SELFLESS FOCUS: Photographer Mike Eldridge donates time, skills to capture memorable moments for Perkins athletes

A friend at work suggested about 15 years ago that Mike Eldridge take in a Perkins girls basketball game. The Pirates, led by future professional player Cierra Bravard, were dominating locally. Eldridge went to a game and was impressed by the level of play. "The next year I started taking pictures," he said. Eldridge, an upbeat 71-year-old retiree, hasn't stopped shooting photos of Perkins athletes. He's a regular at games of every level and every sport, from grade school to high school. Along the way he's snapped photos of thousands of athletes, donating his time and money to make sporting events memorable for area kids and their parents. Eldridge posts hundreds of photos each week on his Facebook page (Michael Eldridge). He's not married and doesn't have kids, but he surely has a family. During a recent visit to Perkins High School, he was in the hallway as students switched classes. Dozens of teens said hello to Eldridge, some even stopped for a hug. "I have more love in my life than I know what to do with," Eldridge said. "What I do for each kid is like a drop of rain. The appreciation I get back is like a flood." A few weeks ago, Eldridge told Perkins basketball mom Sarah Kaufman that his birthday was coming up. Sarah's daughter Cameron, a standout three-sport junior at PHS, took note. "She said, 'We need to do something,' " Sarah Kaufman said. "She talked to the team and we collected some money and got him a card and some gift cards." And a cookie cake, of course. The celebration included Eldridge on the other end of the camera, posing for a photo with the team. That shot was posted on Facebook with more than 40 comments, including this one from Monica Cummings-Knupke: "This is awesome! Mike is an incredible human being! Perkins schools is so lucky to have him capturing all of these amazing memories for our kids and families! Happy Birthday Mike!" 'Fixture in the gym' Sarah Kaufman said that "everyone looks forward to seeing Mike." "When I think of Perkins, I think of him," she said. "You name it, he's there. He has a smile on his face. You can tell taking pictures brings him so much joy, but I don't know if he realizes how much joy it brings to the kids and parents." Eldridge shoots all sports and offers his photos free of charge. Some of his work also can be seen in the Register. "People can go there (to Facebook), see them and grab them," he said. "I don't watermark them." When Eldridge began shooting sports photos, he focused on the girls' teams: "They didn't get any coverage at that point and I was drawn to that. The girls sports community was kind of like family." Mike Strohl was Perkins' athletic director from 2006 to 2016 and presented Eldridge with his first pass to Perkins events. Eldridge now has a pass that gives him access to all Sandusky Bay Conference games. "At the time I didn't think much of it," said Strohl, who now coaches freshman basketball at Perkins. "He was this nice guy who was in it for the right reasons. He's gotten to know a lot of families over the years. "He's a fixture in the gym and on the sidelines. I never thought 16 years later I'd see him shooting photos. Good man. Happy to have him around." Perkins is his home Eldridge is a 1968 graduate of Berlin Heights High School. He was in the last class before a merger created Edison High. "I don't have an alma mater anymore," he said. "Perkins is the closest thing I have to home." Eldridge served 10 years in the U.S. Air Force and spent time at a support base in Thailand as the Vietnam War wound down. After leaving the Air Force, Eldridge worked in the Washington, D.C., area for about 20 years. He moved back to Ohio in 2002 and now lives near Castalia. He credits his experience as an oil painter with helping boost his photography skills. "When I compose and crop the sports images, I compose them like I would paintings," he said. Eldridge said the rise of digital photography has allowed him to work cheap and publish plenty of images. "It doesn't cost me a lot to do, which is good because I'm on Social Security," he said. "I'm probably one of the most simple people. I don't need much, don't need a lot of money. I'm very easily happy and blessed to be at a point in my life where I have a purpose and, more importantly, a passion." At the end of each sports season, Eldridge burns a CD for each Perkins athlete, sharing all the photos he's taken of them. "Who does that?" said Kaufman, who met Eldridge several years ago when he was taking photos of her son Braden's football game. "That's so special. My kids will always have that from him." Kaufman said Eldridge attended the Perkins volleyball banquet last fall and produced a slide show for the team. Strohl said Eldridge created slide shows for sports banquets when he was athletic director and would include at least one photo of every athlete. Eldridge's hobby has made him very recognizable in Perkins Township and beyond. He said he rarely goes out in public without running into someone he knows. It's not only Perkins athletes and fans who admire Eldridge's work. He regularly shoots both teams, not just the Pirates. "It's really great when people from other schools thank me. I shoot everybody," he said. "When I post, I post both teams. I root for our kids, but I don't root against other kids." Eldridge spent much of Christmas Day taking inventory of his work. He then posted some of his favorite shots on Facebook. He says getting the right shot involves a lot of luck, but it's apparent he has learned all the angles. "The only thing I take total credit for is showing up. I just enjoy it," he said. "I'm doing what I love to do and hope to do it as long as I'm able, and as long as they want me."