![“[I love to photograph volleyball] because I play it myself and I like how fast-paced it is. It’s very action based," said Tanner Hering.](https://rampage.d127.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-13-212955.png)
Photography is a form of art that is universal. Each photographer has different goals of why they are taking a photo, are attracted to different genres of photography, and have different styles. Student photographers at Grayslake Central can be seen at the sidelines of games and behind-the-scenes of every school event. No matter what, they all want a perfect shot to capture a perfect moment.
Grayslake Central senior Brody White is a creative student that partakes in photography often. Brody’s favorite part of photography is “capturing moments the most, and finding things in their natural habitats. Or…unnatural, yet pretty habitats. I really like to take photos of animals and nature, but I also always take photos for each Encore! performance to capture the moments.” His style leans more into the lifestyle photography, which focuses on taking pictures of someone or something in their daily life.
There will always be tough mountains to climb in any activity. A common one in photography is knowing when the right time is to take the perfect picture. Time and actions never stop, they only continue. When taking photos, people get worried and want to take a single shot that has no flaws. A simple solution White has became familiar with overtime to this problem is “…I’ve learned to take too many photos and slim it down from there.” This technique helps by creating more then one picture to rely on being the perfect shot. The only problem would be sitting down and looking at the multiple photos, which is very much worth it. That simple resolution is way better then trusting one picture to have no flaws and be the perfect photo envisioned.
White talked about his first initial experiences with photography. “I started to take photos for fun and to have memories for our eighth grade Washington D.C. trip, and took a whole bunch then. That’s really when I started to try and get actual good photos, but another time I started to was during the ‘Chicago’ musical, despite the fact that my phone camera was really bad,” he said.
Even with Brody’s struggles with phone camera quality at first, he overcame that hurdle later on. He did not let that stop him from taking the gorgeous pictures he takes now. Photography focuses on what the human eye captures, what the true vision is, and not necessarily the equipment you have access to.
Sports photography poses its own challenges for photographers. It takes a person with fast eyes that’s able to take a picture quickly due to the nature of sports, which are constantly moving, never stopping. The quick movements and action in multiple sports, like football, basketball, and volleyball, take a skilled person with fast reflexes to take those kinds of photos. Time speeds up in sports photography.
Tanner Hering is a sophomore at Grayslake Central. His photography focuses mostly on sports, especially the sports and activities at Grayslake Central. Hering explained when he started photography and why. “I started using my mom’s camera in seventh grade to shoot middle school basketball games.”
Hering has been a sports photographer for around five years now. Since he has had all this practice, he’s able to take incredible pictures and videos of Grayslake Central sports, like Grayslake Central girls volleyball.
Inspiration is what keeps photographers motivated. The people that influenced Hering’s own work went to Grayslake Central themselves. Hering started following alumnus Daniel Laubhan and current senior AJ Reitz on Instagram. Knowing that the people he looked up to for photography went to the same school as him and were able to achieve a big following on social media and more created hope that he could do the same things.
Hering participates in a sport as well. Because he plays volleyball, he knows the rules, the terms, the movements, everything. This allows him to know the game’s process more than the average photographer.
The constant movements in sports creates opportunities to have more shots that have a higher chance of being a usable photo. The only con would be the multiple blurry photos throughout the whole process. Not only does sports photography need fast reflexes it also needs patience. Patience is needed in sports photography because taking multiple photos without waiting for a movement to happen will create useless shots.
Both Tanner Hering and Brody White emphasized their love of photography and capturing the perfect moment for others to enjoy.
