Meet Rick Schroeter: The Man Behind the Lens

Rick Schroeter has been the Sturgeon Football Club photographer for about 5 years. He started taking photos as a kid with an old disposable camera and Polaroids, showing an interest in nature and cars. But as life got busy raising 3 boys with his wife Tanya, the love of photography was put on the back burner. Then one day, years later, his brother handed him a camera and said, "Let's go shoot some hockey." Since hockey has been Rick's lifelong passion, taking photos at a hockey game was something he didn't think twice about doing. Once Rick got through the basics of learning how to take action shots, he was hooked.

Rick started taking photos at his son's games, then his nephew’s games, then friends’ kids' games—then the word got out among parents. More and more people asked for their kids' action shots to be captured. Parents from other sports started asking too, so Rick wanted to learn more sports, and he would go out and network with each new contact.

Rick branched out from hockey and started doing soccer, lacrosse, baseball, and then finally football. A few hockey parents from Petrolia asked Rick to come out to catch a Sturgeons game. Rick loved it from the very first game, so he kept coming back.

Rick says the excitement of the game and the ability to be close to the action is why he enjoys football so much. "Oh, and the people—they have a great organization. The Sturgeon Football Club is run by an army of great people to work with, and the players are fun to be around."

Each season, the interest in Rick's photography and collage posters has grown—and this season, it grew even more. There were over 65 orders for football photography placed, from trading cards to action shots to "sportrait" posters. Rick uses the action shots and creates various products for parents and players. He attended 13 football games in total, taking over 6,000 photos for the Sturgeon Football Club this season.

Rick especially wants to thank Katie and Tim Purdy for always making him feel a part of the team since the very beginning. Every summer, you can find Rick right there on the sidelines (sometimes over the line—sorry, Ref!) as your Sturgeon Football Club Photographer