The Man Behind the Lens
West Delaware High Schooler starts making a name for himself by doing private photography.
Hauschild fist bumps Sophomore Griffin Lott, before the Waverly-Shell Rock game started.
October 17, 2022
Posting, snapping, updating, tweeting, but first—shooting.
This is where junior Keevan Hauschild comes in.
Hauschild has been taking photos at athletic events and posting them on social media platforms for about a year now.
“I just wanted to take pictures for fun,” Hauschild said.
At a game early in the volleyball season last year, Hauschild took pictures with his Nikon D3200 camera. Afterward, he looked at the photos and thought they were cool. He added them to his Facebook page so people could see them. He soon started taking photos regularly and created personal photographer pages on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
“It took about a month for everything to take off and after the Beckman (volleyball) game, one share led to a lot of new followers and reposts.”
People and other public organizations also contacted Hauschild, asking him if they could repost his images on their social platforms.
Part of taking pictures for Hauschild is the satisfaction he receives from his favorite shots.
“It is hard to put into words,” Hauschild said. “It’s the joy you get when you look at the picture and see that it’s really good, and you’re like, I can’t wait to get these out and see what people think about them.”
Hauschild is particular about the shots he takes.
“What I’m looking for (when taking shots) are a great depth of field and good focus,” Hauschild said.
During this year’s football season opener, the student section’s theme was beach night. Hauschild took a shot of senior lineman Sawyer Falck. He was standing in the perfect spot for good focus, and Hauschild captured all the beach colors blurred in the background.
“It was a great shot because the blue and pink contrasted with our home football colors,” Hauschild said.
As Hauschild has gone to more and more West Delaware athletic events, he has seen his photography improve as well.
“Seeing what I thought were good pictures when I first started and what I’ve taken now, it’s like, yeah, those were bad,” Hauschild said. “I thought they were good at the time, but with all the stuff we have now, good shots last year are now ‘eh’, and now the best shots are my favorite ones I have ever taken.”
The only formal training Hauschild has is his work as a West Delaware Journalism student. He credits Journalism with a lot of his maturity as a photographer.
“I recommend Journalism class,” Hauschild said. “I’ve learned a lot of little things about taking pictures, all the composition stuff, caption writing, and what to look for.”
As Hauschild continues to go to more events, he hopes to branch out a little more on the marketing side.
“Eventually, I want to start merch, just to make this more of a business than just a straight-up page. Next year, I’m going to probably start taking senior pictures and expand more than just being a sports photographer,” Hauschild said. “There’s more around the school than just sports. My goal is to start taking musicals, plays, and other music stuff like show choir. Right now, it’s just about growing my social media pages in any way that I can, and that’s it.”
Hauschild is unsure whether this is a side gig or if he will commit to this as a future full-time occupation.
“Part of me doesn’t know what I want to do, and part of me is dead set on making this a future career,” Hauschild said. “The end goal after high school is to get on as an Iowa football or a basketball team photographer. That sounds like a job for me.”
