Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Saenz.
Hi Stephen, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello, my name is Stephen Saenz, I am a sports photographer and first year mechanical engineering student at UTSA. I started shooting seriously around this past year in April when I could finally get my hands on a camera and start practicing shooting, learning how to capture different moments, and producing my own body of work. My first real experience came from shooting at a local swim team in my aunt’s neighborhood, where I went out every week, and everyone met just doing it as a volunteer and trying to get any little experience I could get from every shoot. I remember around this time. I would say yes to any gig or event involving a camera. I learned a lot from each shoot, how different settings and shutter settings work together with different environments and how to tackle and battle the different lighting environments. From then on, I started to learn how to edit photos in Lightroom, do some filmmaking, and make music videos and hype videos for the swimmers and some football players for experience.
What propelled me was this past fall, during my first semester at UTSA, I joined a newspaper organization called the Pisano, and this organization helped me obtain credentials to shoot some major college sporting events. The first huge game that I did was the UTSA vs. UT game. I was on the field that day shooting photos for the paper, of course, and for my account, and from then on, I was able to see how professional sports photographers operate and how to make money in this industry. From then on, I started shooting all the home games at UTSA and the basketball games. Still, from every shoot I’ve been able to do, I feel like I’ve just really been elevating the level of work, and after every shoot, I have demonstrated my progression as a photographer.
Would it have been a smooth road, and what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Generally speaking, with photography and filmmaking, there’s always a financial burden, and that’s something that I have been experiencing for the last 10-12 years of my passion for photography. Growing up, my family only had a little money, and we were never in a position where we could spend money on a camera for me to use. I picked up a camera this past year. My teacher at my high school was generous enough to lend me a camera to use and start taking pictures with, and for a while, I shot with that rebel T5I that she lent to me for a lot of sports events and worked that camera to the ground. Eventually, I could save money from gigs, and some saved up graduation money to buy my first camera around June and July. From then on, I’ve been saving money from different gigs. Another obstacle that comes with me being a full-time student is balance. I go to UTSA for mechanical engineering, and I’m a Terry scholar in the position that I’m in at UTSA comes with a lot of work and time management. Having this side hustle/passion project with sports photography involves much balancing. If I want to pursue this thing full time and also go to school and get a mechanical engineering degree, it comes with a lot of balance, which I’ve had to work around for the past year. Nonetheless, I’m blessed to be in the position I’m in to pursue my passion and also go to school full-time, but it’s, of course, just another thing in my journey that I have to overcome.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a local photographer and filmmaker here in San Antonio, and I specialize in sports photography and filming sports. Still, I also generally love working in any creative body that involves picking up a camera. I have started to be known for shooting the UTSA home sports games this past fall, and you’ll see me again in the spring and the coming years. Still, something that I’ve been most proud of is being able to pick up a camera as quickly as I have and become as efficient and fluent as I have with uploading and editing content, as well as shooting as often as I have been. What sets me apart from many of the photographers here in San Antonio and many of the sports photographers is my objective when photographing. Nowadays, it’s easy to pick up a camera and shoot a clean, crisp photo, but I think what a lot of people are absent of is being able to tell a story with that photo, and I think you’re able to see that in the body of work I’ve been able to put out. Most recently, I shot the C-USA championship game for UTSA, where they won and went back-to-back, and I did a couple of posts on my personal Instagram, saenzin4k. You can tell just the environment at the Alamodome that day, how the players were feeling, how the fans were feeling, and the spirit of San Antonio that was there. My goal with every shoot is to tell a story; with every angle, there’s something different, something unique, and I’d love to bring that out and tell the story of an event or game.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My family has always advocated for any little projects or passions I pick up along the way, and they’ve always supported me with any little thing I do. Without that support system, I wouldn’t be here today, and they deserve a lot of credit for my successes and just being that support system for me to fall back on whenever failure meets. However, what got me started on this journey was my high school teacher, Mrs. Gentry, who lent me my first camera to start working with, and with that help and that support, I started taking photos. Early on, she advocated for me to take photos and follow that path, and she’s been a huge supporter of my work, which I’m very appreciative of to this day, and I owe a lot of credit to her.
Pricing:
- Middle School games: $100
- High School games: $150
- College games/events: TBD
- 15 photos – $75
- 25 photos – 125
- 35+ photos – 175
Contact Info:
- Website: saenzmedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saenzin4k/?hl=en
- Other: https://paisano-online.com/staff_name/stephen-saenz/
Image Credits
Stephen Saenz
