ABOUT LUKE PEARSON
Sacramento portrait & sports photographer
I learned this from my dad.
He developed black and white prints in our bathroom converted into a darkroom. That is where I first saw a photograph appear out of nothing, and I have been chasing that feeling since high school, when he handed me his camera and let me figure it out.
I lost him not long ago. He was ninety-seven, and he treasured photographs until the very end.
So when I tell you that a picture deserves to be more than a file on a phone, that is not a sales position. It is the thing I learned in my own house, from one of the people closest to me.
The short version.
I started photography as more than a hobby in 2009 covering the Sacramento Mountain Lions. That work made me a Sacramento photographer in the truest sense, out on the fields and sidelines documenting the athletes and families around me. We launched this business in January of 2020, which turned out to be memorable timing.
The sports work grew on its own. Once my own kids started playing, I was at the pool and the field every weekend anyway, so I photographed what was in front of me. Other parents saw the pictures and asked, and you can see where that led in the portfolio.The portrait work is the part I went after on purpose. I could have kept doing volume work and made a good living at it, but there is nothing in it for me creatively, and it was never who I am. What I wanted to build was the other thing. Sitting down with a family, learning who somebody actually is, and then making a picture nobody had thought of yet.
HOW I WORK
I came to this through candid photography, not portraits. Most of the people in my early work had no idea I was there, and I never learned to make anyone perform for a camera.
That is still how I work. I would rather spend a whole game learning how one person moves than fire off a thousand frames and hope one lands.
People tell me they do not like how they look in photos. But what you look like when you are trying your hardest is worth having, it’s who you are and how those who love you the most see you.
No posing, no direction, no interrupting. I arrive early, watch how each person moves, and shoot from positions that let the moment happen on its own. The result is what they actually did out there, not a version of it staged for the camera afterward.
My background in candid photography taught me to recognize the small ways people reveal themselves. That means every portrait begins with understanding, not guesswork.
The experience behind the work
Member of the Professional Photographers of America and active in the local guild
Studied portrait work at the Texas School of Photography under Greg and Lisa Daniels
Recognized in the PPA International Photographic Competition and featured on MaxPreps.
Hired by a New Zealand news agency to shoot Team USA against the New Zealand women's rugby team
Covered three days of the Masters Outdoor Championships for USA Track and Field
What I photograph
Youth sports: season and game coverage plus athletic portraits, out on the field, the pool deck, and the sidelines
Senior year, documented across ten months with Senior Storyline, from the first practice to the last game
Commissioned Portraits built around who each person actually is, made in person and finished for your walls
Event and organization coverage for races, tournaments, championships, and clubs, with extra photographers on hand for multi-day work
SOME FIELDS DON’T GET A CAMERA
Some fields don't get a camera.
I remember the first time I felt seen through a sport. I grew up skateboarding and mountain biking, back when nobody counted us as athletes, right up until the X Games came along.
Women's and girls' sports get a fraction of the coverage that men's and boys' sports do. Nationally that gap is finally closing. At a Saturday tournament it is still obvious, where one field has a photographer on it and the next one over does not.
A good part of my work happens on that other field. Team USA against New Zealand in women's rugby. Girls' softball and club soccer. High school volleyball. Swim meets.
Those athletes get the same work I would give anyone. So does the kid who is not an athlete at all.
What I shoot most weekends:
Swim meets
Club and high school soccer
Girls' softball
High school volleyball
Track and field, including the Masters Outdoor Championships
Women's rugby, including Team USA
Who you're actually working with.
This is a family endeavor. I shoot and I make the work. My spouse, Erin, is my life partner first but is also the co-founder of the business. Together, Erin and I are the ringmasters of our life’s circus, which has many tents but somehow works - it’s both unbelievably challenging and stunningly beautiful at the same time. Also, you’ll often see our kiddos and their friends working at marketing events.
Our extended family members have grown to treasure the “mandatory” group photos at holidays and important events. We have precious, printed photographs all over our house and on our walls. We also often give them as gifts to family and friends. We have two kids who play most of the sports I photograph, and we sponsor Greenhaven Soccer Club and Pocket Little League.
Our weekends look a lot like yours - splitting time between being a personal taxi, equipment manager and cheerleader for our children in their various activities. (And trying to find time to shop for groceries and actually put clean laundry away in between events - not to mention getting ready for the next school week. We know, it’s a lot!)
We also love our 7 rescue pets: 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 3 guinea pigs. (Yet another circus tent, but they are so cute and they like to snuggle.)
LUKE PEARSON
CEO & Photographer
ERIN PETH
CoFounder
LET’S TALK
Tell me what is coming up. A game, a season, a senior year, a race, a championship, or someone you have been meaning to photograph properly for years. As a Sacramento portrait and sports photographer, I work with families and organizations across the region, and occasionally further. I would love to hear about it.