BLOOMINGTON - For some professional photographers, spring andsummer is their busy season, a time for photographing newlyweds amidfloral bouquets. For Ken Brooke the upcoming school sports seasonmeans plenty of work, a time he'll spend photographing tackles andtouchdowns.
Brooke, who taught and coached in high school and at IllinoisCentral Community College, has combined his twin loves of sports andphotography in Sports Section, a youth sports photography franchise.
Brooke started Sports Section in 1997 in East Peoria and has sinceexpanded the business to include Bloomington-Normal and much ofCentral Illinois.
Brooke specializes in photographing youth sports, such asbaseball, soccer, hockey, and of course football and basketball -'every kind of youth sports you can imagine,' he said. His picturesare offered in a variety of formats in keeping with the sportsmotif:; trading cards, just like the big leagues; T-shirts andsweatshirts; caps, cups and magnets, as well as traditionalphotographs. Products appeal both to the young athlete and the proudparents, said Brooke.
Brooke graduated from Illinois State University, taught highschool at Chillicothe and coached baseball and taught writing at ICC.
He loved teaching and coaching, but it didn't pay enough tosupport his family, Brooke said. So he began looking around and foundSports Section in Entrepreneur magazine. Perfect fit.
Brooke already is taking pictures for the YMCA basketball andinline hockey leagues in the Twin Cities, Prairie City Soccer Leagueand others, he said.
