The Story Behind the Photo

March 2026: Sports Action

Molly Sauro-Williams

This image was taken back in 2011 when my daughter was in Gymnastics. I remembered sitting and watching her and knowing I wanted to create something that was Strong, Bold and Professional. So, I asked the Gym Owner, and she allowed me to come in and use the equipment.

I just started working with Lights and learning how to position them so I can see what looked good on the camera. I was always intimidated by my Lights not knowing where to place them, how high to have them, how much power to select. But really when it comes to using lights, the more you use them the easier they become. I placed the strobe light onto the side of gymnast, and I think I was tethered to it, so couldn’t go too far from it. I Put it as high up as I could, and I also had a white umbrella over the light to defuse. I don’t think the umbrella was that big. I shot many images in Raw, at an Aperture of 2.8 to keep only my daughter the subject, my Shutter Speed was at 1\200 (When working with strobe you have a sync of no more than 1/250 of a second). My ISO was at 100 to keep it sharp.

It’s really all about playing with your lights and experimenting with where to place them.