Sifting through an array of lenses, he lands on a 200 and 70 millimeter and tosses them into his backpack along with two of his cameras. He arrives at the court 45 minutes early and sets up on the sidelines, making sure to catch the warmups. During the game, he photographs the coaches, fans and players, both on and off the court. After the final whistle blows, he lingers to capture the postgame activities: teammates and fans’ celebrations and the sportsmanship between opposing players shaking hands and sharing hugs. At this point, his work has just begun.

Once home, he starts the long and tedious editing process, which entails cropping, color correcting and adjusting exposure. He passes through four thorough rounds of edits, whittling down as many as 3,000 photos to a mere 100. Finally, he is ready to share his work.

For John Davenport, stepping behind the camera means more than just taking photos. Photography allows Davenport to capture a moment in time, giving him a window into details of life that he wouldn’t normally get to experience himself. “I don’t see well. I don’t drive … And what photography does is allows me to freeze a moment that I would normally miss,” Davenport says, recalling a photo from a junior varsity women’s soccer game where he managed to catch the water streaking off of the ball during a throw-in — something he would never be able to see with his bare eyes. His job provides the opportunity to capture these little moments in life — something that is extremely important to him.

Davenport’s love for photography sparked after taking a class in high school “because there was a girl in high school that was in the photography class, and she was kind of cute. And we ended up dating,” he says. He continued this hobby after graduating and bought his first camera during his freshman year of college.

Photography later found its way into his job as a teacher — Davenport always kept a camera at his desk. “I would always snap candids in my classes,” he says.

Athletics have also been a long-lasting part of Davenport’s life, as he has played and coached multiple sports. Now, having retired from both his athletic and coaching careers, Davenport sees the contrast between experiencing sports on the field and through a lens. “Coaching is a real broad look,” he says. “You’re looking at all five players on the basketball court. You’re looking at all 11 positions on the football team or soccer team. When I’m shooting photography … I’m looking at a very narrow focus, a single player or two, like the handoff between the quarterback, the two players going up for a pass or a jump off. Coaching is a real broad view and photography narrows it in.”

A McDaniel High School alum, Davenport says, “I’ve been a PIL kid all my life.” When his children began playing sports, he started photographing them, following their athletic journeys “from Pee-wee all the way up.”

Taking photos for his daughter’s soccer team all the way through her time in high school at Grant, Davenport has continued photographing Grant High School’s women’s soccer since her graduation. “From photographing soccer, it kind of expanded into more and more and more sports,” he says. “And then somebody asked, ‘Well, will you do the team pictures?’”

Throughout his photography career, Davenport has never been in it for the money. “It was never meant to be a job. It’s really a hobby,” he says. “A very expensive hobby, but it’s a great way to connect with people. I’ve met some wonderful families through photographing sports.”

Davenport is often shocked by the impact his photography has on the Grant community, saying, “On two different occasions from Grant, I’ve had coaches call me and say, ‘This kid passed away, do you have any pictures of him?’ And I do, and I never, ever thought about that before.”

During multiple sporting events, Davenport photographed the two former Grant students who have since passed away and was able to give the photos he took of them to their families. “When (one alum) was killed, his mom called me and said, ‘Do you have any pictures of him?’ And I went through and sent them all to her. So that is another aspect of (photography) that I never anticipated. That freezing of those moments so those parents and those loved ones can hold on to them,” says Davenport.

Experiences like these, where the value of his work is made evident, have helped to mold his values. A past in education and athletics has made Davenport value equality and fairness among students and players. “As a teacher,” he says, “I always made sure that I tried to call on everybody. As an athlete, I was an okay athlete, so I started most of the time, but I always felt for those guys who didn’t get in much.”

His time teaching at an alternative school taught him how to give students a fair environment despite his unfamiliarity with them. “A lot of (the students) had really sh*tty family lives, and so there wasn’t an overabundance of smiles, there wasn’t an overabundance of ‘thank yous’ and ‘pleases,’” he says.

When taking photos, Davenport places importance on photographing every team, capturing not only the players in the game but also those on the sidelines and in the stands.

His value of equity also influences how he markets his photography — selling each photo for only $1. “I had a parent tell me once, ‘You should raise the price of your pictures, because they’re a buck,’ and I said, ‘I don’t know people’s financial situation, so I want to make it accessible to everybody. I don’t want to milk people for money, I just want them to be able to enjoy the pictures,’” he says.

Davenport’s value of fairness shows up in his personal life too, affecting the way he raises his children. “My wife and I, we don’t treat our kids equally, because they’re different kids and they need different things,” he says. “(We) treat them fairly, fairly based on their situations.”

From photographing for Grant, Davenport has realized how much he values good manners from students and coaches. “Here, most of the time, it’s, ‘Hey, thanks for coming out. I really appreciate you being here,” he says. “And I get a lot out of that, that courtesy, that kindness.” Having always been a part of a team—whether that be teaching, coaching or playing—Davenport also places importance on teamwork, noting how much he loves the community here at Grant.

Aside from photographing sports, Davenport loves to travel. During his trips to Portugal and Antarctica with his wife in 2023, Davenport brought his camera along with him. He says, “I kind of steer my travels toward places that I want to photograph,” noting his visits to the canyons in southern Utah and the sequoias in Northern California, both of which he photographed. When he isn’t traveling or behind the lens, Davenport enjoys exercise, including walking, swimming and weightlifting.

Reflecting on his life path, Davenport leaves a few words of advice for Grant students: “Don’t force anything. I didn’t fall into teaching, but it was just kind of the way life was nudging me. And I didn’t fall into photography, but it was the way life nudged me.”