Kent
Horner
In March of 2000 an opportunity existed
for me to seek a more rewarding challenge
while pursuing my passion and chosen career, photography, by leaving San
Diego and moving to Salt Lake City, Utah. At the time I was a single 30-year-old
freelance photographer having worked the previous 7 years as a stringer photographer for the
AP San
Diego Bureau and for
Sports Illustrated Magazine as an independent contractor working as a nationally
traveled, portrait lighting technician and
general assistant for staff photographers. From 1995-2000 I spent
an average 190 days a year on the road covering assignments
ranging from Super Bowls and Final Fours to portraits of Sigfried and Roy
in Las
Vegas and Denis Rodman in Chicago. I also freelanced as a
photographer for the San Diego Padres during their 1997 and 1998 seasons
where I documented Ken Caminiti's MVP season, the final years of Hall of Fame Inductee
Tony Gwynn's playing career, and the teams trip to the World Series against the New
York Yankees.
At the time
Utah and the Salt Lake City market provided an opportunity for me to live in the 2002
Winter Olympic host city photographing international winter sporting
competition while pursuing a photojournalism
career. Being the State Capitol, Salt Lake City consistently produced
local political and randomly peculiar world-news assignments from wire
services and national news publications. These photojournalism
assignments supplemented the seasonality of primarily
covering international sporting events during the winter months. I also
had the
extraordinary opportunity to work for 5 seasons as the contracted team photographer
for the NBA Utah Jazz. The specific goal of changing my career path at
the time was to work the Olympics for Sports Illustrated and document digitally
for the NBA the final playing years and retirement of
future NBA Hall of Fame Inductees John Stockton and Karl Malone and
the re-building process of a once great NBA franchise.
Now after 6
extremely successful years based in Salt Lake City working as a freelance
sports photographer and photojournalist, I have begun living year-round
again in beautiful Southern
California. Being raised in Orange County, graduating from San Diego
State University, being a home owner in La Jolla, and recently
married at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, it is time to return my business
to California where it started. Doing so I have rediscovered a
connection to the passion I have for photography. A passion that
is based on my desire to create the finest portraits and images within
my ability, and most importantly, to
work with and to produce images for a client that appreciates the art
of beautiful photography.
Working as
a photojournalist at such high levels of professionalism, in ever-changing
working environments, has provided me with photographic skills and
techniques based on real-life experiences and knowledge. The importance and
immediacy of editorial assignment work in modern day digital
photojournalism can manifest itself into a daily "most-important-day-in-the-world"
mentality. It would be
an honor to photograph your wedding to capture your
"most-important-day-in-the-world" by creating images that
can be shared with family and friends
for years and generations to come.