletes. I’m trying to help change that and bring exposure to all of our Texas Panhandle talent.”
Check out some of his favorite shots below!
