Swamp Bats profiles: Doc Gordon

Doc Gordon

Swamp Bats photographer/intern Kellie Gordon thought she wanted to become a physician. So, she got the nickname Doc.

 But plans change when you are young. In Doc’s case, change was generated with a camera for a birthday present. With that point-and-shoot Samsung, Doc won a county-wide photo contest. When her Mom and grandparents saw her passion and talent, another birthday gift was a more sophisticated Canon Rebel T3 and a Tamaron 70-200mm 2.8 lens. (I don’t know what that means, either.) They’ve been inseparable since.

To Doc, taking pictures is not an avocation, it’s a place. “Photography is where I like to be. My camera and I are always there, it’s something that always works for me.”

That’s insightful for any photographer, let alone a soon-to-be high school senior. Gordon attends Monadnock Regional High School and plays soccer. She also works at Last Impression horse farm.

Doc is, for the most part, self-taught.  Then she began working with and learning from her classmate and friend Gunner Hoffman.  It was Hoffman who taught Doc about “manual techniques, proper exposure, the ISO and other stuff.” He also introduced Doc to Jim Fennell of SportsNH.com. From there “I built upon what he (Gunner) taught me and I don't think I'd be where I am now and shooting for the Swamp Bats without him.”

“Sports photography is definitely a passion,” she says. “I think I’m better at that than portraits.” She has an approach a professional can appreciate. “You can set up and look for the shot you want, frame it and you wait for it.”

Doc captures images from the moment she gets to Alumni Field until after the game. Then she posts the photos on the Swamp Bats web site and her Facebook page. Doc shares her pictures gladly, asking for credit in return.

Her generosity doesn’t end there. A few weeks ago she asked a blogger what he needed. “A shot from behind home plate,” she was told. “How am I supposed to do that?” she asked. The idiot blogger used to work in TV sports and responded with”You’ll figure it out,” which is experienced person-speak for “I don’t know”.

Doc responded with a remarkable shot.

Game action: Vermont at Swamp Bats July 1st
Photo by Doc Gordon

“I like side angles a lot,” she says. There’s no geometric strategy involved. “I just move until I find the shot, that’s what photography is.”

Risking life and lens for the shot.