NATURAL SHOOTER
Knicks big man Kyle O’Quinn wasn’t just a spectator at the U.S. Open this week. He was working on assignment in his new gig — as a photojournalist.
A slimmed-down O’Quinn is showing vast improvement this offseason, working hard on his frame. That is, camera frame.
The 6-foot-11 enforcer lugged around his state-of-the-art camera at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday, taking pictures courtside at Arthur Ashe Stadium’s photo bench for the Players Tribune.
He worked the CoCo Vandeweghe-Karolina Pliskova and Rafael Nadal-Andrey Rublev quarterfinal matches. Then O’Quinn, who grew up minutes away in Flushing, stalked the side courts for doubles and juniors matches.
At the summer league in Orlando in July, O’Quinn, standing in back of Knicks president Steve Mills, snapped photos of the Knicks’ game vs. Dallas. He also has shot the Liberty this season at the Garden and plans to be there Sunday for their playoff opener against Washington, lens in tow. His photos have appeared on various Garden websites and his own Instagram account (@shotsbyko).
He has worked weddings this summer, including in the Virgin Islands for the Pelicans’ E’Twuan Moore, and also for Norfolk State classmate/women’s hooper Tiffany McNair. Former St. John’s star Moe Harkless had O’Quinn shoot his kid’s camp. Have camera, will travel. “I don’t know all the rules of photography. I’m just going on my instinct,’’ O’Quinn told The Post. “I’m catching things some of the professional guys say is good. I’m not putting too much thought in it as far as technical stuff. I’m doing what I think personally will be a nice shot.’’
It is all brand new for O’Quinn, who never took photos before March — not even for his high school yearbook. The former Norfolk State star needed an outlet from the drudgery of offseason training. And with the Knicks failing to make the playoffs in each of his two seasons, he has a had a lot of down time.
“Working out in the offseason takes up a lot of your time,’’ O’Quinn said. “I was searching for a hobby. It came at the right time. I got a camera for my birthday.’’
O’Quinn, who turned 27 on March 26, wants to pursue his photography dream. He got the Players Tribune gig with an inside connection. Former Knicks director of player services, Chris Bernard, works there now.
During the Knicks’ 1969-70 title season, Phil Jackson, then a young power forward rehabbing from back surgery, spent the campaign as their unofficial photographer, with legendary George Kalinsky as mentor.
“That’s the one thing we do have in common,’’ O’Quinn cracked.
O’Quinn, one of the team’s locker-room cut-ups, said he will brandish his candid camera all season.
“Everybody appreciates a good picture,’’ O’Quinn said. “It will be fun catching guys on the plane this year, guys on the plane joking around. I wish I had [former Knick] Brandon Jennings. He’d be a good model for me. He loves photography.’’
Derek Locust, one of O’Quinn’s friends from Norfolk, is a professional photographer and serves as his mentor.
Locust says O’Quinn was born to shoot …. pictures.
“It’s a natural ability to see things and capture them,’’ Locust said. “He’s already in the process of learning the technical aspects of photography. He’s able to control grasp every portrait he wants. You have to have a natural ability to do it. You can’t be taught to bring a different dynamic. He has it.”
As he left Flushing Meadows, O’Quinn admitted he could see himself as a photojournalist after he retires.
“This was interesting,’’ O’Quinn said. “This was fun. There’s a lot of photographers here — a lot of competition.’’