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Clay Smith, Janeiro Tucker, Albert Steede and Devonshire Cougars are just some of the highlights of Ras Mykkal's photography career. The Bermuda Sun shutterbug won a Citation Award from government in Saturday's Sports honours.

Mykkal becomes the first photographer recognized for a Sports Award.

Here Bermuda's iconic sports photographer speaks with Don Burgess about the award and his love of photography

How does it feel to be the first photographer to win the award?

"It's always good to be recognized. It lets me know that people do pay attention to what I'm, doing."

"It's not about me. It's more about us as a country, as a people. We haven't reached a point as a country, as a people where we value the importance of images or photography. I have a photograph of Leon Edmead in a race official's bib. He always helped out with road running events, but he was a character. He was well-known, well-liked character, but he's forgotten now.

"I have a nice candid photograph of Eardley Jones, the golfer. His accomplishments are a very significant part of Bermuda's history, but nobody remembers Eardley. We forget people too quick here."

"So to win the award is an accomplishment, but for me, the bigger picture is when Bermuda understands the importance of it."

With all the images you have, will you do a book someday?

"I want to do a book, but the biggest problem is financing a book. It again comes back to corporate support to be able to make it possible and then getting the people of Bermuda to value it as a collection or as a piece of history in Bermuda.

"It's not about me making a million dollars. I do want to be successful financially, but I want to be more successful there's a value to it."

How did you get into photography?

"I really liked bike racing back in the '70s. I was about 14 when I bought my first bike, a 250cc, which was rather a big bike for a 14-year-old. History will probably show that I was a much better administrator than I was a rider - but I loved to ride. "My second year of riding, they needed some help with public relations so I took the results to the media. The members would complain that there were never any pictures in the paper. I went to Stuart's on Reid Street and purchased an Olympus IS10. When I wasn't riding, I took pictures of the other riders."

Who helped you along when you were starting out?

"Tamell Simons and Dexter Flood. I would ask them how I was doing. They would point out little things to me. I had no idea how to manipulate the camera the way I can now.

"I was learning little bits and pieces from them and was grateful they were willing to teach me. Eventually, I enrolled in the New York Institute of Photography. I graduated in September '87."

But you didn't stick with just motocross, once you got going?

"I was doing go karts, running, power boats, mountain bikes, harness racing," he added. "I carved out a little niche for myself by doing the sports that rarely got attention. I would still do the football and the cricket. My love for sports photography helped these other sports to get more publicity and recognition in the papers."

How do you challenge yourself?

"I could get bored very quickly, especially when I accomplish something I want to move on to something else. One of the things I took a liking to is that with every sport there is a different technique on how to photograph.

"Looking at the different lighting conditions, the different track conditions, finding a different place so it looks different.

"I often look through different sports magazines and try to figure out how these pictures were taken in these international magazines and try to incorporate that to local sports to try to get it as dramatic as possible. Capturing the apex of the sports. It's been a fun."

What's your favourite local event to cover?

"I've had an unofficial challenge with The Royal Gazette's photographer for the last five years as to who can get the best Cup Match pictures. Cricket is long - it's stretched over two days and it's hot. Things can happen so quickly that you can miss it. The last five years I've smoked the Royal Gazette every year.

"I feel really proud when I'm able to get the catch of the player who wins the Safe Hands Award."

Which players did you like to shoot?

"I always am able to challenge myself. Clay Smith, Janeiro Tucker and Albert Steede are always the hardest players to get a picture of them being bowled out. I got Albert being bowled before he retired, but it wasn't a good shot. Eventually I got Clay and Janeiro being bowled, which for me were real accomplishments, although they may not think so. Normally Clay and Janeiro get caught so to get a picture of them with the bails flying is just a classic.

"When the players see me coming, sit down and take my place, they up their game because they don't want to be in the paper with the bails flying. That's a good feeling knowing that I can apply a pressure that will help an athlete up their game."

So what's your favourite sports photo?

"If I had to nail down a picture which is my all time favourite at this point, is the victory celebration of Devonshire Cougars when they won the league last year is with champagne flying and the smiles on their faces."

What else do you like to photograph?

"I dabble a little bit with small weddings. I do small weddings - I don't do big weddings as they actually make me nervous. You get one chance to get it right.

"I enjoy nature. I enjoy photographing birds and especially butterflies.

"I've done a little bit of swimsuit photography but you can only flip a girl so many different ways so that gets kind of boring too.

"What I thoroughly enjoy about photography is there are so many areas that when you get tired of shooting cricket, let's change the subject and go shoot girls. When we get tired of that, go shoot flowers, sunsets. There's a multitude of things to shoot.

There's always something exciting to shoot."

So is there anything else he'd like to shoot?

"The only drawback is that Bermuda sports is more recreational than a discipline there those really, really high dramatic photographs. It's hard to get here in Bermuda, but travelling to the U.S. and the Caribbean offers me the opportunity to do other things. I want to do bull riding. I really want to go to a rodeo and do bull riding. If the rider is boring, the bull is not. There's so much more to do and accomplish so I don't see myself getting bored anytime soon."

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