A tall guy, bespectacled with Oakley sunglasses mirroring the entire field, is standing peering through a Digital Canon camera heavily stocked with lenses that seemed to loom large like a bullhorn. He is wearing Khakis shorts with multiple pockets and he quickly takes out a special lenses wiper to polish the $15,000 Canon Camera before he takes additional pictures. Satisfied, with forehead pursing, he gets into the shooting formation.

Shooting pro sports photography into legendary status, that is.

His name is Michael Pimentel, a 33 year old pro sports photographer. His clientele includes major media outlets such as ESPN Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fleer Trading Cards, the Upper Deck Trading Cards, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, United States Soccer Foundation, College Sports.com, and many more other big names to rattle off.

He is Deaf and has the rare opportunity to be one of the few sports photographers in professional sports. There have been other photographers in previous eras, but none has ascended as far to the top Pimentel has. Once a professional sports photographer, it’s hard to steep any lower than that, even doing photo shoots for less pay is like asking one to lower the salary bar.

Sports photography captures the action of athletes in full speed, unlike wedding photo shoots where people pose for pictures or when the cutting of the wedding cake ceremony takes place.

He has stepped into the higher echelon of the Sports World. He was one of the photographers at the 2004 Olympics in Greece, the biggest International market for all photographers, cameramen, and writers… there is top money to be made as a media person in the Olympics. That is reaching a definite plateau, and hitting the top of the ceiling; there was no further to go. What bigger market there is than that? Well, the Super Bowl almost… now that is how far ahead Pimentel is.

The Olympics was his plateau.

DeafNation didn’t make a cameo appearance at the McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, California; but it was to interview a very unique self-taught Photographer who built his portfolio to the point where praises were heaped on him by colleagues and other major media striving to give him a chance. It was to highlight the career of a respected photographer by major media outlets internationally.

“I have done soccer, motor sports racing, NBA, and the Olympics…but doing Major League Baseball is new ground for me. I have to be conscious of the cracks of the bat which can tell a hearing person where the ball is going” explains Pimentel, “and I adapt by sticking to my pose and catching the infielder’s motion when fielding to capture the hit falling thru.”.

We can imagine fixating our cameras directly towards the batter. But where will he hit the ball? The way a fielder will flinch to react to the ball tells the photographer where the ball is going. If a hearing photographer suddenly lost his hearing, he would be lost in that situation. He wouldn’t have the experienced, analyzing eyes that some talented Deaf people do in visual reception, obviously. That person would have to adjust pretty soon in this business, a business that only looks for the best pictures.

Like the Olympic Media provider International Sports Image Inc; they looked at a set of photos from 15 different photographers, one of which was Pimentel’s. They picked out Pimentel’s as top-rated, and sent him to Greece for the 2004 Olympics. He was the team photographer for the US Women’s Soccer team at the Olympics, when they won the Gold Medal. They were amazed by the selected photos of the 2004 Olympics.

“They knew I was Deaf but didn’t think of it as a priority. They looked at my work in sports photography for 2 years and saw I made a big improvement; they had faith in me to do a great job shooting women’s soccer games at the Olympics in Athens,” said Pimentel.

Now International Sports Image has quite a few photographers. Pimentel got in at the right time and was able to demonstrate ability to capture scenes as a true sports photographer and develop to what he is today.

Recently he visited the World Deaf Cycling Championships to check out his camera against the whizzing cyclists doing laps at the Hellyer Velodrome, to capture the effect with still photos versus the speed that causes blur if not using correct menu key. He purchases all of his Camera equipment but media outlets sponsored by photography companies that make new cameras and lenses lend him different types to “test” routinely. That way if he really likes such equipment, he will purchase it to upgrade photographic quality.

On Pimentel’s preference for the Digital Canon Camera, Pimentel said, “I am comfortable with the Canon model because I know the ins and outs of this particular kind and I am duly impressed with the color quality.”

Adds Pimentel, “I do well in this business because people admire my creativity with my editorial work. Sloppy photographers do not stay long in this business because they are not motivated enough to take great pains to make sure the photo comes out as it should.”

He is seen everywhere, at the Giant’s AT&T Park, the Oakland A’s McAfee Coliseum, The Cal Bear’s Memorial Stadium, and the Stanford Stadium, and he flies once a month to sports events nationally, sometimes going overseas. Pimentel has been a sports photographer at the pro level for 4 years now, since 2002.

The fans that want to see his face will have to catch him at one sitting; otherwise he moves to both sides of opposing dugouts and goes to the upper deck to take angles. He even uses a remote control to operate a previously set-up photo tripod, where there’s also a small box blinking with computerized detail. He is like an alley cat that seems to show up everywhere. It’s Pimentel’s job, to be precise, or he won’t be able to capture a riveting play or a facial grimace, at the right angle where the sun actually assists, not work against.

Knowing the rules of all sports he photographs is a necessity in this field, because out of circumstances arises the emotions of sportsmanship, of clashing for the ball, the lunge for a dropping ball, the exertion with the batters’ jaws locked to the shoulder in swinging for power.

His dream is to be a forensic photographer. “If I am not afraid of a line drive blasting by and clipping my ears, then what am I afraid of in becoming a forensic photographer?”

Perhaps, he will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated one day. That dream is raw, but turning ripe, lusciously ripe.

When it is perfectly ripe, we can call him a legend.

For Michael Pimentel’s portfolio, go to www.michaelpimentel.com

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