Owner/Photographer: Barb Casteel

My Journey From Band Geek to Sports Mom

Growing up I was never a sports fan. In fact, the closest that you could get to a sport for me was managing to walk from point A to point B whilst keeping my nose in a book. The only times I was part of a team was knowledge bowl, band, or the single year that I joined the track team (7th grade). Coach said that I was a jumper and "look at those legs." Someday maybe I'll scan my attempt at jumping into digital format and share with you all so you can laugh too.

I did put in some time on the yearbook staff the beginning of 8th grade and they let me photograph a couple of basketball games. I've looked for my copy of that yearbook but seem to have misplaced it over the years. If anyone has a 1994-1995 Coquille Valley Middle School yearbook, it might have a couple of my first sports action photos in it.

I've always been interested in photography though. In the days of film, I owned a little 110 point and click Fujifilm, I think. It's fun to pull some of those old prints out now and look through them. I did upgrade to a 35mm point and click Kodak when my oldest son was born. The camera was upgraded again after my middle son was born in 2005. This time it was a cute little digital point and click, the Kodak easyshare. By the time my youngest son made his appearance in 2009, we were using cell phone cameras (as terrible as they were) for most of our photos.

My great uncle Floyd passed away in the summer of 2016 and my siblings and I went in search of photos for his slideshow. We asked Aunt Rita if we could search through Aunt Ruby's things as she had lost her memory to Alzheimer's. We discovered a box and a drawer full of old family photos. The drawer was discovered on the first day. It was the bottom left drawer of great grandpa's old dresser and oh the treasures it held! All of the photos in that drawer predated the 1940s and most of them, in tidy letters on the backs, noted who they were and how they were related to our great grandparents. Nearly all of the photos were in amazing condition given their age and the decision was made to scan them into digital format so that everyone could have their own copies.

I can't tell you the exact day but it was the last few days of June 2016 when photography moved from an interest to a passion. The second that I held the portrait of my great great great grandparents Samuel Clark Boyd and Nancy Ann Lee Boyd in my hands the spark ignited. I was looking at a moment from the mid 1800s of MY history, not just random history but my history. I had a slice of time, a forever frozen moment, the better part of 200 years later in my hands. Gazing into theirs and other faces, we marveled at features and expressions still present in our family today. Looking through backgrounds, we more fully realized the changes present in daily life. Images that have great grandpa with horse drawn wagons and loosely piled hay being put up in the barn with pitchforks to an image of him in the front field with a tractor that I can remember using in my teen years. The connection to my past and the emotions that it brought to see those moments is indescribable.

The want to have a "real" camera had blossomed into a need and fall 2018 I finally ordered a Nikon D3400. It's now affectionately referred to as my gateway camera. The first football game that I attended with camera in hand, I was hooked on capturing action. I've upgraded a few times since then and continue to search for the gear that will capture the memories in detail. The gear that lets me see the faces in under the football helmets the field away as touchdowns are made. The gear that lets me capture all of the nuances in the determination as they near victory or defeat on the wrestling mat. The split second of joy on the outfielder's face as they catch the pop fly for the out that brings them up to bat the final time. My camera lets me steal moments out of time and keep them as a memory that doesn't fade.

I would now describe myself as a sports mom in addition to photographer. I look forward to game day now. I find myself cheering from the sidelines. I'm no longer watching the clock to count down the seconds until I get to leave. Instead it's how much more time do they have to get to play?

I'm excited to now be offering my skills to capture your gameday memories.