Courtesy of @dh.flixs

Huan shot this photo of the San Jose Earthquakes singing the National Anthem before their game against the Colorado Rapids at PayPal Park on March 15.

The roar of the crowd was deafening as soccer legend Lionel Messi jogged onto the field at PayPal Park on May 14, ready to play in the game of Inter Miami vs. San Jose Earthquakes. Amid the sea of pink and blue jerseys, junior David Huan stood on the sidelines with his camera in hand and credentials around his neck. Just a year after he started shooting high school games and meets, Huan was now taking shots of one of the most decorated athletes in the world. 

Huan began photography at 5 years old when his dad introduced him to a camera, and from there he grew his passion in photography. He is mostly self-taught, acquiring most of his knowledge from YouTube videos and creators who specialize in photography.

In his freshman year, Huan was injured before one of his track and field meets, and having conveniently brought his camera, he decided to take photos for the meet instead. Since then, Huan has immersed himself in sports photography and videography in and outside of school. 

Over the past few months, Huan has expanded from local team shoots to professional contracts. He has signed yearly contracts with three companies: Ocean Waves, Swag Fits and Player One. 

With Ocean Waves, he was hired as the director of photography, making video content from advertisements to documentaries. He also creates promotion videos for Swag Fits, filming clothing and sometimes models. 

For Player One, a soccer training company in the Bay Area, Huan films promotion videos for its website and Instagram (@player_one_performance). One of his recent projects was a promotion video for XbotGo (@xbot_go), featuring their new AI-powered tracking camera that automatically follows the player, where he filmed players in a live training session. 

Huan said he wasn’t actively searching for new opportunities — instead, many of them came to him. After doing some videos for the girls’ soccer team, he caught the attention of coach Ben Maxwell, who worked at Player One and connected Huan with the company. Huan started with a few jobs and felt like he was a good fit, eventually signing a year-long contract.

He has also taken on bigger projects with the company, including shooting Messi and Inter Miami in the match against the San Jose Earthquakes.

This summer, Huan traveled to Sonoma on Aug. 7 with Via Sports Experiences to shoot for their Soccer Training Program. Huan also shot for the national teams of Mexico and Honduras at the CONCACAF Gold Cup at Levi’s Stadium on June 21 and 24, which sold out with over 80,000 people attending.

Next year, Huan will be returning to shoot at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in early July at Levi’s and the FIFA World Cup at Levi’s in June.

Despite his professional gigs, Huan still works with local teams and offers discounted shoots to Saratoga athletes. 

The work can be overwhelming, and he often finds himself up at 3 a.m. doing editing work for clients. 

Huan estimates that the time commitment averages around 15 hours a week. While editing can often feel tedious, he remains hesitant to hire an assistant for the job, as he is unsure if an editor can fulfill his specific standards, style and quality demands.

“I feel like a big part of delivering to clients is making sure that it has the specific quality they ask for. Lots of editors view it as a job and their source of income and not as a hobby, so they kind of just brush through it and make the money fast. So I feel like that’s why I haven’t hired an editor yet. I want my work to reflect all the time and effort I’ve put into it,” Huan said.

Recently, he signed a year-long contract with All Stars United. Over the summer, Huan expanded his hobby into a business called DVH Visuals, which has helped him retain more clients.

Each commission is a 2-step process, where Huan does both shooting and editing. For shooting, Huan uses the Sony A7 IV for both photos and videos, the A9 II for photos only and the FX3 for videos only. For photo editing, he uses Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. For video editing, Huan uses Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects and DaVinci Resolve.

Outside of taking on clients, Huan actively runs his verified Instagram account (@dh.flixs), which has accumulated over 2.5k followers. He showcases much of his work with film and photography on his account.

In addition, Huan joined the school’s tech commission, taking photos and filming video advertisements for school events and sports teams.

Huan plans to continue photography and videography throughout high school, and possibly in college as a hobby, but he doesn’t see it becoming his actual career. 

“Some of my friends play video games or do art for fun, but this is what I find fun, and it’s pretty much where I spend all my free time,” Huan said. “I don’t think I’m gonna pursue a career in it, but I can definitely see it remaining a part of my life.”