About · The story
Hi, I'm Cole Warner.
My story started out on the other side of the lens. Below is the story of how a kid who played sports his entire life became the new sports photographer.
Media days. Sportraits. Senior portraits.
Before
The athlete years · Tioga County, PA
Before any of this was a business, I was the athlete. It started with T-ball, then six years of gymnastics... soccer, basketball, and then cross country and track in high school. Every season came with a picture day, and I never once looked at those photos and felt like I saw myself.
2022
The camera, then the season I couldn't run
In January 2022, I put $798 of saved-up money into my first camera and started taking pics at my sister's soccer games. A year later, a lung condition benched my track season, so I photographed the meets I was supposed to run in instead. I posted everything online for free, people kept asking for more, and that built the foundation of how this business runs: do the work, someone sees it, someone asks.
2023
The photo people still bring up
A track athlete asked me for a graduation photo at the end of the year. During the shoot, I thought it would be cool to take a photo of him hurdling. A bit of luck and some Photoshop turned this photo into people three years later still telling me it's their favorite photo I've ever taken, and that reaction is the thing I've been chasing since: a photo that stays with a family long after the season ends.
2024
First media day, then the wow photos
I pitched my own school its first media day: one afternoon, every winter team, professional photos for every athlete. It out-earned everything I had done before it, and every dollar went into buying more equipment (lights). The dramatic lighting stuck because of how athletes reacted to it: kids who dodge every camera stood a little taller when they saw themselves, and they all said the same word, "WOW", and with this came the creation of WOW photos.
2025
The grind, then the click · Senior year
Nobody was booking WOW photos yet, so I spent my senior year making the proof: thirteen shoots, most at "I normally charge $600, I'll do it for $100." Then the next summer everything clicked... I shot 50 media days, started working with Binghamton University's Division 1 teams, and the photos passed 5M+ views online.
Now
Mid 2026 · Binghamton + the Tiers
Binghamton taught me the last lesson: this was never a photography business, it's a relationship network with a camera attached. So now I'm building that network all over again in a new city, one team and one family at a time. Your athlete gets the thing I never got: a photographer who played too, professional lighting, and a photo that actually looks like them.
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150+
Sporting events
75+
Media days
40+
Senior sessions
5M+
Views on the work
I make the photos I needed when I was the one in the uniform.
Being the athlete first is the whole advantage. Let's make a photo shoot worth remembering.
— Cole @ A.C Media
