“Don’t take pictures. Make pictures.”
Eye on Chicago
For Ron Vesely, his life’s work was more like his life’s play. But after more than 30 years, that “play” is headed to the home of the game itself: Cooperstown.
“No question about it,” said Vesely, who was chosen for “the greatest gig in the world” – working with a baseball team he was “born to love.”
The gig? A professional sports action photographer for the big leagues. His team? The Chicago White Sox. For a man with a love of baseball and photography, Vesely discovered the perfect way to combine his interests. His enthusiastic devotion to the sport, his team, and his art remain undiminished after almost three decades in the profession. “I always say, this might be my job, but I really can’t ever call it work.”
Vesely has served as a team photographer for the Chicago White Sox since 1985 in addition to operating his own independent sports photography business. Widely published in sports magazines and other periodicals, his two other major clients are MLB Photos and Sports Illustrated. Vesely’s pictures illustrate White Sox game programs, yearbooks, website, and social media postings and hang in U.S. Cellular Field. His photographs have appeared in ESPN Magazine, the Sporting News, Inside Sport, Sport Magazine, Life, and Time. He has photographed 21 World Series and 11 Super Bowls over the course of his career.
Now another big client is the Baseball Hall of Fame. Thanks to an exceptionally generous gift from Vesely himself, more than 6,500 photographs from the early part of his prolific career join the work of other eminent sports photographers as part of the permanent collection in the Hall of Fame Library’s Photo Archive. The images Vesely donated include hundreds of examples of what a close colleague calls “his special knack for catching action.”
Vesely’s photographs capture every aspect of play on the field and reflect his remarkable talent for framing the shot to bring out the intensity of a particular moment. They depict individual players on the mound and at bat; fielders leaping to turn a play or diving for a catch; runners sliding into base amid a cloud of dirt; or more quiet moments when a ballplayer is watching batting practice or putting on his helmet. They capture key events in the history of the game like pitcher Nolan Ryan’s 300th win or the 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa; great moments in the World Series like Kirby Puckett’s 11th inning, walk-off home run in Game Six in 1991 or Joe Carter’s exuberant run around the bases after hitting his come-from-behind, game-winning, three-run homer in 1993 — and the day-to-day beauty of play on the field.
The Motto of Ron Vesely
The images date from the pre-digital age when color slides were the medium of choice for professional sports photographers. Vesely developed his skill and technique in an era when photographic technology was “less forgiving,” when the quality of the images were dependent on the ability of the shooter to select the correct light exposure and manually focus the lens, when you only had 36 exposures on a roll of film. The discipline Vesely learned when shooting film carries over into his digital work.
“If I don’t see it, I don’t shoot it,” Vesely said.
He has to see a good picture framed in his lens before he takes the photograph. And he does not play a passive role in the process of seeing. “To be a good baseball photographer, you need to be a fan and understand the game.” That means knowing your players and how they play their positions, keeping track of the count, being able to anticipate where a play will be before it happens, and keeping your head in the game.
Vesely’s motto is “Don’t take pictures. Make pictures.” For an unmissable moment – Jose Contreras’ first pitch of the 2005 World Series or Mark Buehrle’s final pitch in his perfect game – Vesely plans. He knows what shot he wants, where he has to be on the field, what equipment he needs, how to avoid obstructions, and where to focus his camera. He imagines the picture before the play. Jessica Foster, Manager at MLB Photos, writes, “You can always count on (Vesely) to think each situation through fully, strategically positioning himself in anticipation of the action and reaction, resulting in not only capturing the moment, but putting it in context.”
Self-described as the “visual historian” of his beloved Chicago White Sox and the game, Vesely takes seriously his role in documenting great moments on the field; his own players and players from visiting teams; special events in the stadium and behind the scenes; pre-game activities and post-game celebrations; and VIP visits. He fulfills image requests from the White Sox’s marketing, advertising, and community relations departments, and maintains the team’s digital archive, managing and describing approximately 20,000 images each season. He plays an important role in communicating with the team’s fans through pictures.
His colleagues on the team appreciate their good fortune in having a photographer of Vesely’s caliber photographing for the team every day. According to Scott Reifert, the White Sox’s VP for Communications, Vesely “really cares about baseball, about the White Sox and about photography…and it shows in his work.”
A native of the Chicago area, Vesely started photographing baseball from the stands in old Comiskey Park in the mid-1970s. In 1980, he won first prize in a White Sox fan photo contest for a picture of Lamar Johnson holding an infant, taking home an Elgin watch, a gas grill, a bug zapper, and hope that he might be able to turn his hobby into something more. He began building his portfolio, contributing photographs to the Fleer baseball card company and taking on an assignment for Baseball Card News to cover spring training. A chance encounter with Paul Jensen, Director of Public Relations for the White Sox, at the baggage claim at O’Hare Airport led to an invitation to submit his photographs for consideration.
Vesely has since secured a place for himself among the elite ranks of professional photographers shooting Major League Baseball. Even after 30 years behind the lens, he never stops learning and adapting to changes in his profession, technology and the world of baseball. He maintains the remarkable quality of his work by adhering to the belief that you’re “only as good as your last picture, so make it a good one.”
Jenny Ambrose is the former photo archivist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
