Proud dad thread - son yearbook photographer

[gixxerjasen]

Just thought I'd share some info about my son's journey so far.

Sophomore Year

Pertinent info on my son. He is diagnosed as an AUDHD, which is someone who is on the Autism Spectrum and has ADHD. It's enough to be diagnosed with one or the other, but these two have a battle in the brain. For instance, one side craves organization and structure while the other side gets overwhelmed with organization and structure. It's a tough thing to manage, and he's been doing it while keeping A/B honor roll at school. It also makes kids like him be very socially introverted. This comes into play later.

Flash back two years and my son had just wrapped up his freshman year of high school, and we are in Europe traveling around. I've got a thread about the trip, but this isn't about the trip.

His phone blows up. He's been added to a group text by the yearbook teacher, which was his clue that he'd been placed in the yearbook class. He freaks out, he didn't want this, and so as we are driving around, I'm helping him craft messages to the teacher letting her know that he'd like to drop the class. Lots of fun to manage with the time zone differences, but he thinks he's got it worked out.

On returning home and emailing his councilor, he finds out that the class he wanted has a conflict and he doesn't have a lot of choices here, so we talk about it and decide that for some of the yearbook jobs, they'll be a good fit for him.

Parents of new students have to attend an orientation class with the teacher before the start of school, and the teacher goes over the basics of using the school cameras which are inexpensive Canon DSLR's. This is of course a huge punch to the gut because we are a Nikon family, but really, that rivalry is old and I'm just glad there's something he can check out to use. At home he practices lens changes on his mom's Nikon and gets pretty good at it.

First week of school, the teacher starts them with a whole ton of assignments of different types, basically finding out what the kids are good and comfortable with. Remember the introvert stuff? Yea, that's huge for a kid who is being assigned to go and talk to other kids and ask them for quotes and to take their pictures. He is completely NOT comfortable with all of this. I try explaining to him that a lot of kids are so self-absorbed that they really want their picture taken, especially if they know it'll be in the yearbook. It doesn't help him at all.

So, one other thing, is that a lot of the events are sports related. As an introvert AUDHD nerd kid, he's experienced his fair share of bullying from the standard jock type kids in the school, and so his opinion of those kids is pretty low, and he really doesn't want to interact with them. Can't say I blame him.

Anyway, he gets through those first few weeks and falls into the zone that I knew he'd find himself in. He totally takes to the layout software for the yearbook pages. This is right up his alley, it's structure, creativity, and detail-oriented stuff that he can use his AUDHD hyper focus on and really dig into. No more checking out the camera and dealing with awkward situations.

He ends up loving the class he tried to get out of, becomes one of the top page editors in his class, has a good relationship with the teacher, and decides to stay in it for another year.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Junior Year

So, he starts off the new year and since he's established his work, he doesn't have to go through the first few weeks of school **** like he did the year before. However, he's assigned a higher level of responsibility this year. The teacher really treats this like it's a job, and everybody has a position assigned to them and they have to log their work and everything as if this were their career. He is promoted to the position of "Photo Editor."

He's got two big jobs in this. First off, he's responsible for the inventory of cameras. He checks them out and checks them in when kids need them. He has to check to make sure they have all the stuff (body, lens, battery, charger, lens cap, etc) when they go out and when they come back in. She's given the kid who loses an average of six earbuds per year this kind of responsibility. Sigh. He does take it seriously and there's zero issues through the year.

He's also responsible for all of the photo organization and approving photos to be used in the yearbook. This again plays well into his skills and he complains daily about the crap photographs being sent in by the other kids.

As photo editor though, he's required to keep a camera checked out daily, which is a pain as it's one more thing to carry around from class to class and to remember to bring to school each day.

One Friday he comes home and he's got an extra camera bag! In the bag is a $2000+ zoom lens his teacher has entrusted him with. He shows me that he's got a press pass and he's been assigned to the football game that night.

