By Tim Bates OJHL Images
In August of 2012, the Ontario Junior Hockey League founded OJHL Images to bring the fragmented photography efforts of the Ontario Junior Hockey League and its member Organizations into the modern digital and social media age.
Its creation was an exciting opportunity to chronicle athleticism and to promote Canada’s Premiere Junior Hockey through the medium of professional photographic images.
Director of Photography Tim Bates recognized that, in an age where the public face of any organization is often presented in a social media setting, “photography” is critically important to presenting and maintaining professionalism.
The digital revolution has resulted in a lasting behavioral change specifically in the way sports imagery is produced, distributed and ultimately consumed by the public.
Pictures are distributed worldwide and are no longer geographically constrained; social media, has an enormous impact on sports coverage over the last few years.
Fans are sharing images 24/7 often minutes after they have been posted. Today every single image is only one click away.
The power of the network has turned the audience we reach into the people who are reached by other people.
OJHL Images provides member organizations, host committees and authorized media agencies a vast collection of game action and still imagery plus contemporary archival imagery available for the promotion of the event the respective league(s), and its player’s. OJHL Images also maintains the licensing, hosting and digital distribution of all photography in a professional manner for editorial and commercial use including images available for public purchase.
The Director of Photography and founder of OJHL Images is Professional Sports Photographer Tim Bates.
OJHL IMAGE’S PHOTOGRAPHERS “THE DIFFERENCE”
OJHL Images is composed of both amateur and professional sports photographers who have extensive photography experience.
A number of our photographers are also enrolled in Post-Secondary College and University photography related programs.
Our photographers have been recognized for their exceptional image quality work ethic and professionalism, they have become a highly sought after commodity.
OJHLI Photographers include those working in the NHL, NBA, IIHF, NFL, CFL, MLB, FIFA and MLS.
Several of our Photographers are Staff Photographer’s for the Hockey Hall of Fame.
We boast an impressive Alumni including photographers now working for Sportsnet and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Staff Photographers.
OJHL Images have been featured in major sporting publications and have been recognized in the sporting community for their excellence in sports photography.
OJHLI has been named as the Official Photographic Partner of Hockey Night In Canada’s PlayOn! Festival. OJHLI has been named the Official Photographer of the Central Canadian Championship the Dudley Hewitt Cup.
OJHLI is also the Official Event Photographer for the OHA (Ontario Hockey Association).
Photographers employ techniques of working with Photomechanic ® workflow management, FTP File processing, and game action captioning including those currently used in the Sports Media Industry.
OUR DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Tim Bates (pictured above) is the Director of Photography for the Ontario Junior Hockey League, OJHL Images Program. Tim is the Director of Photography / Photography Coordinator for Hockey Night In Canada’s Special Events Play On Program.
He is the Team Photographer of the Historic Brooklin Lacrosse Club who compete in the Major Series Lacrosse League. He is a freelance photographer with the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a contributor to Getty Images the New York Post and the National Hockey League.
Tim is also a fully accredited professional member of the National Press Photographers Association and Canon Professional Services. Tim has served as the Director of Photography for the 2013 Women’s World Cup Lacrosse Tournament and the 2015 World Junior “A” Challenge affiliate photographer’s core.
Tim recently was assigned to Team USA and US Lacrosse as their Official Photographer for the 2019 World Cup.
He has been internationally recognized and his images have been published in numerous sporting publications throughout the world. www.timbates.format.com
HOW OJHL IMAGES WORKS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE MEDIA / OJHL TEAMS
Accredited personnel will have use and access to a vast collection of high-resolution images including a virtually unlimited search capacity. Type in a player’s name and you will be able to view every image in our database of the specified player. An extensive keyword collection will enable you to search for an image with ease. Editors and Team representatives will also notice that each image is captioned which will provide a foundation for editorial comments and or headlines. Captioning is in accordance with the International Press Telecommunications Centre Standards. All Meta and EXIF data is enclosed to insure operational integrity.
Tim Bates | Director of Photography
Ontario Junior Hockey League| TEP Showcase
Official Photographer | Dudley Hewitt Cup
Photographer | Hockey Hall of Fame
Major Series Lacrosse | Brooklin Lacrosse Club
Team USA | USL Images
Direct Line- (289) 231-4859
Email- ojhlimages@theojhl.ca