Brent Warzocha is a photographer who donates his time to the Colonie Little League every baseball season. The Colonie resident also photographs a number of athletic contests at UAlbany and around the Capital District. By day, he is the Business Development Manager for Convergint, a company that provides physical security solutions for the commercial and industrial market. He and his wife, Tricia, live in South Colonie and together have two children — Treva, a senior, and Marina, a freshman, at Colonie Central High School.
Q: Your daughters don’t play Little League baseball and yet you donate your time and talent to the organization. Why did you pick Colonie Little League as the place to give back to the community?
A: Rodger Wyland is a good friend of mine and one day in the summer of 2018 or 2019 he mentions to me that he has been elected President of Colonie Little League and is looking for help on the board — would I be interested? Baseball has always been my first sporting love and already knowing quite a few of the families who spend time there it was a no brainer to volunteer. Having met and become good friends with so many others since then has been a bonus.
Q: What is your favorite sport to photograph and why?
A: Locally it’s UAlbany Basketball. I love being in that environment just a few feet away from the action especially when the crowd is into it and it’s a competitive game. But nothing can compare to being out in the water in Aruba with the kite surfers. My happy place is about 100 yards out into the ocean off Palm Beach when the wind is up.
Q: If you were to pass on one trick or rule of thumb to a burgeoning sports photographer what would it be and why is it so important?
A: Like any other skill, becoming proficient in a particular aspect of photography requires an open mind towards learning from others, challenging yourself and as many repetitions as you can get. I find and follow as many great sports photographers as I can whether it’s on Instagram, YouTube or elsewhere on the internet. I’m blown away daily by something I perceive as superior to my skills and that fuels a desire to get to that level someday.
Q: You moved to the area in 2001 – how has Colonie changed in that time?
A: The most visible change to me is the evolution of Central Avenue and a lot of the new construction going on around us. Being from Orlando I was used to that sort of thing. The slower pace of Albany was a bit of a shock to the system but it has grown on me quite a bit and this is now my home. The improvements haven’t happened overnight but any of us that commute on Central Ave can testify to the improvements over the past several years.
Q: If there is one athlete you could photograph and then have lunch with — pro or am, alive or dead, active or retired — who would it be and what would you talk about?
A: No question — Ben Hogan. I’m a bit of a golf nerd and the iconic picture of him from the 1950 U.S. Open remains my favorite sports picture of all time (even though it violates a few of the rules sports photographers are taught to follow — it’s that good) and he has always been my favorite athlete anyway. He had a tough personality and didn’t tolerate mediocrity in himself or others but I would have loved to hear from him first-hand how he recovered from a near fatal traffic accident and returned to have one of the most successful seasons a golfer has ever had.
If you know someone you would like to see featured in Five Questions contact Jim Franco at [email protected] or 518-878-1000.
