Jack Casebolt is a junior at Park City High School and The Park Record’s first-ever photography intern.
Originally from Minnesota, Casebolt became interested in photography through a class offered during his freshman year. He originally took the class to fill a graduation credit, but became increasingly more interested in the subject.
“My dad used to be into (photography) a long time ago, so he had an old camera lying around,” Casebolt remembered. “I took it and went to one of my friends’ sports games and they really liked the photos. That’s kind of when I fell in love with the process and began learning along the way from my teacher in that class, and also a lot of stuff online.”
Casebolt’s specialty is sports photography, but he has become more interested in photographing landscapes and wildlife, as well as portraits, since moving west to Utah in the early summer. The junior said he loves it here.
“It’s beautiful. I’ve met some super great people, everyone’s super wonderful,” Casebolt said.
Casebolt previously worked as a sports photography intern with his local paper in Minnesota. So when he moved to Park City, he looked for similar opportunities.
He came across The Park Record and emailed Editor Don Rogers, who helped connect Casebolt with the photographers on staff.
As The Park Record’s photography intern, Casebolt receives a different assignment each week. Sometimes he has one every day, sometimes a few times a week and sometimes just one. These assignments range from covering high school sports games to business openings or even Park City Council meetings.
He then takes these photos and edits them before putting them in the WordPress system and adding a caption. The pictures are then sent off to be formatted with the newspaper.
Casebolt said he hopes to gain more experience and learn from the professional photographers on The Park Record staff as an intern, as well as learn more about different types of photography and have new experiences.
He said photographing conferences or city council meetings can be particularly difficult to capture, and dim rooms with fluorescent bulbs can be challenging from a lighting standpoint.
He’s also anticipating that this will help him gain more photography connections and add to his portfolio.
He plans to pursue a four-year degree and hopes to photograph sports at the college level alongside a photo or media team. Casebolt is also aiming for an alternate career in the business field, but wants to maintain photography on the side.
His long-term career goal is to eventually become a professional sports photographer. His favorite sport to shoot is hockey, and he said Hunter Dyke, who shoots the Utah Mammoth hockey team, is his favorite photographer.
Casebolt said his favorite thing about photography is that it gives him opportunities to meet people. He loves that people value and appreciate the photos so much and how happy it makes them.
“Watching other people be so happy and appreciative of the photos just makes it all feel worth it. It’s something great to do. I love it,” he said with a smile.
Casebolt also really enjoys the challenge that photography provides.
“It’s a challenge every time. It’s never the same, so being able to learn and build up new techniques, it’s basically always learning,” he said.
Outside of the camera, Casebolt loves spending time outdoors. He loves hiking, camping and fishing. He also loves playing golf.
Readers can find Casebolt’s photos in past and upcoming editions of The Park Record. They can also catch a glimpse of Casebolt himself on the sidelines of most high school sports games and events.