One of the simpler lessons in photography is that faces are important. It almost feels trite or stupidly obvious to write it down like that. Pictures of the backs of heads are usually boring, unless there is some great compositional element or tension in the image. When I’m shooting my kids’ sports or birthday parties or family events, capturing the expressions on faces is paramount to me.

So I was almost dumbfounded when I saw the guy making a video during a recent volleyball game from the back of the court. And I could tell from whom he was interacting with that he was taking video of the team he was behind. I’d hate to see how that video turned out–”Is that Emily?” “No, I don’t think so. That looks like Kim’s hair.”

And no amount of holding it up high is going to compensate for the crappy location.