To non-athletes, the athletic community might feel distant from the largely non-athletic Lewis & Clark student body. However, there is a recent opportunity for students to bridge that gap in the “PioStream: Athletic Communications” position. PioStream does lots of sports media work including running the live-stream camera, taking photos, helping with graphics and by helping with the scoreboard.
Though the role typically opens each August, it has some openings now as many students currently involved are graduating this May. The role has an emphasis on sports photography. Director of Athletic Communications Seth Orensky aims to have five or six student photographers total, with one photographer covering each individual game. There are also opportunities to work on the statistics team or be involved in the webcasts. Photographers tend to cover one to two games per week and do not cover away games, so this position can serve as a way to connect the arts and athletics communities on campus.
Experience in sports photography is not required to be considered for this position, and students that are hired are typically allowed to use the athletic department’s cameras, such as a Nikon Z8, if they do not own one of their own. While it is a paid position, students are not required to be employed in the role if they are curious about experimenting with sports photography at LC, as long as they follow a few rules for their own safety and safety of the athletes: No flash photography is allowed at athletic events, photographers have to listen to the referees and there are certain areas that photographers should not stand to avoid literally becoming a part of the action.
“If you’re working a basketball game, there’s not that much space behind the hoops, so we’re gonna keep you as far back as possible, so that a six-foot-six huge athlete doesn’t run through you,” Orensky said.
Sports photography differs from artistic photography because of its fast pace and unscripted nature. In track and field events, the runners are going from point A to point B, making it easier to follow as the biggest moments will likely happen at the end.
Orensky noted the unique challenges of sports photography, particularly in sports like soccer.
“You don’t know when a goal is going to happen,” said Orensky. “It could happen in the first 30 seconds, it could happen in the last 30 seconds. There could be only one goal or one big save that everyone wants the photo of.”
Football is also one of the harder sports to photograph because not only is the action constantly moving, but there are 22 people on the field, so it can be difficult to get a clean shot of any one subject.
This should not deter one from trying, though. The department offers interested students the opportunity to shadow a current photographer to get oriented with the position. Orensky also helps new photographers with the technical aspects of shooting sports photography, like choosing ISO settings, shutter speed and aperture. There are many opportunities to learn and perfection is not expected on the first try.
Ella Ruark ’25 is a volleyball player who is double majoring in psychology and art with a focus on photography. Ruark has worked for PioStream since the spring semester of her freshman year in 2021, and began focusing specifically on sports photography in 2022.
She has some advice for capturing “the moment” that you are looking for in sports photography.
“You have to hold down the shutter to start the burst so that you get the whole moment. If you wait for the moment or the photo that you want, you’ll probably miss it,” Ruark said. “In football, for example, when I see a player throwing the ball, I find the catcher before the ball gets to them and start holding it down so that I can get the full catch. Or for basketball, if a player looks like they’re going to shoot, I start to take photos before they’re actually shooting so you get the whole moment.”
Ruark emphasized, however, that photographers should not worry about missing a good shot.
“I’m the one that deletes all the blurry photos, so only I’m gonna know. The great part about photography is that you don’t need to have the perfect moment to get the photo. Like sometimes, they miss the catch, but in the photo you can’t tell, so it’s a great photo and only the athlete is going to know that it was a mess-up. Sometimes, you just happen to miss. Especially after a big moment, if I missed it, I’ll tend to get a celebration shot. There’s always going to be more chances,” she said.
Ruark shared some final words about how her experience with PioStream has impacted her.
“I’m very lucky to have this job. It’s gonna be one of the things I miss most when I graduate. It’s helping me build my portfolio and make connections with other photographers. Hopefully I can keep doing sports photography at whatever grad school I end up at, but if grad school doesn’t pan out, sports photography is definitely the backup plan. It will be in my future, one way or another,” she said.
Anyone interested in getting involved and making new connections in the sports realm while also expanding their artistic portfolio can email orenskys@lclark.edu or apply on Workday.
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