This is a terrific artistic representation of the force of a baseball swing, capturing Eddie Zanor M’25.
Daniel Oren

Behind The Camera with Daniel Oren '27

By Adam Levin '94

Over the past two years, Brandeis Athletics’ photography has gotten a serious upgrade thanks to the efforts of Daniel Oren ‘27. Since his arrival as a first-year photographer, Daniel has made his services available to the Judges’ sports information and marketing departments, attending nearly every home contest and bonding with our student-athletes in the process. 

Brandeis was a place that checked all the boxes for Daniel - a University in a great location, with its distinct Jewish background, that allows its students to put in their work and just be themselves. In addition to his sports photography, Daniel has been involved with campus radio station WBRS and as a worker in the University’s Media Lab. 

But it’s behind the lens that he has always felt most comfortable. Growing up in Florida and Connecticut, he was able to use photography as an escape. Starting with a GoPro Hero 6 as a still camera, “I would go outside and take photos of anything I could,” Daniel said. “Leaves, or whatever, but that camera was still better than what I had on my phone.”

Eventually, he upgraded to a Nikon E3 100, and that’s when his photography started to blossom. An avid tennis and soccer player when he was younger, Daniel gravitated towards sports photography over nature images. “Where I grew up, there were pretty much only street signs to shoot in terms of landscape,” he joked. “But sports were available, always part of school, so I could always find something to shoot there.

From humble beginnings at his high school, Daniel took on as much as he could handle. He eventually earned a spot shooting the Connecticut Open tennis tournament and picking up occasional credentials at Fenway Park to shoot the Red Sox, in addition to his assignments for the Judges. 

Soccer and tennis remain his two loves to shoot, dating back to his time as a player. He’s looking to improve his soccer shooting with a longer, more powerful lens, so for now, tennis remains his sweet spot. “I know so much about tennis, having played and shot it professionally,” he said. 

Much like the athletes he shoots can get into “the zone” to play their best games, Daniel said he experiences something similar. “I have so much experience, I can get into this flow state, this rhythm where I can take the photos almost like second nature. I almost don’t even have to think about it,” he said.

Photography has changed drastically in the last 25 years, both in the way that images have been produced and in the way they have been consumed. Daniel has experienced shooting on film, taking advantage of the Photography Club’s dark room (he’s president of the club, naturally). It used to be that taking a photo was a precious use of a resource, the film in the camera. Now, that resource become virtually infinite, thanks to digital cameras. Images were consumed in albums or framed and hung on the wall. Now, we scroll through our phones, see our output instantaneously, and share it with the world just as quickly. 

Daniel says that his experience shooting on film has taught him to slow down. “It’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “It makes you think about every different thing that you’re doing. When I’ve shot with film, I only take one roll with me, and I try to take a shot that I’ve never taken before. I try and only take the same photo once. Even with digital, I don’t necessarily fire off a burst of shots. I take one shot at a time, trying to capture the image I want, not just get lucky in a burst.”

Here are some of the best images that Daniel captured over the course of the 2024-25 school year.

