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Behind the camera lens, a photographer showcases his skills and imagination, turning real-life moments into lasting memories. Special Olympics North America Photographers do this in their spare time, because they love what they do and are inspired by Special Olympics athletes.
Marco Cattini, Paul Harvey and Ken Smith have been capturing the best moments of Special Olympics for years, attending events from local and state competitions to the Pan American Games and World Games, and graciously donating their time and talents to the organization. They have formed relationships within the community and in turn, preserved memories that will be shared for generations to come.
Marco Catini
Cattini got his start with Special Olympics through a happy accident, and has now photographed Special Olympics all over the world, including the Special Olympics USA experience. Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023Here is the story in his own words:
“After a few years of taking ‘beautiful pictures,’ I wondered if there was something different about me. On a whim, a friend of a friend asked if I could photograph her son, Michael, for a day. She agreed, and we decided that before that I would photograph him at a sporting event he was going to be participating in. That sporting event happened to be a baseball tournament in 2014. Special Olympics USA In New Jersey. Until then, I had never heard of Special Olympics. I had no idea how important the U.S. Olympics were.
At the event, one of the first things I noticed was the welcoming and positive atmosphere. It felt like a good place to be. I didn’t stay there long, as my focus was on getting ready for what I really wanted to photograph: a day in Michael’s life.
That day was so much fun, I posted the story on my Facebook page. Special Olympics New Jersey “SONJ saw this post and shared it with Special Olympics North America, who sent me an email acknowledging my work in highlighting my experience spending a day with someone with an intellectual disability. A few months later I started volunteering at SONJ.”
Paul Harvey
With his over-the-top personality and signature mohawk hair, Harvey has become a staple in Special Olympics Oregon Events for years, as trainer and Unified Partner Long before he picked up a camera. Even off the field, Harvey found incredible fulfillment in capturing other people’s great sports moments. As for what Harvey wants everyone to take away from the photos he takes, here’s his answer:
“I want them to smile. I want them to laugh. I want them to cry. I want them to engage with what they see in my work. That joy, the joy of competition, the joy that I see, from the best seats in the room, is what I try to convey from the athlete’s face to the eyes of the viewer. I love it when an athlete I’ve never met comes up to me and says something like, ‘I loved the picture you took of me at the Olympics last year!’”
Ken Smith
Smith understands how important it is to capture these moments for each athlete, but he also realizes that the photos he shares help Special Olympics better tell the story of the organization as a whole.
“When I started my photography hobby in 2012, I didn’t have any specific type of photography in mind. But I started photography around the same time I volunteered for the first time at a Special Olympics event, and things started to take off.
Pictures provided by Special Olympics New York Since that first event, the events have been, by my current standards ten years later, terrible.
But the Special Olympics turned out to be so much more than I expected! I felt that Special Olympics New York was struggling to find photographers, and I found that I enjoyed the challenges of sports photography. The range of abilities that Special Olympics athletes have is amazing and doesn’t fit the stereotype that the public seems to have about people with intellectual disabilities. I wanted to be as good as I could at sports photography to try to help Special Olympics tell its story through images that showcased the amazing range of abilities that its athletes have.
“Almost ten years after I started taking photos at Special Olympics events in New York, that photo appeared on the front page of the sports section of the Buffalo Evening News alongside an article about the Special Olympics. So that was a ‘mission accomplished’ moment for me.”
Every day, athletes around the world create lifelong memories by overcoming obstacles and achieving personal bests. Volunteer photographers like Cattini, Harvey and Smith help preserve those memories with their incredible talent and generosity.
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