Celebrating graduate Sofia Ruggiero: Elevating sports media at RMIT

Talented sports photographer Sofia Ruggiero will graduate from the Bachelor of Arts (Photography) with a wealth of experience on the back of her involvement in the RMIT Sports Media Program.

Sofia has spent the last three years refining her practical photography skills as part of her degree, but it was her involvement in the Sports Media Program during her time at RMIT which has set her up for a successful career.

The Sports Media Program gives students the opportunity to make media with a variety of RMIT Sport and Fitness teams and clubs as well getting involved with RMIT Sport events.

For Sofia, this meant working up close and personal with the Big V, RMIT’s Men and Women Basketball teams, before continuing to work for RMIT after her client-centred class had finished.

“Over the last three years I have taken classes that involve practical skills of photography such as learning about lighting and developing IT skills," she said.

"In year two of my studies things started changing for me.”

Introduction to the Big V

During the second year of her degree, Sofia would step outside of her comfort zone, taking on a volunteer client-centred course where she first linked up with RMIT Sport via the Sports Media Program.

It was here where she began working with the Big V, both photographing events as well as running the Big V Instagram account.

“I primarily started by capturing University Basketball League (UBL) games and then moved on to shooting Big V games, which were held at The Web (RMIT’s Basketball Stadium at Bundoora).”

“A stand-out event I shot early on in my experience would have to be the Slam Dunk event that was held on A’Beckett Court,” she said.

“I remember getting there and seeing all of the people in the crowd, the atmosphere was crazy and then when the athletes started dunking it was unlike anything I had photographed before.”

Sofia Ruggiero started working on UBL content earlier in the second year of her degree.

Perth and the Gold Coast

From capturing content at countless events, to winning the Big V Men's Redback of the Year Award and Contribution to Sports Media Award at this year’s Redbacks Awards Party, Sofia’s journey at RMIT has been decorated.

But it was the invitation to two interstate trips to work at the 2022 and 2023 Uni Sports Nationals in Perth and the Gold Coast respectively which really stood out.

“I continued capturing events for RMIT Sport even after my client-centred class has ended, which really paid off for me because I was invited to join them in Perth to shoot Uni Sport Nationals for a week,” she said.

“The trip to Perth really set in stone my love for sports photography and content creation.”

“I knew it was definitely something I wanted to be doing for my career.”

Preparing for the future

Sofia’s breadth of experience throughout her degree landed her a job within RMIT Sport, putting her in good stead for life after study.

“I always like to think anything you can learn throughout life will help prepare you for the future,” she said.

Everyone you talk to, everyone you meet, everything you experience each day teaches you something and prepares you.

Five separate images of various landscapes and portraits.

Sofia enjoyed capturing content at many different RMIT Sport events, picking up awards along the way.

Women’s Big V head coach, Tristian Angeles, worked closely with Sofia throughout her studies and said had a large impact on their program.

“Sofia has been a joy to work with,” he said.

“She made life easy by being proactive and creating edits for all posts on RMIT Big V's Instagram. In turn I gave her creative freedom as well access to trainings and games, so she got to know the players and coaches.”

“Her ability to have such a large impact on our program not only shows what kind of person Sofia is, but a great example of what the RMIT Redbacks family is about.”

We congratulate Sofia on her upcoming graduation. Sofia’s work has elevated sports media at RMIT to new heights and we look forward to seeing her continue creating incredible and engaging content for RMIT Sport.

09 November 2023

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Celebrating graduate Sofia Ruggiero: Elevating sports media at RMIT