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EAST LIVERPOOL-Eighteen years ago, Jimmy Joe Savage, a school bus mechanic by trade, started taking pictures of East Liverpool High School football with a little point-and-shoot camera.
It started out as a favor for Frank Dawson, he recalled.
“Somebody spilled coffee on his camera. So I went and bought a camera-and I haven’t put it down since,” he said. “It seems like when the answer is ‘yes,’ a lot more things can happen.”
Retired from his mechanic job since 2005, Savage, 54, has become known as the guy with the fancy camera at local high school sporting events. Now he’s taking that self-taught expertise one step further by moving his photography business to a prominent downtown location.
Savage opened Legacy Studio by JJS at a small location at Sixth Street and Dresden Avenue a year and a half ago. In April, he and his daughter, Christina, reopened at the former Martin MacClean Altmeyer Funeral Home building, 145 W. Fifth St., East Liverpool.
The move means that he will be able to expand his business, while continuing to offer team photos, senior portraits, personal keepsakes and other photographic services.
“It’s a little bit surprising,” he said. “I never dreamed-I hoped-that I would be a business owner like this.”
Savage has outfitted the entire second floor as a photography studio, equipped with lights, backdrops and more. His two favorite Canon cameras sit at the ready. The three-story building also has two offices, a changing room, a kitchen and space to grow on the first floor.
It’s a far cry from when Savage used to operate out of his home.
A 1980 graduate of ELHS, Savage went to work in the bus garage right out of high school. He stayed there for 25 years, retiring in 2005. He was able to put in more time at the Buckeye Online School for Success and the National Network of Digital Schools.
With a steady day job, Savage started taking pictures-first ELHS football, then other ELHS sports, then other school districts’ sports-on the side. The team, individual and action photos were first used online and in school publications, and then readers started seeing them in the local newspaper.
Savage’s reputation as a photographer grew, even as he also worked as the ELHS sports information director. What started as a hobby became Savage’s Shots, a part-time, home-based business.
“I learned a lot of skills in taking pictures for sports. Over the years, you do that and then you start to take senior pictures,” he said. “The sports is so important to me because it’s kind of the building block of what I do now. I’ve taken that and turned it into a business.”
Savage said he learned a lot from accompanying former Review photographer Wayne Maris and Lisbon Morning Journal photographer Patti Schaeffer on assignments. He started to develop his own style; people recognized his photos even without seeing his photo credit.
“I’ve been very lucky and very blessed to be accepted in the manner that I have, doing what I do,” he said. “East Liverpool’s been good to me. Everything that I’ve done started here.”
Although Savage has expanded into the realm of professional sports, he maintains a local focus. He took photos for the NFL Officiating Academy when it came to East Liverpool, and started shooting Pittsburgh Steelers home games for a client. In the fall, he can be seen on the sideline with all the other large lenses.
“I love it. It gets into your blood,” he said. “I think it’s just going to continue to grow.”