VINH Nguyen's love of the Hawthorn Football Club and his passion for photography came together on one magnificent morning at Waverley Park in late May to create an experience the keen snapper will never forget.

AFL Photos arranged for Vinh, who has an intellectual disability, to join with AFL chief photographer Michael Willson to cover a Hawks' training session, along with coach Sam Mitchell's weekly media conference.

Vinh is an avid photographer who collaborates regularly with the North Sunshine Football Club, enjoys shooting other sporting events including martial arts and horse racing, and has held an exhibition of his street photography at Springvale Community Centre.

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After being presented with an official AFL photographer's vest by Michael, Vinh was delighted to be enthusiastically greeted by several players ahead of the training session including gun onballer Will Day, who presented him with a signed guernsey.

The senior coach also stopped by for a quick chat, as did Hawks head of coaching performance and development Brett Ratten, who had a few tongue-in-cheek words of advice for Vinh ahead of his first assignment with Michael.

"Have a good time and make sure you do a good job (because) he's hard … he's a hard boss," Ratten said with a wry smile.

Then, it was down to business.

As the players were put through their paces, Michael showed Vinh the best positions around the boundary to set up, shared a few creative ideas, and offered technical advice on how to best capture the action.

"Vinh was a bit overawed when he first got there, but he was delighted to meet everyone and was quickly just really excited," Michael recalls.

"The Hawks were fantastic … they were so welcoming and accommodating.

"They really went above and beyond for Vinh, it was greatly appreciated, and really made Vinh's day.

"He had brought all his own camera equipment, but I gave him a quick demo of all my settings and how I was going to shoot the training session, and he quickly picked up on all that.

"He took in the technical aspects of what I was explaining to him really well."

While Vinh enjoyed shooting with his own much-loved equipment, Michael had brought along another piece of kit that he was keen to try; the imposing 600mm telephoto lens used by professional sports photographers around the world. 

"He took to that like a duck to water," Michael said.

"It's a big lens, it weighs about seven or eight kilos, and you need a monopod to balance it all, so it takes a little bit to get used to if you haven't used one before, but Vinh really adapted to it quickly and some of the shots that he got on it were great.

"He knew how to hold it and I gave him a few tips on how to compose some shots and which players to look out for.

"Jarman Impey is his favourite player, so we ended up with quite a few photos of Jarman in the collection!"

As the players headed for the change rooms at the end of the session, Michael sat down with Vinh for a debrief.

"We picked out some of his best pictures and he knew how to crop them to make them look their best," Michael said.

"He treated them well with some post-processing which looked really nice.

"He definitely has a feel for photography.

"This was a really great experience to share with someone who has a passion for photography and football.

"He's had his challenges, and it was a really humbling experience to be able to pass on some knowledge and have a bit of fun together."

Vinh's account is one of many inspiring stories that the Footy Focus competition has brought to light.

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"The Footy Focus competition is something I look forward to each year," Michael said.

"The passion of photographers at grassroots level is unmatched.

"I'm envious of some of the conditions they get to shoot in, with the muddy grounds, the old scoreboards, and all of the sort of stuff that we just don't see much of at AFL level any more.

"That sort of stuff, those environments, are the fabric of the game.

"Some of the pictures that we get sent for this competition are just amazing.

"I love going through the pictures each year and each year is getting bigger and better.

"We get more and more entries, we see more diversity with the pictures coming through, and we're unearthing great talent."

#FootyFocus24, thanks to Toyota's Good For Footy, is now open for entries! Here's your chance to shadow and shoot with Michael Willson or Dylan Burns at a game in 2025.  We want to see your photos that capture the essence of our great game at a grassroots level. To enter, upload your best community footy photos taken during 2024 to: afl.com.au/footyfocus24