Do you ever wonder who the students on the sidelines with cameras are? Do you want to know who is behind the photos that athletes post? Do you ever ask yourself how these fantastic quality photos get into the yearbook? Then let me tell you about the students who devote their time to photographing, editing, and posting these fantastic photos.

First off you’re probably wondering who these students on the sideline are. Allow me to introduce them to you. Maren Weinstein and Andrew Halpern are both brilliant student photographers that you may have noticed at all the football games this year. They are astonishing photographers, but their experience photographing splits them apart. Maren has been photographing for a little over a year now while Andrew has been photographing for six years. This is crazy to wonder about because when you compare both of their photos you wouldn’t even be able to recognize who has more experience. Knowing that the two of them have been photographing at different rates, shows that no matter how experienced you are in photography you can be just as good.

Now that we know how long each photographer has been photographing, let’s learn about how they got into this hobby. Many photographers, when asked about how they got into photography, usually say that they just picked up a camera, took a photo, and fell in love with it, but for Maren and Andrew, it was totally different. When I asked Maren and Andrew about what got them into photography they both provided different answers. Maren said “Yearbook got me into photography. Honestly, before I took it, I knew how to use a camera, thanks to my amazing mom, but hadn’t picked one up since I was ten or eleven. I started going to games and fell in love with it.” It’s crazy what a class can do for you. While Maren had the help of yearbook to discover her way back into photography, Andrew had the help of his grandpa. He mentioned his grandpa when asked this question and in his own words he said “My grandpa, he was always a good photographer and taught me how to take photos.” Amazing how two students who share the same passion have different experiences discovering it. 

Obviously, with a growing passion, there are going to be things that you enjoy about it. Almost every photographer will tell you that their favorite thing about photography is being able to capture important moments and emotions to later look back at. The funny thing is that both Maren and Andrew said the same thing when asked what their favorite thing about photography is, “the capturing of moments of emotions both big and small that you can only see one time”, said both photographers. 

There are many different types of photography but one that many photographers love is sports photography. Many love sports photography because of its fast-paced environment and being able to capture emotions that aren’t able to be seen from the stands. I asked both Maren and Andrew about what they enjoy about sports photography. Once again they provided me similar responses which I love. Maren said “ It’s so fast paced and so rewarding when you get those cool photos, and it also has the best reactions which are some of my favorite shots to get” and Andrew said, “I love it because there is so much action in one tiny shot and there is never a dull moment”. It’s amazing to see how the environment can feed into their desire for sports photography.

Lastly, to end this off I wanted to know what their favorite memory while photographing is so far because every photographer has a core memory that they love. Both Maren and Andrew mentioned that the Taco Shack Bowl was their favorite so far. Maren, also said “I made some particularly interesting and funny memories last spring” which fed into her memory of Taco Shack.