Carlos Reveiz understands the value of sports from the perspective of a player as well as a parent. That may be how he manages to capture both the grit of hard work and the glow of pride in the young athletes he photographs.
He has been a professional sports photographer, primarily at Farragut High School, for 17 years. His name is familiar in East Tennessee because he is part of a family football dynasty. He grew up in Colombia, South America, where his dad played semi-professional soccer. The family moved to the U.S. when Carlos was 8 because his mom wanted a better life for her three sons.
His older brother, Fuad, was recruited to play for UT and Carlos visited a few times before starting his own college career at UT Chattanooga. He eventually joined Fuad in Knoxville, where he backed up his big brother as place kicker. Fuad went on to play for the NFL and Carlos ended up breaking his brother’s single-season scoring record at UT Their younger brother, Luis, was place kicker at Carson-Newman College.
Carlos has loved photography since he was a child, but didn’t get serious about sports photography until he started taking pictures of Fuad’s children when they played sports at Farragut High School. When his own daughter, Ashley, played soccer at Farragut, his photography hobby got the attention of other parents.
He realized that nobody else was taking pictures of the young athletes. When he researched sports photography in other states, he found that much of it didn’t meet his standards.
“I take a lot of pride in what I do. I’ll only put up photos that I would want to buy,” he says. “I don’t want parents to say, ‘I guess I better get this since it’s my kid.’”
Fall is his busy season. He photographs Farragut’s freshman, junior varsity and varsity football teams, as well as girls’ varsity and junior varsity soccer teams. The new senior banners at Bill Clabo field illustrate Carlos’ edgy sports portraits, created with special lighting and serious game faces. He used to shoot at other schools, but conflicting schedules made it impossible to cover all the games.
While he spends a lot of evenings on the field, his primary time investment is in editing photos. Sometimes, his young subjects get impatient and send messages via Twitter asking when photos will be uploaded to his website, crfoto.com. He doesn’t mind the late nights.
“This is a passion of mine. When I get a response from my photos, it makes every moment worthwhile,” he says.
Carlos is sympathetic to the athletes who have missed games or an entire season due to COVID-19. This semester is particularly stressful because the sports season could end at any time. He encourages students to appreciate each game and view every day as a blessing.
That makes it even more important for him to get great photos at every game. He knows, from personal experience, just how meaningful sports can be.
“To me, it’s been a privilege to be able to capture memories. One day, some of these kids will be dads, and they’ll get to show their kids these pictures. That brings me tremendous joy.”
Town of Farragut marketing and public relations coordinator Wendy Smith is your reliable Farragut insider.