Changing focus - Former UTech athlete enjoying new career as photographer

Former track athlete Derron Wright is now focusing on photography after his hopes of representing Jamaica at the Olympic Games were shattered because of major injuries.

Wright said these injuries have been affecting him since his days at Garvey Maceo High School and have also caused him to lose his athletic scholarship while he was studying sports management at the University of Technology (UTech).

“In my first year, I got a hamstring injury at the Milo Western Relays and it took me a while to get over it,” he said. “They (UTech) gave me the second year to improve myself and it (the injury) was still recurring so they decided to cut the scholarship.”

Wright said he had the option of studying overseas on a half scholarship, but he refused it, opting instead to study photography.

NEW CAREER

Wright said his athletic career ended after this, but many more doors were opened through his new career as photographer.

“I wanted to be an Olympic athlete and when I started getting these injuries, I realised that it was a bit far-fetched, so I turned to the next best thing I knew how to do, and that was photography,” Wright said.

He said though he has not used his sports management degree directly, the business courses he did during his studies have helped him to grow and develop his business called D Wright Focus Photography.

His business has given him the opportunity to work with businesses and celebrities such as his favourite athlete Asafa Powell.

“A mutual friend, Julian Forte (an athlete), contacted Asafa and set up the shoot, and probably I was a little bit nervous because I was about to photograph the former world record holder, but it went well,” he said.

He still hopes to participate in the Olympics some day but through photography.

“You can never tell where life will lead you because, who knows, in a few years from now I might be shooting at the Olympics or some World Championship games, and that would lead me back into the sport, but not actually competing,” he said.

Wright said the coronavirus pandemic is slowing down his photography business because fewer people are booking photo shoots, but he has plans to venture into other areas soon.

“I am in the process of starting a farm with my former teammate from Garvey Maceo and UTech, Tyquendo Tracey,” he said.

Sharla Williams