Doube Celebration

Jubilation in the background can greatly enhance a foreground celebration photo.

Bowdoin's Zoe Ryu (10) celebrates as teammate Chloe Snyder (18) on the bench leaps for joy during volleyball win over Tufts.

The Photo
Volleyball players provide numerous opportunities to capture happy faces and celebrations, as players react and cheer one another after almost every play. Players on tne court will be ecstatic, as well as teammates on the bench who are constantly yellng encouragement and reinforcement.

In this match, Bowdoin was the home team, eager to beat Tufts, then sitting much higher in the NESCAC volleyball standings. Throughout the contest, individual Bowdoin players in the game would congratulate one another after each point, and teammats cheered just as hard from the bench. I was able to capture multiple photos of passionate and happy faces, but so far these weren't anything overly special or unique. Instead I began to concentrate on one of Bowdoin's most active players, who was scoring many of her team's points, and I expected to get a nice action shot. However, she quickly scored scored a key point and raised her arms in a "V" for victory sign, which I quickly photograsphed.  Meanwhile, one of her teammates on the bench in the background celebrated with the same "V" while jumping up and down.  I changed my focus to capture them both in the same image, giving me a terrific conbination of foreground and background celebrations.

The foreground player was happy and in focus, while the bench player's "V" and leap off the bench, although not in sharp focus, added more emotion to create a powerful celebration photo that encapsulated Bowdoin's 3-1 win over Tufts.

3 Tips
1. Always capture the foreground celebration first.
2. Reframe the photo to include visible happiness by other players, fans, or coaches nearby or in the background.
3. Even if the background celebrations aren't fully in focus, the multiuple levels of joy make the photo much more powerful.

Cheering section!!

Volleyball bench players often stand, cheer, and encourage their teammates throughout the entire game, making for terrific emotion and reaction photos.

Colby College volleyball players on the bench cheer their on-court teammates during a match vs. interstate rival University of New England.

The Photo

It seems most college volleyball teams have bench players standing throughout the entire match, supporting their teammates who are out on the court playing. The bench is constantly active, loud, enthusiastic, and emotional, with many of these players rotating frequently on and off the court, almost never taking a break to sit down.

 

Volleyball players are already very expressive and emotional, as the ones on the court cheer, high-five, and congratulate one another after nearly every point, providing great photo opportunities of game action, happy reactions, and ongoing celebrations. However, the bench players react intently too, frequently in unison with intense expressions and body language to motivate their teammates to victory. Sometimes, the bench will demonstrate the wave, execute a sequence of gestures, coordinate cheers, or react randomly to the play, nearly always with passionate facial expressions.

 

In this match, Colby College fought fiercely throughout against Maine intrastate rival University of New England (UNE), winning the first game, with the Colby bench loud and animated throughout.  I shot many photos of the bench players, but this picture conveyed their intensity and enthusiasm, along with a little humor.  Unfortunately for Colby, UNE rallied to win the three successive games and the match 3-1.  

 

3 Tips

1.     Volleyball players may be the most emotional athletes of any sport, with terrific facial expressions as they cheer, celebrate, and react to practically every moment during the competition.

2.     Volleyball bench players often stand and cheer for their teammates throughout the entire match, with their own unique reactions and expressions, often very different from players on the court.

3.     By monitoring and photographing the bench players, you can capture group shots of facial expressions and body language, to supplement the action and reactions of on-court teammates.