Rising senior Shaniece Nugent is captured at the apex of her jump over a set of hurdles.
You might only be able to see the arm of rising junior Chahana Budhbhatti hitting this tennis ball, but this image captures an amazing moment when the ball hits the racquet in the sweet spot and stretches the strings.
A lovely moment during a soccer warmup, capturing Selena Santiago ‘27 and the essence of the end of a late summer or early fall day.
Recent graduate Lulu Ohm saw an outlet available and leapt in midair to put something extra on the pass.
The framing of her teammates highlights the joy of recent graduate and All-American Lara Verstovsek after winning a point during a volleyball match. This photo does a great job of telling a story in one frame.
The puff of dust as the ball hits recent graduate Tristan Boyer’s glove, along with the smile on her face as the pitch lands really captures the moment.
Recent graduate Quintin Wrabley dove to his right to deny a goal against Suffolk in a non-conference match.
Recent graduate Toby Harris going in for the emphatic jam against Emory shows why he’s playing as a graduate transfer at Division I Iona this year.
The pop of pink in rising junior Isaac Lo’s Pride Day swim cap as her emerges from the water while doing the butterfly, plus the red signaling the end of the lane line, helps this photo stand out in a pool of blue-green.
This is a terrific artistic representation of the force of a baseball swing, capturing Eddie Zanor M’25.
Daniel Shemesh reaches for a return during a tennis match
This is a terrific artistic representation of the force of a baseball swing, capturing Eddie Zanor M’25.
This is a terrific artistic representation of the force of a baseball swing, capturing Eddie Zanor M’25.
I was looking for something different, and in the moment, I had thought to myself, you know, I'd really never experimented with a slow shutter speed. It particularly at night. So the game was getting late, and I didn't really know what to do, so I decided, okay, I'll punch in and I'll try and see what I can get. And I've really taken my shutter speed down, which is the curtain that comes over your sensor. And I kept it open for about 15 seconds and it was like 10 or 15 seconds. And after some post processing, it looks a really, really distinct because it almost doesn't look like a photograph as much as it looks like an oil painting.
A lovely moment during a soccer warmup, capturing Selena Santiago ‘27 and the essence of the end of a late summer or early fall day.
A lovely moment during a soccer warmup, capturing Selena Santiago ‘27 and the essence of the end of a late summer or early fall day.
It was getting late, and I wanted to take a photograph of an individual in silhouette, which means that you expose for the sky, not for the player, and you work with the shadow. There are only so many photos I can take of soccer players bouncing the ball off of their chest, so I thought that this was a really cool way to show the beauty of the moment that looks very different from any of the other photographs that I've taken of the team.
Rising senior Shaniece Nugent is captured at the apex of her jump over a set of hurdles.
Rising senior Shaniece Nugent is captured at the apex of her jump over a set of hurdles.
I only get so much time with the track team. They usually only have one home meet every year. Shaniece was flying, just jumping like crazy. And I wanted to get this photograph where I wanted to see how high I could capture her leg up in the air. It’s a photograph that shows the beauty within some of the really optimized movements of track and field.
The framing of her teammates highlights the joy of recent graduate and All-American Lara Verstovsek after winning a point during a volleyball match. This photo does a great job of telling a story in one frame.
The framing of her teammates highlights the joy of recent graduate and All-American Lara Verstovsek after winning a point during a volleyball match. This photo does a great job of telling a story in one frame.
Volleyball's a beautiful sport because players celebrate all the time. And it's easy to photograph players looking very happy. Because after every single point, they come together and high-five and reset themselves. I was able to make a frame between two of the players and Lara, who was just ecstatic. I think it's this cool dynamic that encapsulates the great chemistry the volleyball team has together.
You might only be able to see the arm of rising junior Chahana Budhbhatti hitting this tennis ball, but this image captures an amazing moment when the ball hits the racquet in the sweet spot and stretches the strings.
You might only be able to see the arm of rising junior Chahana Budhbhatti hitting this tennis ball, but this image captures an amazing moment when the ball hits the racquet in the sweet spot and stretches the strings.
I really wanted to get the detail of Chahana, but emphasize more so the amount of work that has to go into the timing and placement of all the different parts of the arm and the ball on the racket. I wanted to capture the moment of contact on the racket when she hit the ball. A lot of people shoot bursts, taking multiple photos at once. My camera can't take those bursts fast enough, so I shoot in single shot. I've become so familiar with my camera to the point where I can understand exactly when to push the shutter to get a photograph where the ball is on the strings. That has been able to lead me to experiment more with my framing and how I compose photographs, to get a shot like this where I have the body all the way in the corner, so you can tell who it is, but the centerpiece is really the forehand and the movement and really the ball digging into the strings.
The puff of dust as the ball hits recent graduate Tristan Boyer’s glove, along with the smile on her face as the pitch lands really captures the moment.
The puff of dust as the ball hits recent graduate Tristan Boyer’s glove, along with the smile on her face as the pitch lands really captures the moment.
I wanted to get close to the ground and try to get a photograph where you can see all the smoke and see the ball. So if you look closely, you can see the yellow of the ball in the glove, while you can see all of the smoke coming out as Tristan catches it. And that's the eureka moment of a catcher that I can capture within a photograph. Having a lot of details come together in an image makes it that much better.
Daniel Shemesh reaches for a return during a tennis match
Rising sophomore Daniel Shemesh stretches as far as he can to reach this return during a tennis match.
Danny has one of the more exuberant playing styles on the men's tennis team. Other players don't necessarily slide as much or have as extravagant a wraparound their head in their follow-through, whereas with Danny, the racket moves a lot, he's sliding around the court, and he really gets acrobatic. I love this photo because it's just a beautiful image where you can really see the beauty of balance, core strength, coordination, and hand-eye coordination, all in one photograph.
Recent graduate Toby Harris going in for the emphatic jam against Emory shows why he’s playing as a graduate transfer at Division I Iona this year.
Recent graduate Toby Harris going in for the emphatic jam against Emory shows why he’s playing as a graduate transfer at Division I Iona this year.
Toby loves dunking. I love this photograph. You can see Emory's players in the background, almost looking defeated as Toby is just going up, in this animated manner, just looking to bring it home. I like this photograph because you can see the fans, in relation to the hoop, in relation to Toby.
Recent graduate Lulu Ohm saw an outlet available and leapt in midair to put something extra on the pass.
Recent graduate Lulu Ohm saw an outlet available and leapt in midair to put something extra on the pass.
It's such a cool photograph because she's completely in the air while she's just shoving the ball to her teammate. It's just this moment where her hands are in this awkward, almost unnatural position that I don't think I could replicate myself. But it goes to show just how much effort these players are putting in when they're performing their craft.
Recent graduate Quintin Wrabley dove to his right to deny a goal against Suffolk in a non-conference match.
Recent graduate Quintin Wrabley dove to his right to deny a goal against Suffolk in a non-conference match.
So, this is one of those photos where I talk about my wish for a longer lens! It's hard to get photos of a goalie making saves because I have to make sure my focus is right and it's hard because I can't zoom in as much. But this photograph, I was able to get Quintin making a save while he's completely in the air. But I can also see the context of other players looking on and seeing, “Is it going to go in?”
The pop of pink in rising junior Isaac Lo’s Pride Day swim cap as her emerges from the water while doing the butterfly, plus the red signaling the end of the lane line, helps this photo stand out in a pool of blue-green.
The pop of pink in rising junior Isaac Lo’s Pride Day swim cap as he emerges from the water while doing the butterfly, plus the red signaling the end of the lane line, helps this photo stand out in a pool of blue-green.
Isaac is a good friend of mine, actually. I love swimming photographs, particularly because you can see all of the water on the back of the athletes, and it almost looks like they're covered in this sheen. Taking photographs of water moving with a fast shutter speed is an immaculate thing because water looks very unnatural. You can see Isaac was coming up from the water, and you can see all of the water coming down from his chin and his chest as he's exerting a lot of pressure coming backwards. And it makes for this beautiful photograph where you can see that he’s leaps and bounds ahead of other people. And he's just exerting a lot of pressure, which is why there's nobody else in any of the lanes, which I think was a cool thing to take a photograph and show the world.

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