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Hi, I'm Michael.
I'm Michael Rotiroti. I run Rival Imaging, a sports photo and video company based in Peabody, and I've spent my career behind a camera for HBO, NESN and NBC Sports Boston.
Emmy winner
Why I started Rival
I've filmed championship teams, and for NBC Sports Boston I profiled the winningest high school football coach in Massachusetts history. The moments at a Saturday youth game are just as real, and most of them end up as a shaky phone video from the top of the bleachers.
Rival Imaging is my fix for that. I shoot your kid's game the way I'd shoot it for TV, the photos post while the game is still going, and you find your athlete by typing their jersey number. You get to watch the game.
Rival is me. When you book, you're booking me, and I answer every message myself.
Michael
What I've shot
More than 200 productions: national documentaries, live broadcasts, commercials and a lot of sports.
An Emmy and a duPont-Columbia
I was director of photography, camera operator and gimbal operator on HBO's Murder in Boston, which won the Emmy for Outstanding Crime and Justice Documentary in 2024 and a duPont-Columbia Award.
Cardillo's World, NBC Sports Boston
I'm the show's director of photography. One of my episodes profiles John DiBiaso, the winningest high school football coach in Massachusetts history.
ESPN, the NCAA, NESN, the Red Sox
Camera and edit credits across sports TV, including ENG camera on Dirty Water Media's series for NESN.
A photographer first
BFA in Photography from Endicott College in Beverly, a two-time Boston Press Photographers Association college contest winner, and an RFK Journalism Award for MTV's 16 and Recovering.
Bad light and fast plays are the job
Youth games don't happen in good light. It's a 4 o'clock sun straight down the sideline, a gym lit for a PTA meeting, a Friday night field where the far end zone goes dark.
Shooting for TV, I'm used to that: people moving fast, light that keeps changing, and no asking anyone to run it again.
The other half is reading the game. I watch where the play is going, not where the ball is, so I'm already on the receiver when the pass comes down, on the keeper before the PK, on the bench before it empties.
So you can watch your kid play instead of watching your phone. The photos will be there.
A few from the sideline
Football, field hockey, basketball, hockey and fencing. Tap any photo to see it big.
The practical stuff
What you should know before you book, or before your league signs on.
You talk to me
Rival isn't a call center or an app company. I answer every message within a day and text you to confirm every booking before game day. Ask me something
Based in Peabody
I work the North Shore and around Greater Boston. Games more than 45 minutes out may add a travel fee, and you see it before you pay. Anywhere else in New England, just ask.
Pay online, refund if I can't make it
You pay online with Apple Pay, Google Pay or a card through Stripe, never cash at the field. If I can't make your game, you get a full refund. Rained out? Your booking moves with the game. See every price
Galleries stay private
Galleries are unlisted and kept out of Google, previews are small and watermarked, and there's no face recognition. Every photo has a Remove button any parent can use. Read the photo policy