By Sophie Crabtree
A student gets in closer to the subject, looking for the right moment to balance the lighting and focus the screen. Then comes the small click-click-click of the shutter as the student captures a rapid motion.
On the court, Iga Swiatek, the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player, leaps in the air for a volley and is ready for the next shot. From the stands, Paige Hayes keeps snap-snap-snapping the camera. Unaware it’s a good one.
No matter if it is snapping photographs at tennis matches, school activities or football games, Delta High School’s student photographers make sure to catch the memories and moments most people don’t recognize in the speed of the action.
From being a freshie just learning the basics of how to focus a camera to seniors preparing to use photography in their soon to be future, each photographer has a story to tell.
For freshman Paige Hayes, photography is something that has always been close in her life.
“My sisters inspired me because I always watched them take pictures for 4-H,” Hayes said. “ I grew up around them taking photos, so I thought maybe I should try it and see how I do.”
She ended up liking it and it has been an important part of her life. She enjoys the time spent on it and is always ready to see the finished photos.
Hayes is in her first season of managing the boys’ tennis team and often likes to bring her Sony 6400 camera to matches, trying to capture the most elite moments on the court.
Her favorite image so far that she has captured has to be the photo of Iga Swiatek, which she captured at the Cincinnati Open.
Hayes was grateful for this opportunity and expects to remember it for the rest of her life.
When Paige is ready to take an action-filled photo she focuses on the timing and makes sure the photo turns out amazing with creativity.
“I usually just try to get focused as much as I can, especially with sports,” she said. “It’s harder to get focused faster, but I try to make sure it’s centered and clear.”
She also puts effort into the different angles just so they stand out from many other photographers.
“A lot of sports photos look the same,” Hayes said. “I like to be more creative and get different angles that people don’t usually think of.”
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Another skilled student photographer is junior Senad Selimovic, who plays soccer and is growing a passion for photography.
“I was inspired by my dad who told me to take some photos for my friends,” he said.
Then as he started to grow in his love for photography, he discovered that sports, senior and couples photography are the areas he feels are the most engaging.
Some of the most favored photos by him include a photo of Carter Jackson at a Delta versus Norwell football scrimmage as well as a senior photo he took for Kiara Turner.
Even though Senad enjoys photography and many subjects, he said he just likes being alone and carefully focusing on each shot one at a time.
“I want people to see my photos and feel like they want to book with me and try to get photos with me,” Senad explains.
There are many photographers all around the world who struggle with many issues in photography and so it’s best to learn from those mistakes.
Senad’s challenges sometimes include his lens doesn’t want to work or his settings on the camera result in grainy images, but he continues to keep learning about photography and experiments with many photos. He will always strive to capture an amazing moment.
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Have you ever thought that a photographer would want to be a fighter pilot? Daniel Tokar, a senior, hopes to take up that passion.
Even though he mostly takes photos around the school he said he likes action-packed sports.
Daniel says he’s inspired by the excitement of football and enjoys taking photos as they are happening.
Even though he enjoys action he also enjoys calmer sports.
“I think I like slow-moving; for example, football is fast-paced and all that,” Tokar explains. “But cross country is kinda boring so no action, you just run the entire way for like 20 minutes. I like that a lot.”
Like many photographers, he knows that out of the hundreds of pictures he takes, he might only capture two or three he absolutely loves. Three photos really stand out to him.
Those include a picture of an intense boys’ basketball game where the Delta player is trying to keep the basketball. Also a football photo of a Delta player trying to hold back his teammate who is arguing with the other team. Another photo Tokar enjoys is a closeup of a football player looking serious and ready for the game.
Slow-moving sports photos can also face a few issues that you can resolve when you take the time to learn more about the camera, which can lead to better photos.
Those challenges include the user errors, quality lagging and trying to get descriptive clear shots of people when they are moving. Tokar keeps trying hard so he can improve.
He dreams of taking pictures in the Olympics because he said it would be a cool experience and help him work on his photography skills.
When coming up with ideas for photos, Tokar considers some of the rules of photography composition.
“I mean I just think about it a little bit,” Tokar says. “Like the rules when you align people, which is a rule of photography. I will try to use them.”
Some days are good photo days, some are bad, but every day he learns something new and interesting. Then in the future when he continues to learn it can help him focus alone and capture the moments even better than before.
Tokar, who spent much of his childhood years in Ukraine, wants to be successful and work as a fighter pilot. Why he wants to do this is because it involves action and is something he would enjoy doing where you only have to work for 20 years before you can retire.
“Instead of working a 9-5 job for 40+ years in a box without any freedom, you might as well take on being a fighter pilot,” he said.
Even though he wants to be a fighter pilot, photography may still be part of his future which means he already has the skills he has learned in high school.
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Another photographer who recently got into the craft is Khloe Morris, a sophomore.
She has always found a way to get that perfect picture.
She said her biggest inspiration is Mr. Tim Cleland, journalism teacher and tennis coach at Delta. Morris has been attending many different sports activities and events in high school and can always be seen on the court, field and sidelines with a camera.
The most memorable photo that Morris remembers taking is a photo of Paislee Terry setting in an intense volleyball game.
“All I need is the perfect timing,” Morris says.
Once you capture the right moment, everything will fall right into place.
School hasn’t always been easy but for photographers like Morris you can experience the important moments just with a compact camera. When she finishes a session of photos she hopes they will turn out well.
“I enjoy just kinda going through them and seeing what you have captured lately,” Morris said.
Whenever Mr. Cleland gives Morris photography jobs she is always ready for the challenge no matter where she is. In the future hopefully photography will help her with her life in some unique way.
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Ron Baucom, a cross country runner, has a fascinating story about how he got involved in photography. He was totally committed to cross country until one day he sadly was taken out of the season for health problems.
“My mom always took pictures, but she stopped going, and I knew how much the team liked the photos,” Ron said. “So I filled in for her because she couldn’t take the photos.”
Since being unable to compete, Ron has taken some good photos of the runners and their good form. However, taking photos is not always a walk in the park. Deciding on the right angles, lighting and camera settings can be tough.
“I have autofocus on the camera so it takes a lot of photos at once,” he explained. “So I go through and send it to the team and see if they like it and how they want it.”
The challenges he faces are the weird faces the runners make as they are about done running. The runners are dying and just trying to push through and get a good place in the race but are making interesting faces.
Ron also doesn’t like when the photo is blurry so you can’t see the person or experience the feeling you get looking at the photo.
To set up the ideas of the photos he just lets the people do whatever they want and he stays in one spot. Ron wants the athletes to get the pictures because they should be able to get a good action photo.
“I want them to be able to feel that they can have the photo for free and just enjoy it very much,” he says.
Even though Ron got into photography for an unexpected reason he now loves it and hopes to take more pictures in the future for his fellow teammates and Delta students.
Overall, these five students show that photography means something different to everyone. Whether it’s a hobby, a passion or just a way to capture memories and feelings, every story has a different perspective told from a different mind.
There might be struggles and some hard times, but everyone should know that they are making a difference for the Delta memories. Altogether they remind us that photos sometimes hold moments that words cannot explain.
