Ithaca’s Thomas transitions to sports photography

Several years ago, Ava Thomas was a talented young starter on the Ithaca High School basketball team and seemed destined to play the sport in college. Unfortunately, multiple health issues forced Thomas to find a new path. After a trial run in the spring semester of her senior year, Thomas will be an official photographer for the Ithaca City School District this upcoming academic year.

Thomas spent the spring going from game to game at Ithaca High School to take photos, no matter the sport. While the passion for sports photography is relatively new, Thomas has been drawn to creative work for a long time.

“When I was 11, I sold all of my Littlest Pet Shop toys and bought my first camera,” Thomas said. “I haven’t really had time throughout high school and middle school to explore my creative interests because my life was surrounded by sports and basketball. But when the pandemic started, I started a business. It was my art business, an Etsy shop. I saved up enough money with that to buy my camera.”

Last summer, Thomas began taking senior portraits for some friends. That led her to joining Ithaca’s yearbook club as a photographer. As she was doing that, Thomas was loading up on gear and “going broke” but continued to chase her dreams.

By the spring semester, all yearbook photos were taken care of, allowing Thomas to explore sports photography. She talked about how she was able to get the hang of the techniques required to be a successful sports photographer.

“I watched a lot of YouTube videos,” Thomas said. “Then, I just looked at photos I liked and kind of went off with that. I’ve also just been told that being an athlete helps a lot when taking sports photos. I knew where the people were going to be and what their next move was. I can anticipate it when taking the photos to get the better moments. Also, being an athlete, I know the type of photos that I would want to have. I aim to do that for everybody else.”

Thomas’ favorite pictures to take are the moments and interactions in between and after the action at games. Her photography style quickly made her a hot commodity at IHS.

“I just looked at the sports schedule and I was at every single game,” Thomas said. “Then, people in the hall would be like, ‘Ava, are you coming to the game?’ I just needed one person to ask me if I was going to the game and then I was there. It was so fun taking those photos. It was really fun connecting with everybody. I’ve met so many people that I wouldn’t have met if I didn’t take these photos. Connecting with their families was also something that was really amazing because I was able to provide them with something that was really meaningful to them.”

Thomas has made the decision to not attend college so she can solely focus on building up her photography skills. She talked about what convinced her to pursue photography as a career.

“The reaction from everybody else was when I realized that I want to do it, having so many people reach out to me like parents, teachers, kids,” she said. “Everybody was reaching out to me and telling me that my photos made such a huge impact on them. Then, I kind of realized I want to keep on doing this. I want to make a difference in people’s lives.”

While taking photos of the girls basketball team in the winter, Thomas got the itch again, joining the team midseason. She was a varsity player back in eighth grade, but asthmatic bronchitis and ankle surgery derailed her ability to play by the end of her sophomore year. She looked back at rejoining the basketball team this season.

“It was amazing and terrible at the same time because my body has just been telling me that I can’t keep playing sports,” Thomas said. “I went to play, and it was going great at first, and then my lungs — I had so many breathing issues. Then, I was diagnosed with this condition called ILO (inducible laryngeal obstruction). Basically, my vocal cords close when I exercise. The doctor said it’s one of the worst cases that they’d seen, and it just kept on getting worse. But I was really thankful to be able to have played at least a little bit in my senior season.”

Being able to stay in the sports world after what happened to her athletic career is very important for Thomas.

“I’m so thankful for this opportunity to be able to stay connected to the sport while doing something that I love,” Thomas said. “It’s been absolutely amazing.”

In her four years at Ithaca High School, Thomas started out as a basketball phenom and graduated as an official photographer for the school. You can support Thomas’ photography career at bit.ly/3S2GdPR. Her portfolio can be found at avathomasphotography.shootproof.com.

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