Welcome to Kimball Sports Photography, now up and running in and around Beavercreek, Ohio. (If you don't want to read my long-winded ramblings, you can go to the bottom of the page now for galleries).

I started in photography several years ago as a hobby to chronicle my son's (now U10) soccer games. As I gained more experience in photography (and bought better equipment), I began getting some good images of the action. At the urging of some team parents, I also started shooting other players on the teams. Once that began, I was often approached by parents, friends or coaches about purchasing prints. I had printed a few from home, but the requests great too large to keep doing that. As a result, I sought and set up this site. Through this service, it is my intent to provide friends, family and clients with priceless photographs that will be cherished for generations.

I am retired military (Air Force) and am now a defense contractor. I am not a pro photographer (whatever that is); I am a self-taught photographer (that's a journey in itself, believe me!) and I use high-end Canon equipment in my hobby/work. Because I do not rely on photography for income, I am fairly selective about what and when I shoot, but I am always willing to consider requests. Generally, I prefer to shoot younger kids under 12 (I found that to be more enjoyable and safer!), but I will consider any ages. If I am free and the weather is okay, chances are I will agree to shoot your event.

My primary interest and specialty is youth soccer. I have shot around 250 games (ages ranging from 3 to 12); I also shoot baseball to a lesser extent, but have had outstanding results (ages 5 to 10). With this experience, I have identified and grown my own tactics that often produce great results. Most of the “professionals” that do soccer tournaments are focused (no pun intended) on quantity, not quality—they shoot lots of games and lots of players and never spend much time on any one subject. They hope to barrage perspective clients and sell quantity. If I shoot your event, I will stay focused on your player, team or game (at your request) exclusively. Folks I shoot for are not disappointed.

Within this context, I have turned my hobby into a very small side business. Good sports photography takes a lot of time and money. I have almost $15,000 in my gear so far; couple that with gas, my time (at the event and computer processing) and the costs of this web service (a couple hundred dollars a year), my hobby is expensive.

To cover my costs, I charge for my pictures in three categories. The first category is for my son’s team(s) and their families and friends. This category can take electronic copies free and can get prints essentially at cost. The second category is for kids/games I do for family or close friends. I set costs for these based on the relationship and scope of work. These are still generally extremely cheap. The third group is for clients—these generally get in touch with me through mutual friends, as I do not advertise other than word of mouth. I will set costs based on the scope of work, but as with the previous category, these costs will be significantly cheaper compared to the “professional” work being done at big tournaments. It is not my intent to get rich with my photography, rather provide great pictures for friends, family and clients at extremely reasonable prices in order to cover my costs. Regardless which group you fall into, you’ll be happy, I guarantee it.

This service has a great reputation and is used by professionals worldwide; it offers a number of products, including prints of all sizes, shirts, coffee cups, and other assorted items. These items are printed at a nationally-known print facility and is known for their great service and quality. Items ordered through this site are generally delivered to your door within 3 or 4 days. I’ve interacted with them a number of times and they are top notch. I believe the service still allows returns if you are not completely satisfied with the results.

Now, onto something near and dear to my heart—security. I am retired military and spent many years in support of national security. Of key concern to me is protection of our children. I protect all my galleries with passwords, and each gallery has a different password. I will never post a kid's photograph open to the public without written approval (actually, I’ve never done it, but felt like putting that part in there!). I will provide passwords only to people with a strict need to know (friends, family or coaches). If I've given you a password, please protect it and only pass it to people you trust. If I discover unauthorized use of any of my pictures, I will immediately take content offline until it is protected. Additionally, I will NEVER post any supplemental information on any child (names, addresses, ages, etc.). Safety and security is paramount and I am very sensitive to this aspect.

Well, that's about it. This has taken me some considerable time, money and effort to set up this service and populate it with my pictures. I hope everyone gets some enjoyment and use out of it. The more people that purchase pictures, the lower the prices...and the more able I am to keep this service running—hopefully for years to come.

Don't hesitate to contact me (gkimba@hotmail.com) if you have any special requests, questions or concerns. I will respond as quickly as I can.

Thanks for dropping by. Hopefully some of my pictures will be in your family scrapbooks and provide enjoyment for many years to come.

See you at the games!!

Gary