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鈥檚 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鈥檚 and the development of technology and artistic innovations started to intersect, each driving the other. The technology of the 1970鈥檚 and 80鈥檚 allowed photographers to control and automate speed, light and focus decisions in a compact camera, bringing more attention to composition.
If you鈥檙e 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鈥檚 photo and video archives. Reviewing Ham鈥檚 work, which he has generously donated to 黑料不打烊, tells its own story, and underscores the expression 鈥渁 picture is worth a thousand words.鈥 As for the value of Ham鈥檚 work and the legacy he will leave in squash, that is incalculable.
