When Nicolas Dominguez took an elective photography course at Northeastern University’s Oakland campus, he didn’t imagine that it would put him right at the center of soccer’s biggest event: the FIFA World Cup.
But the 19-year-old computer science major would end up spending four weeks this summer capturing the exuberance of international fans and the intense competition of the world’s top soccer players.
Dominguez operated a specialized camera to capture 360-degree footage at the seven Boston Stadium matches. And he credits a photography class he took with Kija Lucas with teaching him another tool to expand the skillset that helped him feel confident in accepting the internship with FIFA.
“Being next to the fans was super unbelievable. They were so loud. It was like exiting a concert and you cannot hear anything afterwards,” he told Northeastern Global News, noting in particular the first match between Scotland and Haiti.
While Dominguez admits recording video on the Insta360 isn’t the same as making pictures, he learned the basics that would help him, like framing, lighting and how to operate software like Adobe Lightroom. Now, he wants to buy a camera of his own.
“He has a really good sense of composition and light, but more importantly, he is curious. His assignments showed that he wanted to understand the concept and was willing to experiment to get there,” said Lucas, who taught his Introduction to Photography and Tools class.
Lucas added that she was “thrilled” at Dominguez’s opportunity to capture images at the World Cup.
“I think that it is important for students to find themself in photography, that is where the learning happens and where it continues,” she said.
Each of the seven shifts at Boston Stadium was different. Dominguez was tasked with capturing team arrivals, players walking through the tunnel, fan celebrations and reaction to penalty kicks during the Germany-Paraguay match.
The first match stood out because it was the loudest, Dominguez said, with Scotland fans exuberant in their chants and bagpipes. Not only did he capture footage, but he was also responsible for transmitting it to the cloud for another team to edit.
Opportunities to intern with FIFA came through his inbox from Khoury College in late March: one for IT and one for a 360-degree camera operator with the digital team. Some of Dominguez’s classmates opted not to take a chance on applying to the IT internship. But he did.
“Even if I don’t get it, it’s good to be applying to try,” he said. He enjoyed IT work because it allowed him to share his skills and help people.
While competition for the IT spot was tough, as only one position was available for each stadium, the hiring committee liked what they saw in Dominguez’s application and offered him the other internship position, capturing the action on the Insta360 camera.
The shifts were long and required him to be there five hours before kickoff and two hours after the final whistle. But it didn’t matter to Dominguez, a lifelong soccer fan who grew up in Quito, Ecuador, idolizing Barcelona and Lionel Messi.
Dominguez showed that you never know what will happen by putting yourself out there, especially leveraging experience that may not be directly tied to his studies. And it doesn’t hurt that the experience included high-fiving Paraguay’s players and grabbing a selfie with the commentator and Swedish former football star Zlatan Ibrahimović.
He hopes one day to travel to Spain, perhaps studying abroad, and visit the place that has so much meaning for him.
“I’ll find a way to do it,” he said.