This is an interesting opportunity for him that is going to push him WAY outside his comfort zone. The kid has had zero interest in football, watching or playing, and only knows a little bit about the game. We go over some crucial things like watching where things are going so he doesn't get run over on the sideline.

One of the band directors has a side photography business and he shoots all the school events and a lot of his photos end up in the yearbook.

He knows my son who is in his first year NOT in band. Jakob starts watching and talking to him and getting ideas on where to be and what to shoot. It works out and he gets some decent stuff for his first time out.

As a former band kid, he makes sure they are represented too.

And the crowd.

One of my favorite shots he got that night.

We joked that we never thought we'd see our kid on the football field, but he found his own way down there.

While out there, it seems he finally caught the photography bug. He came home wanting to start going to the games to shoot more photos.

He's also in theater at the school, and has transitioned from working on tech doing sound, to being on the stage. Theater kids are his people and he's comfortable around them and enjoys being up on the stage.

We hosted a "Murder Mystery Party" as a fund raiser with the theater kids putting on the show. One of the folks in charge of the decorations had an idea for centerpieces for the table and wanted some actor photos to put in frames. Jakob got tapped for this role, and we loved how they came out.

Since he wasn't in the play, he got to mess around with the camera. It was a good challenge for him with terrible backdrops in the high school cafeteria and awful lighting.

At the next football game, some things started happening to him. He's looking for other opportunities for photos. Some on the field.

But also, off the field.

It starts with this guy though, and this photo.

This is one of the football player's that's not been so nice in the past to him. He recognizes my son and sees him take this picture. He promptly runs over to my son who expects the worst. Only thing is, the kid is excited and wants to see the picture, and loves it. Before he knows it, the players keep coming to him to see their pictures and they all start getting excited to see what he's captured. He's flabbergasted over this and is enjoying some positive attention from an unlikely source. He attends more games and they start calling him the "Varsity Photographer."

Next up, the cheerleaders and dancers start posing and asking him to take their pictures. Somehow, he's moved into the zone of school photographer and is being pulled into the social situations he'd been avoiding the previous year. It helps though that he's not the one initiating the conversations, but he does begin to see what I'd told him the previous year about the kids actually wanting him to take their photos. He gets so many requests that, with his teacher's permission, he creates an Instagram account to share his photos with the other kids.

He'd started late in the football season, so he didn't get a lot of games to shoot, but he made the best of it. We also noticed he really enjoyed flashing his press pass and walking straight past all the security to places others aren't allowed to be.

This next photo was a big challenge for him and he was disappointed in how it turned out. Apparently it's difficult in low lighting with a cheap camera to keep a focus on a subject running directly toward you. That said, he got credit for reading the plays on the field and knowing where to set up and also to not get completely run over by all the players carrying a lot of momentum trough the endzone.

Right before the last game of the season he came to me for some help. He was fiddling with the settings on his camera and can't figure out how to get something done. His school camera, when he pushes the shutter button, goes "Click A click A click A click A click." He's noticed that the band director's camera just goes "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" when he pushed the sutter button. I laugh and tell him that it's not a setting, but is instead a couple thousand dollars of equipment that gets you that. Funny stuff.

He's decided he's going to continue to do Yearbook for another year, and we want to get him out for some more sports, but sadly with his theater schedule, it doesn't happen in the springtime.

However, I did manage to work some magic during Black Friday sales, and we scored him his own camera. He's got a Canon R7 that he's learning to use now. We also got him the adapter ring so he can continue to check out his school zoom lens and use it.

Some other things have popped up in that he's been getting asked by friends for prom photos and senior photos. The portrait photography is new to him and he's learning that.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Senior Year

Ok, so we are still in summer, and his senior year hasn't officially started but he has already committed to another year of Yearbook. This year he will be double blocked, meaning yearbook will take up two consecutive classes. He and two other classmates were named co-editor in chief of the 2027 yearbook. He's also attending a yearbook camp in a few weeks where they will learn a lot more and come up with the theme for the next yearbook.

