Dan Powers has been capturing the perfect moment in day to day news for Appleton’s Post Crescent newspaper for 23 years.
“There’s a subtle difference between what would be considered a nice picture and a great picture and it could just be 2000th of a second,” said Powers.
Having the right timing at a high school ball game is one thing, but developing the eye needed for mass circulation of your photo is another altogether.
“There are times where you know that there is a moment that’s happening that you’re going to remember forever,” said Powers.
This winter, Powers had the chance to capture those forever moments on a regular basis for 16 consecutive days when he was invited by USA Today Sports to the Olympics for the third time in his career.
“I mean I was just hanging on to keep up with these guys because they’re all at the top of their game. These are some of the best photographers in the whole world. And I’m just from little Appleton Wisconsin,” said Powers.
While in South Korea, Powers covered a handful of the competitions that most of us only see on television once every four years.
“Figure skating is a good example. I’d never shot that before,” said Powers. “Most of these are sports you normally don’t cover on a day to day basis so there’s a challenge of photographing something you don’t know that much about."
But Powers is a seasoned veteran with a camera and he knows what he needs to get the right shot.
Sometimes snapping that perfect moment requires patience, other times it takes a bit of luck.
“You know you have a lot of obstacles to move around,” said Powers.
But more often than you might expect, getting the perfect picture that will grace the covers of sports sections across the country requires showing up and getting the perfect seat.
“Pretty much every event I went to I was either the first or second person there,” said Powers.
While showing up is said to be half of every challenge in life, Powers knows that at every shoot there will be those who win and those who lose, on both sides of the camera.
“Everyday is like a tryout and hopefully you get through it,” said Powers.
So despite how grand the stage the athletes are competing on there’s always a memorable moment Powers is fighting for and if you’re at the right place at the right time even here in northeast Wisconsin, you might become the focus of his always developing story.
