The Instagram handle, @adon_flicks, has gained one hundred and eighty-eight followers since its first post on August 31st. This account became known because of its sports photography, but only some know the person running the account. Aiden Stairs began taking photos this past summer after his dad introduced him to the craft on family vacations.“We usually go out West a good bit, like every year, so each time he’d show me some of his photos,” said Aiden.
The photographer’s dad takes photos as a hobby, which inspired his son to do the same. Aiden’s dad willingly shared the photos he’s taken along with the knowledge that he’s gained. Through all this Aiden’s dad had passed down his love for photography. “He had his camera, he had a lot of lenses and he showed me how to use it,” Aiden said.
Aiden took the knowledge that he learned from his dad and applied it to his photographic style, which has led him to success. His achievements include winning 1st Place at the County Fair for a photo he took of mountains in Yosemite and Best in Show for an up-close photo of a flower from his dad’s garden.
Aiden wanted to continue his development as a photographer but wasn’t sure what to focus his lens on. Realizing that there weren’t that many events going on throughout the week, the photographer set his sights on sports. This is how Aiden got his start with sports photography. After some time he realized that he enjoys taking photos of sports because it’s a challenge to get a clear shot.
“I like action shots. It’s fun to try to take the photo at the right moment,” said Aiden.
Aiden photographs a multitude of sporting events happening at the school. The photographer captures football, volleyball, and soccer. He enjoys photographing each sport in action, however, football is his overall favorite. No matter the sport, Aiden’s lens picks up on the action as it’s about to happen, whether it’s a touchdown pass about to be caught, a soccer player ready to strike the ball, or a volleyball hitter prepping to spike.
“I like the shots, I like it when they catch the ball and stuff. I think it looks really good,” Aiden said.
While Aiden has only been taking photos for a few months, he’s worked hard to create his personal style. The photographer played around with different settings when editing, which allowed him to find that his style was to make his photos look as natural as possible. When taking photos Aiden has certain criteria he strives to capture.
“I like to get a nice depth of film, like an up-close shot,” said Aiden. To achieve this look the photographer sets his aperture as low as possible. Aiden prefers these types of shots because they isolate the subject from any distractions or other environmental factors.
The photographer’s style isn’t only present when taking photos, but it can also be seen in the edits. Editing has a huge impact on the finished product of a photo, so Aiden focuses a large part of his process on the edits. When sitting down to edit his photos there are certain key elements that Aiden looks to preserve. “I adjust it. I try to get better lighting, make sure it looks right and you can see their faces. You can see the ball well and the colors are correct,” Aiden said.
After the photos are edited to Aiden’s liking, he picks which photos get uploaded to his Instagram page. The photographer’s camera takes twenty photos a second, so he ends up with anywhere from a thousand to two thousand photos a game. This leaves Aiden with a lot of options, but the photographer only keeps a hundred photos from each game. He has to refine his photo selections even further before he posts. When picking what gets posted to Instagram, Aiden considers the result of each photo in comparison to the difficulty each shot provides. “[I] choose a few of my favorites. There’s a lot to choose from, but I pick ones out that I think look good,” said Aiden. When choosing favorites, Aiden keeps in mind the challenge involved with taking each photo.
