Racquel Turner sees things through a different viewfinder. I came to that conclusion a long time ago. She would take a photo on her iPhone and show it to me, and I’d tell her, “you have a really good photographic eye.” Of course, she discounted that. I finally convinced her to give her photographic eye some public scrutiny at this year’s Acracia Invitational. Rich Gonzalez, who runs the meet and PrepCalTrack.com, graciously offered her a media pass, and we rented her a Sony A7 II for a few days. She walked away from the first day of shooting and said, “I probably only got a few good shots.” When I looked at her photos that same night, I disagreed.

When we sent her first photo set to Rich, he also disagreed. Of her freshman effort, he said, “Whether from a different angle or focusing on a different subject, her images captured the excitement of the day (or night) and the aura of competition. Some shots are jubilant, others capture tense moments of critical action, but each elicits an emotion about the sport we love.” Her sophomore effort at the 2025 CIF Southern Section Finals was equally impressive.

He now aptly labels her photos as “Head Turners.” These two shots from the CIF Los Angeles City Section Finals are just examples of how she sees the world through a different viewfinder. The light at the meet was harsh, making it challenging to shoot the final 100 meters of the races. Racquel turned it to her advantage and saw it as an opportunity to catch the shadows. I love these. They inspired me.

You can see the images from her first three meets here: 2025 Arcadia Invitational, 2025 CIF-SS Finals, 2025 CIF LA City Finals. Now, I will turn some of my attention to convincing her to join me here and share her photos and her own words about them. 🙂

Jeff Turner

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