In Focus: CDurgeloh Sports Photography keeps local athletes in frame
Friends of the Program – Kalama couple expand mom & pop operation by capturing captivating moments on camera
Jordan Nailon for BlastZoneMedia.com / blastzonenews@gmail.com
Sports Photography / Behind the Lens
If a photo is worth a million words then the local sports community owes Durgeloh Sports Photography approximately all the books in the Longview Public Library plus a few from the Three Rivers Mall Kelso Library, too.
You may not know them by name yet, but if you’ve been to many local sporting events over the last half dozen years it’s a sure bet you’ve seen Candy and Patrick Durgeloh working the sidelines with their long lenses and video camera at the ready.
Married for the last 28 years, Candy and Patrick are both fourth generation Kalama folk and they both graduated as Chinooks in 1996. Nowadays they are the talent and brains behind CDurgeloh Sports Photography – and what was once a mom-and-pop side project has taken root and spread across the regional sports landscape faster than scotch broom alongside the highway.
Candy Durgeloh chuckled when she reminisced on her early days as a “Mom-tographer” back before she officially founded the business in 2018.
“I never intended for it to be anything, if I’m being real,” Candy said. “I just wanted to take photos of my kids and their friends, and then I just kept coming back. It was never meant to be anything.”
She originally picked a camera in a simple effort to take photos of their own children when they were attending Kalama High School. Stephanie graduated from Kalama in 2017, and Shawn followed in her footsteps in 2018. A self-taught photographer in every sense of the phrase, Candy started out shooting Chinooks’ athletics almost exclusively for the first few years – including a memorable run to a State championship for the Kalama football team.
Her work quickly gained a reputation and a following, especially in South Cowlitz County. As a result, each year the parents of senior Chinooks kept coming and asking Candy to keep shooting photos so their kids wouldn’t be left out.
Since then the reach of CDurgeloh Sports Photography has continued to expand primarily by word of mouth from contented customers. Patrick joined in on the fun officially in 2020, at first shooting B-roll photos for Candy and eventually honing in on highlight reel style videos. These days you can usually spot them on opposite sides of the diamond/court/field working in tandem to capture all the best moments in between.
As their offerings grew, more and more people started to notice the quality of their work, and soon a new set of customers came knocking. First the local newspaper reached out for photos. Then Blast Zone Media brought them onboard as Friends of the Program to shoot everything from jamborees to state championship games. Now they’ve got parents, coaches and athletes from schools all over the Pacific Northwest reaching out to see what it takes to get CDurgeloh Sports Photography to their games.
And as good as CDurgeloh Sports Photography is at capturing the quintessential moments of live action events, Candy and Patrick have been busy developing another facet to their enterprise – team photo shoots and media days.
“We saw that there was nobody in this area doing this type of photography,” Candy noted. ”It was very time consuming trying to figure it all out.”.
We’re not talking about mug shots for the team program here, folks. We’re talking the whole shebang, the entire kit-and-kaboodle – complete with smoke and mirrors upon request.
“It’s more than just team photos. It’s like team bonding,” Candy explained.
If you’re still having a hard time picturing the scene – imagine Bo Jackson in shoulder pads with a baseball bat as fog unfurls behind him from the shadows. It’s like that, but with kids who will most likely not go pro in two sports. And that’s all part of the fun.
“What we like about it is we try to sell it as an experience,” Patrick said. “The kids get together. They cheer each other on.”
There’s actually been a time or two where the sheer magnitude of the production and spectacle has managed to catch an athletic director off guard.
“Most of them don’t realize we’re actually going to have the fog going,” Candy said with a laugh.
Not only do they bring their own fog machine, but they’ve got an array of lights and other industry goodies to help cook up extra special shots. Wind? Check. Snow? Check. Rain? Check.
But make no mistake, this is not some man-behind-the-curtain sort of wizardry. The photos, as incredible as they are, are all authentic. They don’t rely on artificial intelligence in any way and they aren’t put through any other post-production cheater box.
“In this day of photoshop and everything, we are making all of these effects in camera,” Patrick said. “We like to say we’re able to turn day into night.”
Still, the real magic happens when the teams are confident and comfortable enough to let their hair down – literally or metaphorically. Candy and Patrick both agree that candid outtake moments are often the best – when the players are most relaxed and loose at ease in front of the cameras. But that doesn’t mean all the fun is for the kids.
“It’s really rewarding when the athletes are excited,” Candy said. “We really like it when the coaches get involved, too.”
And with experience, they’ve learned how to help everyone get in the right head space to embrace the moment and get busy making memories. It also helps that everyone gets to choose their own poses – which makes for some great debate and hijinks when it comes to team and buddy photos.
“We’re razzing the kids and helping them with poses and making them laugh,” Patrick said. “The more crazy they are, the more fun it is.”
Both Candy and Patrick agree that the best team photo shoot to date was with the Kalama High School volleyball team – most likely because they’ve had the most practice. But they’ve also done photo shoots for youth softball teams, travel basketball teams and club volleyball teams, and they’ve got a recurring gig with a Little League all the way over in Idaho. Recently, they made a stop closer to home in Castle Rock for a senior media day with the Rockets.
— VIDEO: Behind the scenes highlight video from team photo shoots by Candy and Patrick Durgeloh of CDurgeloh Sports Photography. —
On the day we conducted this interview Candy and Patrick were in Centralia to shoot an NWAC softball game. They were hired by the parents of a player from the other side of the mountains.
“It’s really been branching out this year. It’s been busy. Crazy,” Candy said. “We’re just here for whoever calls. If we can work it out, we try to do it.”
The Photo Galleries
The Basics
WHO: Candy and Patrick Durgeloh
WHEN: Whenever you hire them
WHERE: Kalama and the greater PNW
WHY: To capture images of your favorite teams and athletes
HOW: Reach out today to find out
EMAIL: cpdurgeloh@yahoo.com
Media Days
$65 per athlete
10 athlete minimum
Reserves three hours for a team of 15
Listed price applies to locations between Centralia, Wash. and Portland, Ore. Extra travel may require an additional fee.
