When most people think of shooting the National Matches, they generally come prepped with their firearm, ammo, and supporting equipment. Not the folks over at Finest Moments, they shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera. Armed with the best photography equipment available, the Finest Moments team captures and documents all the action during the National Matches at Camp Perry.
This homegrown Ohio photography group was the brainchild of Matt Crawford and NRA member, Jesse Boone, who teamed up to start the company in 2005. Matt’s extensive commercial photography apprenticeship experience and Jesse’s expertise with post production tools such as Adobe Photoshop, proved to be a winning combination. Before long the company had doubled its business, at which point both spouses, Kristen Crawford and Nelli Boone, were brought in as part of the Finest Moments team. One year later, in 2006, Jim Sanders and NRA member, Shaun Yasaki, were hired on as associate photographers. Shaun’s father, Gary Yasaki of Yasaki Photographic, was responsible for training Matt in digital photography years earlier.
In 2008 the NRA Competitive Shooting Division called on the Finest Moments team to put their creative and professional photographic touch on capturing the action at the National Matches. “After reviewing their award winning portfolio, our staff knew immediately that they would document the shooting sports events creatively, and bring a new professional edge to our award winners portraits.” said Mike Krei, Director of the Competitive Shooting Division. And that’s just what they did! Hidden in a cramped corner backstage during the award ceremonies, Finest Moments quickly snapped shots of individual and team award winners and got them back out on stage without missing a beat.
“We all enjoyed shooting (photographs) at Camp Perry. It's a beautiful location and all the participants and volunteers seem so excited about the event. The staff is excellent to work with, and more helpful than we could have ever expected.” said Finest Moments cofounder Jesse Boone. The feeling was obviously mutual, as NRA once again has contracted this group to photograph the 2009 National Matches. In fact, Finest Moments will be out on the range photographing all the action a few extra days this year. Be on the look out for them on July 16, July 24, and August 9th. Many of the photographs are used in our programs, brochures, online, and in SSUSA digital magazine. Who knows, you could end up on the cover!
For more information, or to purchase a high quality print, call Finest Moments toll free at 888-541-3686 or view and order online at
www.finestmoments.net.
Thank you Finest Moments photography group for capturing our finest moments at the 2009 National Matches!
