This year was my 30th year of photographing the Kentucky Derby. I was on assignment for Sports Illustrated magazine, where I’m a regular contributing photographer. I was working with Sports Illustrated staffers Bill Frakes and Heinz Kluetmeier.
I grew up in the greater Louisville , KY area. As a high school senior I photographed my first Derby as a ‘stringer’ for the Louisville Courier Journal (my hometown newspaper) and got to work with some of the finest photojournalists in the business, whom I’m still very close to today. I would say that former Director of Photography (at The Courier Journal and Louisville Times, which was a family owned newspaper then) C. Thomas Hardin gave me my first opportunity at ‘The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports’ . Hardin has long retired but still lives in Louisville, and in fact at this year’s Derby as I was walking on the track and heard someone call out my name before the race, and it was Tom Hardin (sitting in the stands near Turn 1) at Churchill Downs enjoying the day at the races with friends.
A lot has changed since covering my first Kentucky Derby (I shot on a Nikon F2A, with Tri-X film) and we had a courier system of ‘runners’ that would pick up film from all of the photographers (working for the Courier Journal) around the track throughout the day, and deliver it to a motorcycle ‘runner’ who would deliver it back to the CJ Photo lab (where they processed the film , photo editors made the edits and lab techs made prints for the paper).
At this year’s 138th Kentucky Derby, I was excited to work with the finest digital camera in the world, the Phase One IQ180. It’s simple design (which reminds me of when I used to shoot medium format film cameras) and easy to use in all situations made it a pleasure to work with. The files that the camera produces are like no other images I’ve ever worked with, and are just stunning. Today it’s all digital of course, and images are shot and digitally transmitted directly to Sports Illustrated from the media photo workroom at Churchill Downs, moments after we take them ( all of the newspaper and wire services including Getty Images, AP, etc.. do the same).
I’ve photographed every major sporting event (except Wimbledon) including the Winter and Summer Olympics, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Finals, NCAA Final Four, World Series, Indy 500, Daytona 500, The Masters, and the list goes on. But there is something very special about the Kentucky Derby and it’s my favorite sporting event to photograph., and each year it just gets better.
I love the tradition (the Derby is the longest ‘continuous’ sporting event in the US) at Churchill Downs, the beauty of the horses and people dressed in their big hats and fine clothes, the pageantry, and the thunder of those horses as they race past you on the dirt. When over 100,000 fans stand and sing along to ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ as the Derby horses parade out on to the track, it will bring goosebumps every time!
My coverage at the Derby usually begins a couple of days before the actual race, spending time on the ‘backside’ area of the track in the early predawn hours, photographing horses and trainers as they go through their daily routines. The ‘twin spires’ is the icon of Churchill Downs and in the moments before the sun rises, makes for a great iconic background as the horses take to the track.
The sights, sounds, and even smell of the early mornings at Churchill Downs on Derby Week , is like no other place. If you’ve never experienced a Kentucky Derby, I highly recommend it. It really lives up to more than just ‘The Greatest 2 Minutes ” in sports. It’s better in person than in the movies or on television!
Gary Bogdon is a regular contributing photographer for Sports Illustrated , and an advertising photographer based in Orlando, FL He’s a graduate of Indiana University and he’s married with two teenage sons. He loves spending time with his family and meeting new friends. You can view some of his portfolio and work at http://www.garybogdon.com