Seven years ago, Tim Sharkey started as the “unofficial official” photographer for the New Jersey Performance Powerboat Club. Sharkey, who admired and was inspired by the work of Tom Newby—who shot the club’s Atlantic City Poker Run in 2003—was full of self-doubt. But NJPPC president Dave Patanaude and others saw his talent for capturing performance boats and they pushed him to continue.

Though Sharkey usually features offshore boats, he has shot the rugged world of Jersey Skiff racing.



Sharkey, in turn, bought better camera and lenses. He took it seriously. And then he got a break.

“Dave (Patanaude) put me in a helicopter for the Atlantic City Run,” says Sharkey. “He said, ‘I know you can do this. We know you can do this.’ And I just took it from there.”

Since then, Sharkey has expanded his photographic repertoire to shooting offshore races for the Offshore Powerboat Association. He’s even dabbled in capturing surfing on the New Jersey Shore. But he still prefers poker run work to all the rest.

Tim Sharkey calls shooting from a helicopter "the best seat in the house."



“I like the poker runs the most because every day people get pictures taken of their boats—just to see the glow in their faces when they see a great shot is amazing and worth the effort,” Sharkey says. “It makes my day to please them.”

The least enjoyable aspect of the job for Sharkey is editing photos. In one poker run, he can come away with almost 1,000 digital images.

His favorite part? Shooting from a helicopter.

“It’s the best seat in the house,” he says. “You have more of an opportunity to catch each boat at its best. You can get a lot of different angles in a helicopter. From a fixed position on land, you’re kind of limited.

“But I really don’t feel any pressure, wherever I shoot,” he adds. “If I get the shot, I get the shot.”

 

Poker run boats are Sharkey's favorite subjects.



Editor's Note: There are four articles in the Straight Shooter Series. To read the others, see:

Written by: Matt Trulio
Matt Trulio is the co-publisher and editor in chief of speedonthewater.com, a daily news site with a weekly newsletter and a new bi-monthly digital magazine that covers the high-performance powerboating world. The former editor-in-chief of Sportboat magazine and editor at large of Powerboat magazine, Trulio has covered the go-fast powerboat world since 1995. Since joining boats.com in 2000, he has written more than 200 features and blogs.