Twenty-five years is not an insignificant amount of time, and that is abundantly clear to André Ringuette.
“When I started, I was young, and I knew that this was a big deal,” Ringuette said. “Just getting to shoot sports, getting to shoot hockey at the highest level, getting to go to the Olympics, and now after three decades of it I might get a different enjoyment out of it. Now we all look down the barrel of getting older and having a career, moving on and whatnot. So now I see it through a different lens. No pun intended there.”
Ringuette has been the Ottawa Senators team photographer dating back to the 2000-2001 season but has been shooting Sens games since the franchise's inception. He and his team have also covered multiple outdoor games, all-star games, global series events, 50 World Championship events for both men's and women's hockey including 13 World Juniors, and three Olympic Games, gearing up for a fourth in Milan this coming February.
Along the way to building this illustrious list of events covered throughout his career, there are of course certain moments that stand out with some of the best coming at CTC.
“Best and favourite are not necessarily the same,” he said. “My favourite photo, it's a bit obscure. Alfie in the playoffs, one of the first games of a round, I want to say it was against Buffalo. Alfie gets into an altercation…he's up against the glass across from where I was sitting. I don’t want to call it a fight because I don’t think it was five minutes, but at the end his jersey came off…and the fans are just going crazy."
“I have highlighted moments in my career where you just have that ‘oh my god’ you’re witnessing a vibe of a moment that will actually make your hair stand. That was one of them. The fans were just so supportive of Alfie… It was just this defiant look that he had. He had a total game face on, satisfaction, and the fans in the background supporting that.”
Some memorable experiences come from his coverage of international events, like meeting a teenaged Alex Ovechkin at the World Cup of Hockey in 2004.
“I thought I was smart, where I really wanted to get a shot of him firing a slap shot right at me. So I brought rubber pucks just for my own safety. But he seriously leaned into this thing, and I remember the puck bouncing off the boards behind me. Had he hit me with that puck, despite the fact it's a rubber puck, I probably would have died,” he laughed.
Being a part of these moments all while creating relationships along the way is something special for Ringuette.
“I'm not the kid I used to be,” he said. “It kind of throws you off when some of these guys call you sir, but that's what I enjoy seeing. Literally, these teenagers who you just never know who's gonna turn out. Alfie wasn't a first round guy, look at the career he had. That's what I enjoy is seeing these teenagers come in trying to make a hockey team, or not make the hockey team. Mark Stone didn't make the team. Antoine Vermette did not make the team his first year. I had lots of conversations with Antoine. He's one that I was able to get to know a little bit more. So, to see him turn into an alternate captain on other teams and go win a Stanley Cup and stuff like that, that's really cool.”
With all that comes a passion for photography, something which goes back to Ringuette’s youth.
“My dad always had a camera,” he said. “I was just comfortable. I had my own little point and shoot camera as a kid, so that was always in the background, not as a career, as just being comfortable around cameras.”
It was not until Ringuette was in post-secondary school, when pursuing a career in graphic design, that he discovered his true love for photography in an elective class.
“I was hardcore about it to the point where our one-hour lab time that we had on Friday afternoons, I begged the technician to allow me to stay later.”
After coming to Ottawa for University, he then began shooting sports starting with the University of Ottawa swim team, of which Ringuette had previously appeared on. That led to more sports coverage throughout his time in school.
“I started shooting basketball, hockey, volleyball for school, and that's where I found what I wanted to do was sports. Then it became known as, that's all I did. I became known as the sports guy.”
Gaining a reputation in the city, Ringuette became the official sports photographer for both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, before being hired by the CISU, now U-Sports. He eventually started shooting NHL games for multiple clients.
“I was just such a part of what was going on here, starting from their first game (at the Civic Centre), which just snowballed so one client turned into another client turned into another client. Then I became known as the hockey guy in this town and then, eight years later, it was kind of just a natural thing for the Senators to make me their team photographer.”
