NORTHBOROUGH – Jeff Slovin had been into photography “forever,” but it wasn’t until about 2013 that he started taking pictures of Algonquin athletes. As he watched his freshman daughter, Kelly, compete on the school’s swim team, Slovin would pull out his camera and grab some photos.
By the time his son – Sam, a 2020 Algonquin graduate – made his way through the school system, Slovin was taking sports photos for practically the entire Algonquin community. Over the last decade, Slovin has been a familiar sight for athletes and parents alike, standing on the sidelines with his camera focused on the action.
That dedication – taking the time to attend hundreds of games and capture students’ athletic achievements – has earned Slovin a spot among Algonquin’s best. On Nov. 29, Slovin was inducted into the Algonquin Athletic Hall of Fame, earning the coveted Spirit Award for his commitment to the school community.
“We are proud to honor Jeff Slovin as our Spirit Award due to his many years of service to the Algonquin athletics community,” said Algonquin Athletic Director Michael Mocerino. “He’s also a proud community member and has had children come through this school. He has shown so much dedication and pride in helping out athletics by always being available to take pictures, capturing the memories for our students.”
Though his Algonquin photography initially focused on swimming, Slovin branched out to every sport Algonquin offers, ensuring each player’s athletic prowess is adequately captured. His gallery includes soccer, baseball, football, volleyball, rugby, cross-country, track, softball, lacrosse, and much more.
Slovin’s children graduated long ago – why does he continue to shoot photos? Simple. “It’s fun.”
“I enjoy coming out to the games and interacting with everybody here. It gets me out of the house, plus, I like contributing to the community and chatting with the other school photographers and seeing what they’re doing,” Slovin told the Community Advocate. “I just try to use my photos to showcase their achievements.”
His photos have become ubiquitous among Algonquin students; on Instagram, student-athletes frequently use Slovin’s photos for everyday updates, celebratory posts and end-of-season recaps. Slovin makes sure to attend all the special occasions – championships, Pink Day, Senior Night, and everything else – ensuring no Algonquin student is left without a memorable, quality photo.
Algonquin’s Henry Antino maneuvers past St. John’s Padraig Vona
“It’s nice. I enjoy it. I see them pop up in interesting places – in a good way. Some of the athletes move on, play in college, and I see them use my photos in the announcements there, so that’s always nice,” said Slovin.
Dedicated to his craft, Slovin’s photos not only capture the action – they manage to harness the emotion and competition in each respective game. Though hitting the shutter button is easy, as Slovin knows, there’s so much more to getting the frozen-in-time shot that will be saved for years to come.
“For a good sports photo, a lot of things have to come together in one shot. You want to get the peak of the action, you want to get the ball, you want to try to get some eye contact. Plus, all the technicals have to come together. You need equipment that’s fast enough to focus at that particular time, and you have to hope that there’s no referee or player that jumps in front of you,” said Slovin.
As for the future, this hall-of-famer made himself clear.
“I have no plans to stop,” said Slovin.
