School spirit is prominent at this school, especially in athletics. Pep rallies usually bring in mass attendance, chatter goes on in the hallways after a big soccer game and specks of red, white and blue pop out during football games.

Capturing the memories of sports games is important, especially with a school where so many students take part in athletics. Athletes may want to look back on photos, to see how well they were playing in a game or to look back on particular moments. This is done thanks to student photographers like sophomore Claire Weed.

This year marks Weed’s first year as a sports photographer. “I first got into photography because my grandfather was a photographer, so I got all of his old [equipment] and he would do it with me. I got into sports photography because Gurnoor, a senior from last year, was on the soccer team with me and she would take sports photos. I kind of took over after she left,” Weed said.

So far this year, she has taken photos for the volleyball, football, soccer and flag football teams during their games. Weed said that as an athlete herself, “It’s cool to take pictures of other people playing sports,” and that more students should attend sports games. “When the players talk to me, they really appreciate it and it’s a really good atmosphere to cheer on your friends,” Weed said.

In terms of sports photography specifically, Weed said that it helps connect different kinds of people. “All the players on the team really like to see themselves in pictures and I’ve gotten to know a lot of people on the boys’ soccer team, flag football girls and volleyball, because they ask me to take pictures. There’s other [student sports] photographers at Wootton too, so I’ve really built a community with them,” Weed said.

In the future, Weed is interested in pursuing sports photography in college, and possibly even as a career. Aside from photography, she enjoys playing soccer, reading and hanging out with friends.

Sophomore Ashu Khetan is close friends with Weed, and has first-hand seen her photography growth in the past few years. “Claire is genuinely one of the funniest people I know. Her sports photography is so inspiring. She knows how to capture the right angles without making the photos awkward,” Khetan said.

Weed’s AP Photography teacher, Afua Kyeremeh, shares a similar sentiment. “This is the first year I’m teaching Claire. As a person, she is super kind and nice to everyone in the class. As a photographer, I think she is super creative and takes on challenges that I give [students], which I give them a lot,” Kyeremeh said.

While photography may look simple to onlookers, the art is not easy. Particularly for sports photography, photographing moving objects and the moment a goal or shot is made can be challenging. This only gives more reason as to why it is important to appreciate those who do end up taking that challenge and indulge in sports photography. “I think sports photography is extremely important because it can both capture a game’s intensity but can also shape an emotional story, and Claire does just that,” Khetan said.

Kyeremeh said that the growth of sports photography at this school is “amazing. I feel like a lot of people think that it’s not something you can make money off of or do anything with, but now with social media and content creation, it’s such a huge part of our reality. Just seeing [students] trying and that initiative, I love it.”