It was as if 630 households and a visit to the Corridor of Fame weren’t sufficient, Ken Griffi, Jr., has taken up a brand new exercise since he retired in 2010: Pictures.
Most not too long ago, he was noticed taking footage of Masters, the place he filmed a picture of the winner Rory McIlroy, celebrating his knees, which unfold shortly on-line. However Griffi, often known as the child, has been taking pictures for years in sports activities and unstest areas.
“As a result of I performed baseball, then I am not allowed to do anything?” 55 -year -old Griffi, mentioned in an interview. “They see me as one factor; it isn’t essentially who I’m.”
Griffi tries to carry the persistence he has proven to the diamond to his life behind the lens. “What I am attempting to do is enhance into one thing I am actually comfy with,” he mentioned. “I did not begin within the huge leagues,” he added. “If you’re prepared to be taught and enter on time, you may be fantastic.”
Whereas in Masters, Griffi took recommendation from skilled photographers. “It actually helped me perceive what’s within the foreground, the background: Will or not it’s a distraction? In the event you ask me that 10 years in the past I’m fantastic, I do not care what a background is. However now I have a look at it.”
Griffi shared 5 of his favourite images with The New York Occasions and the tales behind how he acquired them.
2025 | Tokyo
Shohei otani
Griffi travels to Tokyo for the common opening season of Dodgers-Cubs this yr and shoots Los Angeles celebrity Shohei Otani. “Take a look at the eye to the main points of how he places on his gear. How particular about it, the best way he put issues on.”
Touring to Kenya for photographic safari approached Griffi nearer than anticipated wild animals. “I used to be 20 ft. At one level, one of many cheetahs was working below the automotive safari.”
“We landed in Nairobi; it was 5 minutes from town middle. There have been kids within the discipline enjoying within the discipline to a pack of lions; I might say they had been a number of hundred yards. It is simply an enormous a part of life there.”
Austin, Texas
America
Griffi has shot the annual bike races within the racing observe in America in Austin. Attempting to seize bikes exceeded by way of some photographic challenges: “It is humorous as a result of I really realized learn how to panoramic today. You simply attempt to observe them. In 25 images I get half of the bike. It was an try to be taught.”
In the intervening time of a full circle, Griffi grabbed Fernando Tatis Jr. on a digicam in a sport of Padres in Seoul. Griffi performed towards his father Tatiz -Senior “I simply took footage of the boys who warmed simply earlier than the match. I used to be on the pitch; I used to be by the dugout.”
“I simply caught him. It wasn’t like hoping for one thing like that or informed him to show away. The truth is, I assumed I might get my face and he simply turned and I used to be like, oh, I might simply preserve it.”
2024 | Orlando, Flag.
Tiger and Charlie Woods
Griffi captured Tiger Woods, watching his son Charlie, placing a golf occasion in Orlando. “I’ve identified a tiger from the age of 15; he made a clinic in Seattle. There may be the great, the unhealthy and the ugly over time, however you see the enjoyment he has when he watches Charlie performs.”
Griffi mentioned his renaissance as a photographer started when his kids are enjoying sports activities.
“As a dad, I’m extra exostatic and blissful for what they do from the whole lot I’ve performed,” he mentioned. “There can be some kids who’re good. There can be some kids who’re unhealthy. Every little thing I’m on the lookout for is an effort as a result of I really feel that in case you make an effort, you’ll give me an effort in life.”
