On November 16 at the 56th Annual Monticello
Goshen Chapter Awards Banquet racetrack photographer Geri Schwarz will finally
step in front of the cameras and be photographed when she receives the
chapter’s Award of Appreciation.
For many years now Geri Schwarz has been the track
photographer at Monticello Raceway and an award winning one at that. She has
also been the track photographer at Goshen Historic Track since 1998 and her
abilities are legendary.
First, and foremost, her finish line photographs are spot-on
as are her winners circle photographs. Not only is her work first rate but she
has an eye for the unusual and many times she captures shots that others
wouldn’t even notice.
A few years ago while waiting to photograph the race
finish at the Mighty M a cat was crossing the racetrack at the top of the
homestretch nearly in front of a racing field of horses. Obviously with
guidance from above, the cat cleared and the lead horses didn’t notice but Geri
Schwarz did and photographed the cat with the horses in the background. An
unusual photograph for sure.
Geri is so quick with her camera that many a time she has
taken a winner’s circle photograph of a horse rearing up which is certainly an
unusual shot.
It’s not to say that Geri looks for these oddities she just
has a knack with a camera.
“When I see something that is unusual I’m often ready to
photograph it,” Schwarz acknowledges.
It’s precisely that instinct that caught the photo that won
for her the prestigious George Smallsreed Award for harness racing photography
a few years ago.
That day rain was falling like it was being poured from a
spout and water lay on the racetrack; even inside the pylons. It was raining so
hard that the drivers had a tough time seeing and when they were and in the
homestretch three horses came close to colliding so one went inside the pylons
spraying water as he went.
It was certainly an unusual shot and it got noticed on the
internet and in the press.
But for Schwarz photography is a labor of love.
“I certainly don’t make a lot of money photographing but I
just love being around the horses,” she says.
It was just that love of the animals that Geri decided to
take the USTA Driving course. Not once but twice; first in Columbus, Ohio and
then in Goshen, NY.
“I enjoyed the school so much in Columbus that when it was
offered at Historic Track I couldn’t pass it up, “ she said. “I ‘ll probably
never drive a horse in a race but I did earn a certificate and had a blast in
doing so.”
Originally from the Bronx and raised on Long Island Geri
matriculated at the community colleges of Nassau, Queens and later Sullivan.
While at Sullivan County Community College –now SUNY-Sullivan- Schwarz moved to
the Catskills and has been here ever since except for the time she spent in
Israel living in a Kabbutz.
“I lived in a Kibbutz for about six months and it was great
to experience the simplicity of that lifestyle but the modern conveniences of
America make life a whole lot easier,” Schwarz acknowledged.
Perhaps it was there in the Kibbutz with her love of the
outdoors that Geri gained a great appreciation for animals. A few years
after she returned home she purchased five acres of land in Bethel.
“I had a house and a barn on the property so I made fences
and boarded a few horses. I even took in a horse that had a broken bone
in its foot and nursed him back and I used to ride him all the time. His name
was Belle Gay Jigger and I had him for 25 years. He died recently and I’m still
heart-broken,” Schwarz said.
I had to work two jobs to make ends meet. I was a paralegal
and worked for various lawyers and in 1980 I got a chance to pursue my love for
photography when I went to work for Earle Tunick photographing at Monticello
Raceway and Goshen Historic Track.
In 1998 Schwarz became the track photographer at Historic
Track where she still enjoys that relationship. Five years ago she became the
track photographer at Monticello Raceway.
“I still have to supplement my income by working as a
paralegal because at both Goshen and Monticello the only money I make is from
the pictures I sell. And let me tell you that those sales are extremely lean
during the cold winter months,” she said.
