Welcome Letter

Welcome Sarasota Polo Enthusiasts!

Welcome to the 31st Season of the Sarasota Polo Club! Thank you for choosing our facility to enjoy a bright, sunny Florida afternoon - whether you are one of our many local families or someone who is lucky enough to spend a vacation on the Gulf Coast of Florida. We wish you a safe and enjoyable season, and ask that you please respect the common concerns of COVID-19 while enjoying your leisure time with us here at the Sarasota Polo Club.

Established in 1991 as the first development in Lakewood Ranch, the Sarasota Polo Club has a remarkable legacy filled with memories of SMR cowboy polo transitioning to the “sport of kings” as we know it today. Misdee and I are honored to continue this legacy for another season, and we promise that it will be even greater than last year. We are devoted to developing a growing base of passionate Sarasota polo players and fans by providing exciting experiences and exhilarating matches!

Don’t forget that, beginning on Thursday, March 17th, we will resume Sunset Polo Happy Hour. Please check our social media platforms and weekly game day programs for timely announcements. I also encourage you to connect with us on Facebook (@SarasotaPoloClubatLakewoodRanch) and Instagram (@SarasotaPolo) for live updates!

Finally, we are more than just polo! Our Club’s outdoor facilities and venues are home to a variety of community and social events including concerts, festivals, sporting events, corporate meetings, charity fundraisers and elegant weddings.

We thank you for your continued support. Misdee and I are thrilled to be sharing another fun-filled season with our fans, friends, neighbors and guests from around the globe.

Have a wonderful time. We hope that you will come back and see us!

James M. Miller

Owner Sarasota Polo Club

A Passion for ‘Making Pictures’ in Polo

Julio Aguilar Grateful For His Experiences at the Sarasota Polo Club

By Dan Guttenplan

Julio Aguilar has been a photographer for the Sarasota Polo Club since 2015, when he finished a photo project for Nikon at Lakewood Ranch and became intrigued by the prospect of capturing a new sport with his camera lens. Aguilar has grown a deep admiration and respect for the sport of polo and its athletes through photographing action-packed Sunday Polo matches. He even manages to capture the private moments between polo players and their horses, either at the trailer before the matches or in the stables of the Sarasota Polo Club. Aguilar grew up in Sarasota after his family moved from Long Island, New York when he was only two years old. He fell in love with photography as a student at Sarasota High School and began shooting events like weddings, bar mitzvahs and concerts professionally while studying psychology at the University of Central Florida. Before his senior year of college, Aguilar transferred to the University of South Florida, where he earned his undergraduate degree. Aguilar has been shooting sports since 2006, when he sold his first professional action photo to a wakeboarding magazine for $50. He has since become a freelance photographer for Getty Images. In that role, he covers professional sports teams mostly in the state of Florida -- like the Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, Orlando Magic, Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Along with being a freelance photographer, Aguilar has served as a first assistant and producer to nationally acclaimed photographer Dave Black for the last eight years. Aguilar also teaches Summit Workshops to aspiring local photographers. Aguilar recently shared his passion for polo photography with the Sarasota Polo Club Magazine.

Have you always had a connection with horses?

My family has horses in the Dominican Republic. I’ve always been attracted to horses and wanted to be around them.”

At what point in your life did you decide to pursue photography as a profession?

“I became interested in photography at Sarasota High [School]; they have a fantastic photography program. My mom’s best friend passed away when I was in high school, and she left me a Cannon EOS camera and a couple of lenses in her will. I used that in my sophomore and junior years. That always kept me wanting to take and make pictures. The fact is you actually ‘make’ pictures once you understand lighting. Through college, I supported myself with various photography jobs. That later grew into photographing sports.”

How did you become a professional sports photographer?

