Photojournalism

Photography has been my favorite part of my journalism journey. The excitement I feel when I capture the perfect moment makes all of the hard work worthwhile. Even if I was taking photos on my phone or with a camera, it was always about the experience, telling the story and setting the scene. I was soon known as the "Photographer Friend" to many, as my peers began to see my work. I believe photography skills don't rely on your talent, but rather your vision. I believe if you have the vision, and the determination to get the photo, you are only a click away from capturing greatness. This for me, means getting my clothes dusty on the gym floor, or standing on a stool to find the right angle. It means playing around with lighting, running to keep up with your subject, trying out new camera techniques and tweaking your process if you fail. It means sorting through thousands of photos to get that perfect frame. It means showing your work to the world to tell stories, and constantly get better every time you pick up the camera.

These photos are some of my favorites, as they required much focus to capture. The second photo above, was the shot I was waiting that whole night to capture. Avoiding the parents on the sidelines, getting in front of the pole, adjusting my shutter speed just right, making sure my ISO was just bright enough, and snapping the photo right when she reached her highest point. This photo received an "Excellent" in Sports Photography (2023-2024 KYJTA awards).

These editorial style-photos are particularly fun for me to capture. I try to find moments where you can feel the essence of the scene, whether that's when the sun comes through the windows, or when the smiles on my subjects face are the biggest. I play around with my camera settings a lot to experiment with these shots, especially in the disco ball photo and dance photo from the row above. I found slowing my camera's shutter speed would get me the photo result I wanted, even if it felt like I'd be "breaking the rules".

Covering tennis was a little difficult because every shot was captured behind a fence, this just meant having a lens with a wide scope. The experience of taking tennis photos ended up being extremely fun. The girls had great energy and were easy to photograph in the great light, especially being so close to the action.

Volleyball was about finding the angle and spotting the action. It was a lot of me waiting on the court for the right moment, and taking high-speed continuous shots until I got that moment.

In my free time, I enjoy taking personality shots, featuring what makes one special. This involved me picking a day to go out with people, find a location that speaks to their interests and edit photos to their liking. This experience taught me how different stories bring a wide diversity in photoshoots. It taught me how to highlight authenticity and bring originality to my photos.

I learned quickly that basketball players are easy to photograph. Their sport consists of so much action that the photos make themselves, but you must steer composition and angle in the right direction. In these specific photos, I learned a lot about the appropriate ways to adjust the White Balance in camera settings. This allowed me to get rid of the yellow gym lighting.

Media day was all about the set-up. The backdrops, the lighting, and of course, the poses. We give the players a certain level of freedom to pose however feels right (action shots or still shots). We collect each player's photos in folders, which are available for them to purchase as a player package. Taking these photos to their liking and to our standards was important.

These three photos are from a Livewire magazine cover photoshoot. They are a great example of a team effort. We set up lighting and a backdrop, encouraged the staff to dress professionally, pitched in accessories, props, and even crumpled paper. The first shot I snapped while about 4 staffers stood on chairs behind the backdrop and threw the paper down behind our model- that's teamwork and dedication!