Choate's Notes: The Man Behind the Lens

For the past 14 seasons, Ralph Trout has been taking pictures all around America's Classic Ballpark as the Reading Fightin Phils' team photographer. However, photography was something Trout fell in and out of throughout the years. It all started back in high school when Trout's love for photography got its start. It was his father, who had an interest in fine things, who sparked his attraction to the art of photography.
 
Trout started his photographic journey by taking pictures of anything and everything he could and it quickly became a favorite hobby. It was not just taking the pictures, but darkroom developing as well. Trout remembers documenting, what he called, the "Hippie Days" through photographs. As the number of pictures grew in his collection, he wondered what to do with all of them.
 
"After a while, I threw them all out." Trout said. "I came to the realization that nobody would ever see them, so I got rid of them all. I really wish I didn't do that!"
 
He soon began to grow bored with taking pictures and slowly stopped photographing. However, in 1998, a new love, and a different angel of photograph, caught his eye. He started to bring his camera to FirstEnergy Stadium where he would photograph players, the ballpark itself, fans and everything in between. As he grew more familiar with the players, he would take pictures of them during the game and have his son give the photos to the players after he developed them.
 
"I didn't want to become a 'groupie' to the players, but they seemed to really enjoy the photos I was giving them so I continued to take pictures during the games I attended," Trout stated.
 
He continued with his new love of sports photography by taking pictures for local high school and college teams. Parents and players loved when he would show up to games to take pictures. Despite that, Trout wanted more out of his passion for photography. He knew he was taking good pictures and he wanted them to be seen by a much larger audience.
 
He hit his high point in life when he was brought on by the Fightins in 2000. It was not an easy task for Trout to convince the organization to use his photographs though.
 
"I remember having to beg them to use my pictures. It was a great feeling when they decided to bring me on as the team photographer," Trout recollected.
 
In the beginning of his tenure, Trout's photographs were used mainly to accompany game recaps. Throughout the years, his pictures have become far more visual across the organization. Fans can see his photos as player headshots on FirstEnergy Vision, baseball card sets sold in the Mitchell & Ness Fightin Phils team store, and all over social media. There is also a photo gallery on the Fightins website filled with Trout's photographs.
 
In the month of February this past off season, Trout experienced something that changed his life forever. While enjoying some downtime, he noticed that his right eye had started to lose vision. He went to his computer and typed in his symptoms to see what he could find. By the time he received his online answer, his vision in his right eye (the eye he uses to focus) had completely gone black. Within 12 minutes, Trout had gone completely blind in his eye due to an artery blocking and it remains that way to this day.
 
"This is by far the biggest challenge I've had to face in my life. Photography is my life and it's difficult to even do that anymore. I have no depth of field anymore," Trout said as he looked back on the scary day in February.
 
He made the decision to come back to the Reading Fightin Phils despite being blind in one eye. However, Trout realized quickly it has become a large task to continue taking pictures with only sight in one eye. He recently announced that 2013 would be his final season as the team photographer.
 
"They let me run free around the ballpark, every single day, and I could not ask for anything more. My dream has truly reached epitome," he stated.
 
Trout leaves the organization after 14 seasons and he could not be more thankful to the players and front office for the opportunity he was given.
 
"I'm so happy with what I have done here. Chris [McConney] has really given me a great opportunity here. He understands photography and what it is about. He sees what I see," Trout said.
 
"I want people to come out to the ballpark, and enjoy all of these great experiences," he continued. "Scott [Hunsicker] and his staff run a great organization and I couldn't be more happy to be a part of it for so long."
 
With the 2013 season coming to a close, the Reading Fightin Phils could not thank Ralph enough for his hard work and beautiful photography over the seasons.