All pretty crazy stuff for a kid who never wanted to be in the class in the first place. Looking forward to seeing what happens this coming year. I'm definitely encouraging him to get out there and shoot the under-represented sports, starting with my own high school sport of Cross Country. Going to be fun.

He also recently added his first piece of glass beyond his kit lens, spending his own money on a "Nifty Fifty" that he's figuring out.

 

[Tourmeister]

All totally awesome!

 

[V-lust]

Thanks for sharing your "Proud Dad Story' Jasen.

 

[kemo47]

Great to see your son's success. I also have an AuDHD 10yo son and he has been a challenge to say the least. The autism diagnosis is pretty recent but we had suspected for a long time, though in 2 rounds of previous tests he hadn't quite met the thresholds, likely on the high-functioning end. The "6 sets of earbuds lost" certainly hits home, he can lose anything that isn't physically strapped to him at all times (and even some of that). School has been a struggle but this past year he finally seems to be in a school with enough supports (and the right ones) to keep him on the rails. Your post gives me hope that he can find similar places of belonging. Ours is very bright, and loves being social however struggles with it due to his lack of impulse control and inability to read social cues. One day at a time...

 

[gixxerjasen]

PM Sent. It's tough, but been great seeing him find himself and the things he can do really well out there navigating both the strengths and weaknesses that come with it all.

 

[KsTeveM]

I know a lot of his journey is good parenting on top of his hard work....and probably a special teacher involved. I am so happy he is not only growing and learning but flourishing while doing so. Life altering experiences probably. What a blessing brother! Super cool, thanks for sharing. And I can't help but look at the clarity and quality of his pics....and think about him taking some cool motorcycle shots at a TWT event! I don't think you mentioned his name.....I guess we'll go with Gixxerjasen Jr.

 

[Tourmeister]

My wife and I share custody of my nephew. He has Asperger Syndrome. The early years, up through high school, were REALLY hard. With the right med combination, he is fairly high functioning. Without them, he has almost not physical motor control and can hardly speak. He has had several jobs, Wal-Mart and that pizza place with all the games and robots. He did well at both but Covid kind of derailed that. He lives at a place that is not quite assisted living, but it is only for folks like him that qualify to live there. We got him on the waiting list when he was in Jr. high and he moved in a few years after high school! If you have a kid or a know someone that does that might ever need to live in this kind of facility, get on the waiting list ASAP!! Most are many years long because there is a huge shortage of similar facilities. He shares a four bedroom apartment with three other guys, each room having its own bathroom, but they share a kitchen and common area. He is not able to drive. He's in his mid 30s now and is doing well, but he will always need someone looking out for him. My folks raised him and then we took over after my Dad passed and Mom could no longer handle it. Hopefully, my kids will take over once we can't do it any more.

I once heard him refer to himself as stupid and I almost lost it. He is incredibly smart, but he sees the world in a way that the rest of us do not. I tried to explain this to him, but in the face of seeing how different he is compared to "normal" people, she struggles to believe it. I also tried to explain that the average "normal" person is often a moron...

 

[M38A1]

This. Is. Awesome!

Runners coming at him: If his camera has continuous focus mode, try that.
Lighting: See if he can find "Auto ISO" in settings to accommodate for changing lighting conditions.
Close-ups: Pro-tip here, don't have him 'snipe' shots from afar. Let the subject be aware he's up close and personal. After time he'll just blend in.
Alignment: See if he can get down lower on some of the individual bench shots where his lens is eye-level with the subject

I readily admit I enjoyed the progression of his shooting skills. It's obvious to me he's found something he enjoys and is figuring stuff out.

 

[gixxerjasen]

I'll share that with him Scott.

Yup, I've found from shooting several conferences, all my morning pictures suck because everybody is looking at me. In the afternoon I get all the better shots because everyone has started to ignore me and I've become invisible.