Peering through his camera lenses under the Friday night lights at Benny Pierce field, sophomore David Huan, known as dh.flixs on Instagram, strolls along the sidelines, finding the perfect shots for his upcoming short video of the football team.
In recent months, Huan immersed himself in sports photography and cinematography to nurture his passion for film. Huan has done everything from livestreaming the annual VEX robotics competition hosted at the school to creating short form content for student athletes from Saratoga High and other local schools. Posting these videos all for free on Instagram, Huan has recently gained popularity on social media filming clips and creating edits for the school’s football team. His Instagram account has garnered over 30,000 views.
Courtesy of David Huan
One of Huan’s many edits for the football team, garnering 11,200 views.
Huan reminisced his first memory of using a camera back in 2017, when his dad brought his camera to a family photoshoot. Huan vividly remembers picking up the camera and taking photos of the photographer, amazed with the quality and detail of a camera.
“I’ll never forget the first time I picked up a camera,” Huan said. “I was instantly fascinated by the sound of the shutter clicking with each snap freezing a moment in time, a memory that will be preserved forever. Just like my dad says, “memories fade, but a picture can last a lifetime,” that thought is just magical to me.”
Later that year, Huan received his first camera, a Sony a6000. For the next few years, Huan focused on going outside on the streets and taking photos of his surrounding environment.
“Photography is about how one views the world; there isn’t a right or wrong view to photography,” Huan said.
Huan credits a lot of his creativity to watching films from a young age, noticing how lighting and different aspects of a scene elicit different emotions and thoughts from the audience.
This past year, Huan started his sports photography and videography work, mainly creating hype videos and game edits for the football team. The different components of sports photography are relatively new to Huan, but his football highlights have received recognition from parents and students around school, amassing tens of thousands of views on Instagram.
“I know many parents and students have been sharing some of my latest work and people have been complimenting my content because it brings them joy,” Huan said. “I love doing videography for that reason and especially because it captures moments and preserves them, instilling them in memories that will last a lifetime.”
Besides editing for the school team, Huan also has a booking site on his Instagram allowing anyone from in or outside school to book him for free. His decision to not charge anyone is largely due to his lack of experience in the field.
“Right now, at least for sports photography, I’m just building [experience] because I’m new to it,” Huan said. “In the future once I become more experienced, I may charge some money for outside bookings, but will probably continue filming for free for my friends.”
With photography being only a hobby for Huan, he still wants to continue filming for the schools’ different events in the future as long as he is still a student.
“I don’t imagine myself being a full-time photographer or filmmaking in the future,” Huan said, “but I do still think it’s going to be a part of my life as a hobby throughout high school and even after, especially because I find it very fun and enjoyable.”
