“Ienjoyallformsofphotography, anditkeepsitfreshforme.”

You have a particular eye for sports photography, from the players themselves to capturing key moments in motion—what led you to develop this specialty? I’ve been an athlete all my life, playing football, soccer, wrestling, judo, swimming, surfing… and was a springboard diver in college. So, it was a natural progression into covering sports at my first newspaper job. Sports photography is a competitive business where you are competing against all the other photographers at the event. I think that creates a game-like atmosphere for yourself, which ties back into competing as an athlete.

What led you to decide to purchase ISI? I worked at the 2002 World Cup in Korea for J. Brett Whitesell, who owned ISI at the time, and he was looking to sell the company to my wife, Annette, and me to carry the torch forward. After covering the USA in a World Cup, I knew I wanted to cover USA soccer, and we felt the time was right to give it a go. Annette was really the driving force behind buying ISI, and without her, it would not have happened. She’d gone to Stanford Business School and had a real entrepreneurial outlook. It was a stretch to purchase the agency, but we were able to piece things together and make the deal work.

Is there anything about the Bay Area that excites you as an artist? Growing up in the Bay Area, you see so many people chasing their dreams, and it definitely inspires you.

From Steve Jobs to the Grateful Dead, so many people have self-started, and I love that culture. Also, the population diversity of the area is incredible, which keeps it so vibrant and moving forward. The proximity to both Big Sur and Yosemite is amazing and the nearness to nature here is unparalleled—great for a landscape photographer.

What’s something you think most people would be surprised about regarding your profession? I think the thing that surprises people is how diverse your business needs to be. Even Ansel Adams was shooting commercial work and teaching classes to support his landscape work. Also, that taking the image is the easy part. The hard part is getting the images to market: processing, captioning, image management, client relations, and all the little things it takes to run a business.

Any projects coming up that you’re excited about? Yes. I’m excited to see what direction the Earthquakes take this next season with our new coach, Luchi Gonzalez. We also have the Women’s World Cup coming up with a bunch of preview shoots and games. I’m also back in the classroom teaching in person with a workshop in Yosemite in April. C