I'm going to be completely honest: I hate watching golf. I find it boring and rather bland, especially when watching on TV. For whatever reason I decided to write about our school's golf team anyways, and was sent out to take pictures of our team on the course. During this assignment, I discovered that golf wasn't all bad. There's something about the trees, water, the sand and the shortly manicured grass that spoke to me, and I spent most of my time focusing my camera on the (very loosely defined) nature than the actual game. By the time they got to the ninth hole, I decided to set up halfway down the fairway and try to capture the intersection of the natural world and golf, and that is where I took this picture.

I adore the lighting here. I was sitting in the shade, aiming into the sun, and the evening light silhouetting the golfer and the trees behind him are just gorgeous. I also am really happy with the timing of this picture: the golfer is through with his motion, and is now tracking his shot on its way to the green. It is a much more contemplative pose, pairing beautifully with the quiet calm of the lighting.

This photo ran in our September 2022 print issue here, and online here.

I played baseball for roughly 12 years of my life. I love just about every element of the sport at just about every level, so I almost always jump at the opportunity to photograph it.

These three photos all from a Regional game last year, which we wound up losing. The first two follow a sophomore who was brought up to a varsity playoff game because our starting shortstop was unable to play. I honestly just think they're really cool shots: the moment after contact on a ground ball single is crisply captured from behind, with the power in the player's swing evident in the movement of his jersey; the warmup throw across the diamond framed by the first basemen. The third photo is a little more impactful for me: the batter finishes a massive swing, with every coach and player in the dugout tracking the sky-high shot that would ultimately be caught for the last out of our team's season. That swing, to me at least, holds a lot of emotion: he wants to save the season with a big hit and tries to kill the ball as a result, but he and our team both come up short.

The third photo is ultimately what we decided to publish, and it can be found here, online. 

I started taking photos at our school's concerts mostly because no one else wanted to, and I thought that the hard work and effort our bands and orchestras put in deserved to be rewarded.

The first of these photos shows a senior who, as a part of their music capstone project, learned how to conduct a band. She then did exactly that at one of our band's many concerts. The second shows three members of a saxophone quintet playing at our music program's winter concert.

I think these photos are more than adequate technically - they're clear, have a good focus and certainly show what is happening - but that isn't why I chose to include them here. I care much more about the mere fact that these students triumphs were recorded. As I said, our arts students tend to be neglected by student media at our school, so I am proud of my efforts to photograph these events because they shed light on a group we often fail to cover well.

These photos are some of a collection that appeared online in our Arts and Entertainment section, and in our December 2023 print issue.

I joined one of my photographer friends at our school's Regional Semifinal basketball game with one purpose: to capture moments from one of their head coach's final games before he retired.

The first of these photos shows the coach, Pete Kramer, meeting with his team during a timeout in their game. I like this photo both because it captures Kramer, well, coaching. A lot of the shots we used from this game show him on the sideline directing his team from afar (or just watching), while this photo very clearly puts him in the center of the action, surrounded by his team in one of his final moments as a coach.

The second photo is the opposite: Kramer watching his team from afar in a much more pensive and detached position. I included this photo because I think it just looks good. Kramer, in focus, is silhouetted against an out of focus game, allowing both for action and for the coach's calmer position to be illustrated here. I also think there is something symbolically resonant about this photo: The game is fading from focus behind Kramer in the shot, as his coaching career fades into his past.

The final photo is a run-of-the-mill game photo, but there is something about it that I believe captures the game of basketball very well. I view basketball as the sporting embodiment of chaos: it is fast, violent, cluttered and is never still for even a moment. The foreground here captures that chaos and clutter well, with a mix of blue and white jerseys obscuring much of the frame. The player who is the subject here tries to navigate that chaos and find a target, framed by the players in the foreground.

These photos are some of a collection that appeared online in this photo gallery, and in print in this photo story.