From the final touchdown of the game, the buzzer-beating shot, to the roaring student section, Scott Damge has caught it all. Naperville Central High School’s local sports photographer, ScottyD, has been able to capture long-lasting memories for students and athletes alike.
Damge started photography as a way to get better pictures of his kids playing sports.
“I never really was that into photography until my second child, my daughter Abby, she played volleyball at junior high,” Damge said. “I tried to take pictures with a digital camera, but by the time it would actually take the picture, the moment was gone. So eventually I bought a Canon consumer camera, and I used that and did her pictures of volleyball from junior high up until her junior year.”
Damge has three kids who attended Central. His oldest daughter Rachel graduated in 2017, his second daughter, Abby graduated in 2019, and his youngest, Will, graduated in 2022.
“When my son started high school, he played football and wrestled, so I did football photos of him, and then the last game of the season, it was getting dark out earlier and it was a 6 p.m. game and by the end of the game my camera was getting nothing,” Damge said. “It was all blurry and dark. So that’s where I decided, alright, if I’m gonna shoot him as a sophomore, I need to get a real camera. So, that’s why I eventually invested in a professional-level camera.”
Once his photography improved and became more professional, Damge began taking pictures for the whole team, and his hobby became a business.
“I thought, well I have a good camera, [so] I might as well take pictures for everyone”
Since every business needs a name, ScottyD Photography was born. But the name has an interesting origin too.
“I’ve gone by Scott my whole life,” He said, “But when my daughters were in high school, the three of us went on a mission trip to Haiti. During the trip, the kids started calling me ScottyD and it stuck. When I decided to formalize my business I thought that ScottyD Photography rolled off the tongue. Also, ScottyD is more fun and personal than Mr. Damge, so I like that the kids call me ScottyD.”
Now, many students across Central know him by the name ScottyD. At football games, many yell it from the stands, hoping for a picture. Damge gets almost celebrity-like treatment from the students at football and basketball games.
“People treat me like I’m famous,” Damge said. “But to me, I’m just a random dad who likes to take photos. Some people think, oh wow this guy is famous, but not really, I don’t feel like I am.”
When Damge was in high school he was a three-sport athlete, playing baseball, golf, and wrestling. However, he always felt drawn to the games with the big student sections.
“I enjoy sports, and I enjoy watching them, so I would go even if I wasn’t taking photos,” Damge said. “ When my kids were going through [Central], I would go watch the football games even though my daughters weren’t playing. I’d still go, just because I like it.”
Because of his passion for what he does, Damge hopes to continue photography after retirement from his day job as a software engineer.
“I hope I can keep doing [photography] until I retire from my regular job, and I’m hoping to continue and maybe expand into other markets too.” Damge said.
Damge also likes shooting for Central’s teams to get to know the kids better.
“For Central, I like to do multiple games because it gives me a chance to get to know the kids a little bit,” Damge said. “Then I get to know the players and interact with them. I don’t want to be a distraction or annoy the coaches, but I want to try to chat and joke around with the athletes and the students too.”
Damge feels that when students are relaxed, he can get better pictures.
“That helps with media days too,” Damge said. “Because I can tell when some people are not very comfortable having their picture taken. But when we have a relaxed environment, everyone’s joking around, playing around, then they will loosen up after a little bit, let their true self show.”
Damge has since expanded his business to shoot senior portraits and different types of sports photography. He worked with a member of Central’s varsity dance team, senior Ella Neben, to shoot individual dance photos.
“The past couple of years, he started doing [pictures for] the dance team,” Neben said. “ But he really wants to do a good job and learn how it’s different to photograph dancers. Because I know Scotty personally, it was more fun for me because I knew him.
Damage is also open to working with student photographers.
“I don’t want to assume that I know more [than student photographers], but I have accumulated a lot of experience,” Damge said.
A student photographer at Central, sophomore David Ingram, had shot by Damge at football games.
“He was really helpful, and he always helped me out when I needed anything,” Ingram said. “He’s helped me with a lot of things I do now with angles and stuff like that [for sports photography], and he taught me almost everything I know.”
Damge likes to capture the moments and memories he knows will last forever.
“Ten years from now, when they look back and they’re long done playing sports, they’ll still have those photos they can look back on and remember,” Damge said. “I wish I had that from when I played sports.”
