Phil Savage was already well
known locally for having coached
young Olympics-bound gymnasts
for the past 30 years. In fact, he was
recently inducted into the Greater
Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame, taking
his place right alongside the likes
of Summitt, Manning and Fulmer.

But lately, the Knoxvillian has
also been gaining exposure for the
other passion of his life—photography. At the prompting
of his wife, Lisa, Savage just recently began sharing with
the rest of the world some of the roughly half-million shots
he has taken over the last 35 years. That led to one of his
photos being selected as the 2009 Dogwood Arts Limited
Edition Fine Art Print. The entry, “Woodruff’s on Gay
Street,” was the first photograph to earn that honor. Savage also has his work on
display at Café 4 on Market Square and Stir Fry Café in Turkey Creek.

Now readers of Everything Knoxville are viewing one of his creations on
the cover of this month’s issue. Savage’s photo of historic
Knoxville High School showcases one of his favorite
techniques—snapping multiple images of a scene and
then “stitching” them together in Photoshop to create
one single panoramic shot, distorted as if shot through
a wide-angle lens. It also displays his penchant for highlighting
an otherwise black-and-white photo with selective
areas of color to emphasize the subject.

Although his subjects range from urban landscapes, to
nature, to sports, Savage says he has no favorite area of interest.
“I want to explore every possible avenue,” he notes.
“I just want to make extraordinary pictures—pictures that
have never been done before, that leave a mark.”

That he does, and it’s evident when viewing his diverse
online gallery, which includes black-and-white
infrared shots as well as three-dimensional collages, the
latter being a technique he developed by cutting and mounting photo images
onto foamcore pieces of varying thickness and then gluing them together
to form a unified image in collage form.