It’s Friday night, the first home football game of the season. Dancers tap their friends on the shoulders to let them know. Cheerleaders whisper amongst themselves, fixing their bows. The performers see him from the other side of the field with his camera and it’s all anyone can talk about. Gary Jones is here.

Jones is a professional photographer who has operated in the Rocklin area since 2004. He captures sports action shots for his business, TheWinningShot, and for MaxPreps, where he’s uploaded over 1,400 photo galleries. In addition, he also shoots team portraits, wildlife, theater productions and music concerts, many of which are posted on his Instagram account. 

“My kids played sports, and I was the team photographer. I just volunteered to take pictures for the team, and that’s basically where it started. But I’ve always had a camera, just to take pictures of family vacations and stuff like that. My mother was always really interested in photography and video, so it’s always been something in my life,” Jones said. 

To take his photos, he switches between his two Nikon mirrorless camera bodies, the Z 8 and Z 9. Jones uses a wide variety of lenses in order to get a “winning” shot from each event he shoots, ranging from a wide 14-mm lens to an 840-mm zoom lens. For every game he attends, Jones says he takes about 1,500 photos but only saves around 150. He balances taking and sorting through over 10,000 pictures a week on top of his daytime job as a software engineer at Hewlett Packard. 

“Right now as it is working four days a week and managing my photography business, I’m basically working all the time. It’s really taught me how to do time management just like athletes here and people that are working on clubs; they have to do their studies, their clubs, and it’s just a good way to learn to manage your time,” Jones said. 

For the last 20 years, Jones has been able to successfully build up his business with the help from his wife, Ana Jones. In the beginning of his career, he utilized posters, emails and business cards to market TheWinningShot. With the help of his wife and three children, he said he’s been able to build it up to a level he’s happy with.  

“I thought people would just come and buy my pictures and I was all excited, and it just didn’t happen. It ended up to be a lot of work to do the marketing side. Action photography is more speculative because I just post my images, and if parents want to buy them, they buy them. The team and individual photography is a better source of income,” Jones said. 

Jones takes all the team pictures of every sport and music class in the department, which are used in Details yearbook. His individual portraits of athletes are used by the graphics program to make posters, game day graphics for social media and banners that are displayed around campus. 

“I really enjoy working with different programs within the school because it’s something different, and I get to meet more people. I’m really impressed with all the different programs going on here, and I’m glad I get to be a part of it,” Jones said. 

As a Graphics III student, Chance Horton has assisted Jones with eight different team photo shoots. He said that because Jones is so good at what he does, it makes it easy for Horton to think outside the box for creative poses. 

“Gary is awesome to work with; he lets us directors have a lot of freedom with poses and creative shots. He’s super helpful to our program, and we wouldn’t be what we are without him. Ms. [Whitney] Lum says he’s our program’s biggest fan,” Horton said. 

Along with working with students from the graphics and publications programs, Jones has been able to form relationships with coaches, athletes and other photographers from around the state. 

Christian Brewer, a men’s varsity baseball and soccer player, said. “Gary is an awesome guy. He is always at events taking unbelievable pictures. He’s super kind and a good person to have around our campus.”

From the courts, fields and stadiums to the ponds and trails around Rocklin, Jones reflects on how grateful he is to be able to capture the most memorable moments. 

Jones said, “I really appreciate the love that people show me and what I have here in terms of my relationship with the school, teachers and students. I’m so lucky to have this opportunity to have my own business and to work with the school– it’s very rewarding.”

by CARSON NICHOLS & EMERSON KIBBY