The internet is jammed with all types of point-and-shoot images.
Rising above the sheer numbers of the ordinary digital posse is increasingly difficult.
Quality work, however, always stands out. The pros like Nick Falzerano somehow know how to get “The Shot.”
Falzerano, a 38-year-old Bellbrook graduate and resident, was recently named one of seven category winners in a national photo contest — The Shot, a sports photography contest — sponsored by ESPN, The Magazine.
His winning shot was in the Mascots category. It is a photo of The Famous Chicken (San Diego-based Ted Giannoulas) followed by chicks (small children in small chicken suits) performing at a Dayton Dragons minor league baseball game.
Falzerano is entering his seventh season as the officials photographer for the Dragons.
The contest drew approximately 7,5000 entries, 1,500 in the Mascots group. For winning, Falzerano receives a digital camera, various photo equipment and a photo assignment for ESPN, The Magazine.
The ultimate payoff
The photo will be part of a display on the various ESPN.com Web sites which generate between 1 and 1.3 billion page views per month according to Mike Davidson, an ESPN webmaster.
The shot will also be printed in the magazine which has a circulation of more than 2 million. It will also be part of the PDN PhotoPlus Expo during the fall in New York City.
“Those numbers are just amazing at how many people can see your work,” said Falzerano. “You just hope they enjoy the image. I liked it because it was a great day with the sky as the background, you could see the faces of all the kids and The Chicken was doing one of his classic routines.
Falzerano got interested in photography working the yearbook in high school. He sharpened his skills at the University of Dayton and working for local photo studios.
Following graduation from the University of Dayton, he relocated to Los Angeles.
His sharp eye led to work appearing in national publications as Rolling Stone, People Magazine, Time and Newsweek. “Professionally I did OK in LA, but it was an expensive place to live and really, really competitive,” he said. “So I decided to come back to Bellbrook and start my own business.”
Business at home
He opened Nicholas Studio in downtown Bellbrook specializing in the standard high school yearbook/wedding photographing. He also shot numerous college and high school sporting events for numerous publications.
Five years ago he went into business with Eric Frantz publishing MVP, a magazine-style publication featuring high school sports throughout the Miami Valley.
The best shot of Falzerano’s sports photography career came in September 2001. He took a photo of a Bellbrook football player carrying the American flag on to the field prior to the start of a game just after the 9/11 attacks.
“That shot had such deep meaning on so many levels after what had just happened,” he said. “The colors were great, there was emotion on all the faces. It was one of those shots you get once in a lifetime.
“It was a two page color spread in Sports Illustrated and caught the mood of the nation. And my Dad was alive to see me get published in SI which was his favorite magazine. Doesn’t get much better than that.”
Contact this writer with story ideas at davelong299@gmail.com.
About the Author