Jared Darling: student sports photographer

Senior Jared Darling has made his passion for sports and photography pay off. The Advanced Photography student landed a paying job photographing CVHS student athletes for a student sports photo website, prep2prep.com. Darling, who was confident in his chances, was accepted after filling out a form on the website and submitting three of his best photos.

“I want to be a sports photojournalist and I thought this job would help me get my foot in the door,” said Darling.

“I love sports. I never played them but I know a whole lot about them. And it’s a way that I can be part of it but not necessarily play,” explained Darling.

Darling has photographed CVHS athletes in a number of sports, including football and volleyball, but his favorite sport to photograph is baseball.

“Baseball is my favorite sport in general,” he said. “I like watching it, it’s a lot of fun. I like going to baseball games, I like that atmosphere.”

It’s not so much the action shots that he is after as the meaning of the photos. Darling tries to capture the mindset of his subjects.

“I try to focus on the emotion. You can get action shots anywhere. I want to tell the story of the game, deeper than the actual game,” he said.

Darling is fairly new to photography. “I didn’t really know I was into it until I started taking the class,” he said. “Mr. V. is the main reason why I am doing what I am doing. I really like taking pictures, and it just kind of turned into me wanting to be a sports photographer.”

Inspired and encouraged by CVHS photography teacher Jeff Vendsel, Darling is considering a career in sports photography.

“I hope he will go far in the photography world. Jared seems to have a balance of drive and ability that not all photographers possess,” Vendsel said.

A sampling of Darling’s photos can be viewed on his Instagram account: @jareddarlingphoto.