P . 6 | OCTOBER 2023 | THE HAMMONTONIAN
LOCAL FOCUS capturing moments with happy camper
by Jennifer McGraw
It ’ s hard to capture the overall success of Hammonton Blue Devils fall sports so far . However , Hammonton High School senior , Lukas Guerrier , makes it look easy as he photographs the high school sports in an effort to make it a career .
However , he never really had an interest in photography . His first intere s t was cinematography . This interest inspired him to start recording YouTube videos of him and his friends playing basketball . The opportunity to try photography , however , practically came easy to him from the video experience .
“ My sister actually left her camera at my house . It was like Nikon D3500 . It was like an old camera . She used it for taking pictures of her son and like family and friends . And then a couple of kids on the football team noticed I had a camera . So , they told me to come out to one of the games and take photos .” Guerrier said . “ I didn ’ t really have interest , it was kind of just right place right time with the camera .”
His photography interest quickly blew up from the football shoot . What became one football shoot turned into another , then he was asked to shoot soccer , field hockey and it developed from there .
From this quickly-growing hobby , Guerrier covered a plethora of Blue Devils sports but he said he wants to cross a few more off his photography bucket list .
“ I ’ ve been able to cover a few in hockey , soccer , even for baseball when I was on the baseball team . I think a couple of the only sports I haven ’ t covered , and maybe like
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“ Just the fact that being there on the field was really cool , on the sidelines being able to walk around . [ They ] gave me a little press pass so I could go up in the press box . It was a really cool experience ,” Guerrier said .
The process for game day , whether a scrimmage or championship , remains the same for Guerrier . Preparing ahead of time keeps him focused on being able to deliver great shots during the game . If there ’ s more than one person he shoots for , Guerrier will write their jersey number down , so he knows who to look out for . He also gets to the field early , especially if he ’ s never been there before , to make sure he ’ s comfortable with the layout and getting around the field to get great shots . There ’ s a lot of aspects that go into getting a great photo . You can check all the boxes for what a great photo is , but sometimes , it also comes down to being in the right place at the right time . Guerrier uses a few tips he picked up on to make sure the photos look as good as possible . “ It ’ s kind of obvious , but I would say I always shoot in horizontal . I used to shoot vertical just because of Instagram and everything like social media these days . But now I ’ ve always been shooting horizontal and just cropping it to vertical , because it seems like a lot .
It ’ s a lot easier , I get more action .” Guerrier said . “ I just have to be at the right place , right time . That ’ s really it .” Luckily , Guerrier also looks to another photographer for inspiration . “ He ’ s not necessarily anyone famous . He has an Instagram account . It ’ s called AF Visuals . I believe his name ’ s Anthony Ferreira .”
Though he ’ s finishing up his time at Hammonton High School , Guerrier
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