News and Updates

Episode 276: Howard Lao – Capturing Special Moments on the Track

I was so excited to get the inside scoop on all things track and field photography!

Howard Lao (“How”) is a photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. Born and raised in Portland Oregon, he ran track at Cleveland High School and continued his athletic career by running at the University of Washington.

Howard combines his unique background as a Division 1 athlete with his photography, capturing the essence of athletes and the moments that bring fans closer to the competition. He has provided coverage at events of all calibers from local elementary school events to World Championships (Beijing 2015, Portland 2016, London 2017) & the Olympic Trials.

His work has also appeared in newspaper (The Seattle Times, The Oregonian) and commercially (Nike, Oiselle, Training Journal by Lauren Fleshman).

He has also worked on multiple NIKE SNKRS projects both as a field producer and photographer.

Photo Cred: Jake Willard

What we talked about:

5:00- Introduction to Howard Lao

12:45- How Howard got started competing in track and field

23:40- How he started doing photography and capturing photos at track and field meets

28:00- The process of getting credentials and getting into track and field meets and events

36:05- How athletes and businesses get the rights to photos he takes

45:10- What the Big Friendly Meets were and his involvement in capturing photos there

48:00- Who hired him to be the photographer at The Big Friendly Meets

49:20- Who he has photographed and seen compete that he wants other people to know about