AUSTIN, Texas – Sean Claes can stare down a stampede of football players running toward him and never move a muscle.

“Good job, guys. Good job,” he said as the players ran by. “That’s an angle the people in the stands don’t get. It’s our duty to get people pictures they would not normally get.”

Claes is the yearbook adviser for Akins Early College High School in Austin, Texas. He’s taken on some extra duties this year with many of his students learning from home due to the pandemic.

“I don’t know what three quarters of my students look like. They’re all black boxes with white letters on them,” Claes said, referring to teaching virtually.

Some of his portfolio this year includes empty hallways, water fountains at school covered in trash bags, and chairs stacked up and taped off.

“It’s going to take a lot of creativity to make this year happen,” Claes said.

Other roadblocks he’s faced so far this year include things like how to check out cameras to students. He can only have minimal contact with his students and when they do use a camera, he has to sanitize it properly when they’re done or not allow anyone else to use it for two weeks as an extra safety measure.

“There are some good things. It’s allowed me to teach some of these kids one on one,” Claes said.

It gives him the opportunity to focus time on students who may need more help.

“I’ve had to give all the kids a crash course in cellphone photography,” Claes said.

It’s the only way he will be able to capture as many students as possible for the yearbook this year.

“Our yearbook this year is Essentially Akins. And parents are the essential part of finding pictures for yearbook this year. You’re the one who has those first day of school pictures,” Claes said.

Claes shoots extracurricular activities for his school and even works with yearbook advisers from other districts to help them get pictures when their teams are in town.

But parents are the only way Texas school districts will be able to fill yearbooks this year and, hopefully, showcase every student on campus.

If parents need motivation for taking photos, Claes says they should do it for their children, not the school districts.

“Your kids will want to remember this year. They may not now, but a year ago [did] you think you’d be learning how to take pictures on a cellphone from someone in a mask?” Claes said.

For parents' pictures to make the cut, Dobie Middle School Yearbook Adviser Kara Young says she is teaching her students three fundamentals when it comes to cell phone photography.

“We want focus, good lighting and excellent composition,” Young said.

Yearbook committees often receive photos from students where the subject or person in the picture is blurry. To avoid this, Young says use the volume button on your phone to capture the photo rather than touching the button on the screen.

“It will stabilize your phone when you take a photo and also take the photo for you,” Young said.

Next is lighting. She says indoor lighting tends to be awful.

“When you take that photo, make sure to be near a window. We prefer that natural lighting,” Young said.

She suggests opening up any blinds, turning on any available lights or using a device like another phone or iPad to bounce light off the subject.

Lastly, Young says focus on composition or making your picture dynamic and really interesting to the human eye.

“To do that we follow the rule of thirds. Or imagine there is a three by three grid on your screen and you’re putting your subject or whatever you’re taking your photo of off to the side of the screen,” Young said. “The reason our eyeballs like that is it gives our eyeballs a little space to play with.”

It also gives the yearbook staff the ability to crop or edit the photo if necessary. Most phones allow you to turn on a 3x3 grid in camera settings to make this simple.

“Most importantly, we want all the photos you can possibly give us,” Young said.

“You will do a world of good and you will be that much closer to your child, 20 years from now, being able to say, ‘I was there and that was me,’” Claes said.