“Orlando is the wakeboard capital of the world. My first professional photo was in 2006 shooting a professional wakeboarder. I happened to be on the towing boat that day. It was a big trick back then where the athlete was unattached to the board. The board just had grip tape, and the athlete had on normal shoes. The trick involved flipping the board in the air. I happened to nail the shot with the board flat. The editor wanted to see what I had done once it was developed. It was back in the early 2000s when you’d have to go to Eckerd’s or Walgreens and they put negatives on a CD. I sent a digital copy [to the editor] the next day, and they licensed the photo for the magazine.”

How did the opportunity to become the Sarasota Polo Club photographer come about?

“I work for well-known sports photographer Dave Black. He worked with Bloodline Magazine for multiple years, and he’s also a Nikon ambassador. We had an opportunity to test out some new camera lenses in 2014 or 2015. Dave asked me to find some outdoor sports to photograph in Florida during the winter. I came up with polo [at the Sarasota Polo Club]. That was my first introduction to the sport. Nikon was looking to hire athletes to do a photoshoot for a commercial. The camera and lens we tested ended up getting used for the advertising campaign. We ended up coming back to the Sarasota Polo Club for various projects after that. That’s how I got introduced to the previous ownership and management team. We did a third project in 2015, and I asked the manager if I could come back and photograph the sport outside of the Nikon project.”

You have shot most of the major professional team sports for Getty Images. How does photographing polo compare?

“The athletes are different. When I say ‘the athletes,’ I don’t just mean the athletes on top of the horse. I mean the horse itself too. When it comes to polo, the most difficult part is getting in tune with the horse. You’re looking at so many things, and the field is so large. The connection that the athletes have with their partners is what I find most difficult to show. But it is the best part of the sport to show. It is what makes for the best pictures. Those shots are the most beautiful ones out there.”

How did you learn more about the sport of polo?

“Eric Nalpas, who is the Sarasota Polo Club videographer. He also helps with their photography when needed. I also watched polo whenever I could on the internet. Being out there, you see that the actual play typically happens close to the goal -- but not within 15 to 20 yards of the end zone. It’s a little further back, but also not in the middle of the field. In the early days, I might shoot one or two chukkers and then sit back and watch the rest of the match, especially that first year. I remember sitting in the stands as a spectator. I was just watching and seeing where a lot of the action happens. I spent close to a season spectating and shooting maybe one or two chukkers per match to learn the best places to shoot from.”

As a photographer, you’re always balancing the need to get close to the action while keeping yourself safe and out of the action. Have you ever been injured while photographing polo?

“Knock on wood, nothing major. I’ve been grazed by a ball, a mallet and a horse a couple of times. Dating back to when I was a kid visiting my family in the Dominican Republic, they always said that you need to be confident around a horse. The horse feels that. If you move suddenly, you can spook a horse. If an athlete is coming right at you, you don’t move. Let the athlete control the horse, and they will move. In 2019, a ball flew right past me. I got a perfect shot that filled the frame with the athlete and the horse. As the horse leapt over me, it grazed my shoulder as I was holding a very expensive camera and lens. But, luckily, I’ve never been hurt through this sport.”

I can’t believe you can get that close to the action. How does that compare with other sports that you shoot?

“This is a lot more intense. With baseball, you can anticipate a foul ball to some extent. With football, you’re seeing the play happen as long as you’re aware of your space. If you’re going to get crushed on a football field, it’s because you didn’t get away in time. You were living in your lens. In polo, you can’t live inside your lens because the horses are coming at you. With a 2,000-pound athlete, it is way more intense.”

What is your ideal day at Sarasota Polo Club?

“Each one has its own greatness to it. I love the helicopter Easter egg drop on Easter Sunday because it is such a beautiful event. The helicopter flies over, and the kids run to the center of the field after the eggs have been dropped. Being a father, I know my kids would be ecstatic if a helicopter was that close and eggs dropped like that. I would say that is my favorite day. But really, any Sunday with a high-goal tournament is a great day because there is always going to be more action on the polo field. I love telling stories with photos from beginning to end, starting with when the athletes arrive to prepare the horses, to actually playing the game, to washing the horses after they have worked and putting them back at the trailers. I love every Sunday Polo for a different reason.”