An award-winning American photographer specializing in sports, Robert Tringali starting shooting professionally at the age of at 18, and in the ensuing decades he’s covered 26 Super Bowls, 18 World Series, 7 Olympiads, a World Cup Soccer tournament plus numerous championship events in a variety of different sports. He’s shot for top sports photography publications including ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Players Tribune and is currently a contract photographer for Major League Baseball and the New York Red Bulls. He’s worked for numerous commercial clients, including household names like Adidas, Nike, Red Bull, Gatorade, Calloway, HBO etc. And Tringali’s outstanding images have also graced the covers of ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and other widely circulated sports magazines. Our wide-ranging interview with Rob Tringali covered everything from the equipment he uses, to his working methods, his mission statement, and how he came to capture some of his most captivating and memorable images. Here in his own words, are his incisive and articulate comments.
“I shoot with a wide range of cameras and lenses and I’ve enjoyed experimenting with different systems over the years. I’ve been a long-time Nikon user and have shot a great deal of my images with their system. Over the last year, I’ve been using the Canon system on most of my shoots. Like anything else, the more you shoot with something, the better it feels in your hands. My normal kit these days consists of 3 Canon 1DX cameras, and I favor the amazing Canon 400mm 2.8 lens for the action shots, though I often use wider lenses as well. Over the last couple of months, I’ve also been using the Canon 50mm1.2 and 85mm 1.2 lenses. It takes a little getting used to, but once you nail a few of those images with that extremely shallow depth of field, you’re hooked immediately. Other lenses I like are which are more of the workhorse variety are the Canon 24 -70mm f/2.8L and the 70- 200mm f/2.8L II.”
“Personally, one of my main goals is to create images that stand the test of time. We live in a world focused on immediacy, which I get, but don’t exactly subscribe how things are photographed these days. It seems that some of the artistic images we all remember from way back when, are being sacrificed because a photographer has to transmit images immediately and doesn’t have the luxury or time to work on the true creation of making an image. Luckily, I’ve been fortunate to work with clients that give me that time and luxury to create images that hopefully, people will look back on in years to come and truly grasp what baseball looked like in the decades I shot, much in the same way we look back in awe of some of the spectacular images of some of the greats of the game.”
“My dad was a photographer, so I guess I was always surrounded by photography, but my true passion was sports and trying to figure out how to be part of it in some way. Photography was my passport to all the great events. I shot my first World Series when I was 20 years old, so I guess you can say I jumped right in to the deep end of the pool.
Looking back on my first 10 or so years as a photographer, I see a kid who just wanted to be there. I shot sports images for trading cards and posters and it was great fun. I never thought of it as an art form in the beginning. It was sometime after that I realized that I was in a special position in terms of access, and I was therefore in position to really tell a story and deliver images to an audience that would never get to experience what I witnessed and documented.”
“I’d have to credit my dad as being the major influence on my work. Even though I wasn’t very good when I started out he would always give me sound advice and support what I was doing. He always stressed the importance of being different and staying away from the pack. I guess if I had to pick one photographer that inspired me the most would be David Burnett. I can remember showing up at World Series, and the Olympics and watching him work was so different compared to how everyone else was shooting. He would show up with a 4×5 Speed Graphic or something, shooting one frame at a time. I knew that one day I wanted to be more like that than any other traditional sports photographer. I guess that’s why I would describe what I do as artistic photojournalism if that makes any sense.”
“I usually have a ‘blank canvas’ approach to creating sports images. I may have some things in my head that I want to try, but usually, I rely on my instincts. I’ve accumulated a lot of detailed knowledge about the subjects I shoot over the years, I’ve observed the tendencies of individual players and situations and stored them in my memory banks consciously and unconsciously, so when it comes down to photographing them, I have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t.”
The Stories Behind 4 Amazing Rob Tringali Images
SAN FRANCISCO – JULY 27: Young baseball fans watch from under the right field stands during a game between the San Francisco Giants against the Florida Marlins on July 27, 2007, at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. The Giants defeated the Marlins 12 to 10.
This shot was taken at the time Barry Bonds was chasing Hank Aaron’s homerun record. I was underneath the right field wall when I noticed three young boys taking a closer look at the action. I immediately pulled out a camera with a wide lens and made this charming picture.
BRONX, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 6, 2004. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter tags up and scores the winning run in the 12th inning of Game 2 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. The Yankees defeated the Twins 7 to 6 in 12 innings to tie their best of 5 series.
I was shooting for ESPN the Magazine and we were doing a feature on Derek Jeter. I had a position for that game way out on the left field line, probably halfway between 3rd base and the left fielder. It wasn’t a great position for photographs, but on this particular play, the game was tied in extra innings and Derek tagged up for what would be the winning run. As Derek headed down the base line he had his back towards me, but I stayed on him and as he slid into home plate in one motion he jumped up and turned straight at me and I was fortunate enough to make this frame. It was with a 400mm 2.8 lens I was using and I remember being happy when I looked at the LCD and saw this image.
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 25: Derek Jeter runs out of the dugout for the last time. This would be the last game Derek Jeter would play at Yankee Stadium on September 25, 2014 in the Bronx borough of New York City.
I was on assignment for Major League Baseball and we were documenting Derek’s last game as a Yankee in Yankee Stadium. This was a shot I wanted to create but the only way to make it happen was putting a camera remote on the dirt where Derek would be leaving the dugout. For that night they made photographers stand in the 1st base coaching box for pre-game and to get shots of Derek leaving the dugout, as he would be coming at us straight on. So I had my remote set-up with a wide lens and was able to fire it using Pocket Wizards from the camera I was using for the straight on shot. I believe this shot on a Nikon D4 with a 14-24mm lens.
NEW YORK-Eric Hosmer #35 of the Kansas City Royals and Mike Moustakas #8 celebrate after defeating the New York Mets during Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field on November 1, 2015, in Queens, New York.
This was on assignment for Major League Baseball as the Kansas City Royals were about to clinch the title. It’s always an interesting decision what you’re going to key in on during that final moment. Most of the time you follow the pitcher and get that classic shot of him and the catcher embracing. This particular night I ended up isolating Mike Moustakas, the third baseman for the Royals. From my shooting position I had the best angle at him and knew he’d be pretty animated. He had been a Royal through some rough times. From what I knew about how they celebrated other wins, I figured he would head for Eric Hosmer another star for the Royals. I took the shot with a Canon 1Dx and Canon 400mm f/2.8 lens.
Where can people go if they want to see more of your work or learn more about you?
Go to www.robtringali.com