From then on, he was able to start crafting the many relationships and experiences which have lasted throughout his career. Some of which have been interconnected from the Sens to different events he has covered across the hockey world. One example being Kaspars Daugaviņš.
“Kaspars was, I don't know, a third line guy at best, but just certainly not a star, not a popular player. But we had an outing with the owner Mr. Melnyk at the time who would invite the players to his ranch in Florida whenever they had the Florida road trip, and there was a lot of personal time. I just happened to sit beside Kaspars one time because he had a huge tattoo of the Latvian logo on his back. And so I kind of mentioned that. It's funny, because this was even before I was involved with the World Championships.”
“Over the years, just always seeing him at the World Championships. Then this guy turns into a captain for the team, and then a legend in his country. We've kept in touch that way, so that was a good tie-in which started here at the Sens. I did his first portrait at the World Championships in 2012. We recognize each other. And then we've become friends over the years.”
Being around since the beginning of the team's success, Ringuette has also seen the Sens greats go from the draft to the rafters. He also takes gratitude for being part of and seeing the development of the team currently on the ice as a part of his story.
“What I enjoy is rookie conditioning camp,” he said. “You're one of the first guys to take their portrait. Brady Tkachuk… I saw Brady get selected, and then I had my day at the NHLPA Upper Deck Rookie Showcase. I remember meeting Brady that first time, and I liked how he conducted himself, and he was polite and just the energy, he was just great. I thought ‘yeah, he's definitely a keeper.’ Then years later, you see what happens. That's kind of nice to have that confirmation with players like that who have been around the team long enough and have not moved on anywhere else yet. Then you realize that I'm the only team photographer they've known.”
Being a part of hockey history is equally as special as his Sens coverage. Something he experienced in capturing Wayne Gretzky’s final game on Canadian soil which took place in Ottawa.
“I have a picture of him, at the opposite end of the rink, everyone saluting Gretzky. I’ve got him with his arm in the air, acknowledging the crowd. His name, his number, in the background, someone's holding up a sign that says, ‘thank you Wayne’. Through some circumstances I was able to get that printed, and signed, and it’s in my office.”
That’s just one example which highlights Ringuette’s mindset and preparation when looking to capture the big moments on any given night. Moments which create potential for images that can have a lasting impact.
“You have 60 minutes of trying to make something special,” he said. “Then with experience, you know that those special moments might be more at the end of the game. A lot of it is just awareness and taking visual attention to what's going on. In the world of photography, what's good and bad with it is what you do is you kind of stop time. Whereas video, you're capturing the whole flow in the moment, but then once all that flow is gone, it kind of disappears. With a photo, you only have one fraction of a second at it. But then if you freeze it and you catch it, then that could last forever.”
And despite the long hours, days and years that Ringuette has spent with the Senators, the enjoyment level of trying to capture that fraction of a second is something that never wavers.
“The challenge of trying to come up with visual images that would support the story of the game, whether that game was a big story or not a big story, that's what's fun. And at the end of the night, we'll look at the results. And hopefully you've been able to create a handful of unique visuals.
“That's the trick to life is we're going to spend a high percentage of our time working. Hopefully if you're lucky enough to enjoy it too. You got to make money, you got to make a living, pay off your mortgage, get food on the table. Provide for your family, but you’ve got to enjoy that ride otherwise you’re just logging in hours.”
Ringuette will be back this year with the Sens, while also looking ahead to another Olympic Games in Italy, capturing more moments that will stand the test of time. He’s also looking forward to the steps the team’s taking on the ice.
“Getting to round two and getting to round three and getting to round four, getting back to that,” he said. “To get to the point where the Ottawa Senators have the type of respect that we used to have when we had Alfie, Heatley, Spezza, Hossa, Redden and Chara. I think we have the potential with the guys that we have. What I'd like is for the Senators to be in the microscope again. Look at this team, look at this organization. I think we definitely deserve that here in Ottawa.”
