By Art Petrosemolo |
OCEANPORT – During the recently ended Monmouth Park season, there were 57 days of racing with more than 600 races showcasing some 5,000 thoroughbreds. Veteran photographer Bill Denver chronicled every one with action and winner’s circle photographs that were processed uploaded and archived quickly – many times before the start of the next race.
Denver, a Rumson native who lives in Shrewsbury, specializes in thoroughbreds (equiphoto.com) but also does special assignments for the New York Daily News, the Wall Street Journal and other publications, including The Two River Times.
He started as an assistant to photographer Jim Raftery at Monmouth in 1983 and took over the operation in 1988. His EQUI-PHOTO business, at times, has included multiple tracks from Florida to New Jersey with a supporting staff taking thousands of images each week of racing action and winners circle presentations.
“Owners want photos of their winning horses,” Denver smiles, “and I am glad they do.” Denver’s signature racing image is called a WinPhoto and is a collage of the winning horse in action as well as in the winner’s circle with owner, trainer, jockey and handlers. It also includes information about the race including time, distance, etc.
“Owners may purchase multiple photos for trainers, jockeys, stable hands and friends,” Denver says. “And we have jockeys who come in and purchase all their winners too.”
Although WinPhotos are Denver and EQUI-PHOTO’s biggest seller, he prints thoroughbred images in a myriad of sizes on surfaces from canvas to metal and does custom framing at customers’ request.
Denver’s days often start before dawn. He does lots of creative work of early morning workouts at the track, the stable area, as well as horse-and jockey-related paraphernalia with many oversize prints gracing the walls of his tiny Monmouth Park studio/office.
Aubrey Therkelsen is Denver’s photo editor and has been for two seasons. Perched on a stool in front of a large computer monitor, she takes Denver’s digital camera card after each race, uploads race action and winner’s circle shots, puts together the WinPhoto collage and is ready to exchange cards with the photographer after the next race.
“Today,” Denver says, “with the technology of digital imaging, fast-focusing lenses and computer photography software, what used to take a day in the film era is completed in minutes and we are done when we leave the track after the last race. It has been a huge help and allows us to do even more in less time.”
Denver’s son Ryan, 20, has learned from the master and has been his dad’s assistant for several seasons. His wife Mary Ann and daughter, Jessica, also pitch in when it’s busy.
Denver’s interest in photography began as a young adult when – after a year at Rutgers and before studying at the University of Arizona – he took two months to bicycle from New Jersey to Vancouver, British Columbia, stopping along the way at Yellowstone and Glacier National Park, as well as historic sites, documenting the trip with a Nikon camera using Kodachrome film.
Denver honed his skills with Raftery, who had been the Monmouth Park photographer since 1946, and was looking for an assistant. Denver took to the work and it wasn’t long before he was – during the thoroughbred heyday – photographing at Meadowlands, Atlantic City, Suffolk Downs near Boston as well as Gulfstream and Hialeah in Florida. It was what he described as “the circuit.”
Denver’s photography has appeared in most New Jersey newspapers and – working with a colleague – his photos of several space shuttle launches were used by the European Press Association. In-between thoroughbred and freelance assignments, Denver has built a list of corporate and commercial clients. And for a decade in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, he did sports photos for New Jersey colleges including Seton Hall, St. Peters and Fairleigh Dickinson.
“You have to keep busy to make a living in this business,” Denver says, “and photographing thoroughbreds can be like two fulltime jobs.”
Today during his 26th year at Monmouth Park, Denver stays closer to his home a couple of miles from the track gate. In addition to his freelance and commercial work, he runs the photography operation at PARX (formerly Philadelphia Park in Bensalem, Pa.) and handles photography duties for the short few days thoroughbreds run at the Meadowlands.
Part of Denver’s job at Monmouth Park is to support the track’s marketing efforts photographing events for ads, brochures and the track’s social media (Twitter and Facebook) efforts working closely with John Heims, the park’s director of public relations.
Denver also supplies photos of Monmouth Park’s stakes’ race winners to the print and online media within hours after the last race goes off. He recognizes the importance of the track’s marketing efforts in an age when the thoroughbred racing industry is shrinking. “We need to bring the excitement of thoroughbred racing to the next generation of fans,” he stresses, “to keep this sport from fading away.”
Racing fans can see and purchase Denver’s work through his website, equiphoto.com, where prints of race winning horses, race action or behind-the-scenes thoroughbred training are available.
What’s Denver’s secret for capturing the height of the action? “There really isn’t a secret,” Denver says. “You get to know the sport and the angles to get the best shots and you do it day in and day out.” Denver has used Canon cameras for years and sings the praises of fast-focusing zoom lenses for helping him capture the action up close and personal.
When asked about memorable moments, Denver says there are many. He talks about Monmouth Park hosting the Breeders’ Cup in 2007 with several days of championship racing in what turned out to be horrible, rainy conditions. “It was a challenge keeping the equipment dry,” he says. Denver also smiles when talking about photographing Holy Bull who won the Haskell in 1994 and earned more than $2 million during his career and was named one of the top 100 horses of the 20th century.
If Denver and his team weren’t busy enough, at the request of Monmouth Park management, he took over operation of the track’s busy customer store in 2012 and sells embroidered and imprinted Monmouth Park clothing, apparel and souvenirs. “Not much free time during the day,” Denver says.
At 52, Denver shows no sign of slowing down and isn’t getting bored with thoroughbred photography. Days during the racing season are 12 to 13 hours long and he is lucky he can get a day off each week.
Photo By Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO
“I live less than 2 miles from the beach and I haven’t been there for years,” he says. “So, there are no summer, Jersey shore photos in my portfolio.”
