By Kevin D. Klipstein, President & Chief Executive Officer
Modern photography traces its roots back 1,000 years to an Iraqi inventor who managed to project an outside image on the inside of a tent, upside down. Not until the late 1800’s did true photography become portable, allowing for more flexibility in what the photographer shot. Around this time George Eastman founded Kodak with the creation of a roll of film and single, no focus camera lenses. Action, or non-portrait, photography started in the 1940’s and the development of technology and artistic innovations started to intersect, each driving the other. The technology of the 1970’s and 80’s allowed photographers to control and automate speed, light and focus decisions in a compact camera, bringing more attention to composition.
If you’re like me, you snap photos all the time with a variety of devices. I have 30,000+ stored from the last fifteen years, and about a dozen boxes of pre-digital era photos. Someday I may actually organize them enough to tell a coherent story. Recognizing the significant impact and contribution Ham Biggar has made to the game recently jump-started our own efforts to develop and catalogue the association’s photo and video archives. Reviewing Ham’s work, which he has generously donated to US Squash, tells its own story, and underscores the expression “a picture is worth a thousand words.” As for the value of Ham’s work and the legacy he will leave in squash, that is incalculable.
