NCAA Volleyball’s tiniest photographer award goes to Bishop Branson, the 5-year-old son of SMU Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator Christa Branson.

Despite neither Christa nor her husband, Alex, having a background in photography, they bought Bishop a camera as a toddler for fun. He then made it his mission to take photos of everything in the house, including his parents, bringing smiles to their faces.

Bishop uses joy to select his photography subjects. “If I like something, I like to take a picture of it so I can look at it forever. Or literally whenever I want, even when I’m out of town,” he says.

As much as SMU Volleyball prides itself on its winning culture as a top 10 team the last two seasons, the team culture centers on family. All of the kids and spouses of coaches and the behind-the-scenes team socialize, which is how Bishop met his photography idol, Stephan Dawson.

Dawson, a freelance creative, is the program’s photographer, videographer, and social media manager. He also took family photos of the Bransons last spring, allowing him to get on speaking terms with a shy Bishop.

“I was a slow warm-up where he would talk back to me, or finish a high five,” Dawson says.

“Bishop just loves Dawson and thinks it's fun to watch him as well,” Christa Branson says.

One day before a game, Alex mentioned to Dawson that Bishop was getting more into photography, taking an old camera of Alex’s to the zoo and family events, wanting to take photos of everything. Then Dawson had an idea. Would Bishop want to shoot a volleyball game?

“I think they co-conspired together and came up with this idea. And it was not mine, I can tell you that,” says Christa Branson. “Next thing I knew, my five-year-old had a press pass.”

That led to “Baseline Bishop” shooting SMU versus Florida State in Tallahassee, FL. His work was then shared on SMU Volleyball’s Instagram, collecting a series of comments about how cute Bishop is.

Bishop may be cute, but he is also a member of the press. To make the whole thing official, Laurence Thompson, Assistant Director of Public Relations for volleyball, reached out to his counterpart at Florida State to get a press pass for the tiny tyro.

Bishop, 5, takes photos during the SMU volleyball game against Florida State on October 10, 2025.

Turns out Florida State doesn’t have official credential badges at volleyball games, but they made an exception for Bishop.

“He was the only one on our media team [at] that game that had a credential. They gave him a season-long credential for a stat crew. It wasn't even a creative one,” Dawson explains.

Bishop, ever the professional, stuck by Dawson’s side the whole time, moving from the floor, to the media table, to time-out huddles, and back again. The kid captured the team and the coaches the entire game.

One of the photos that Bishop took during the game.

“I honestly thought he would kind of do it during warm-ups and then stop. He surprised me when he got out during the national anthem in the middle of everyone,” Christa Branson says.

“There wasn't ever any issue with being in the wrong place or doing the wrong thing or not sitting still. He got a little bored at one point shooting. I think he felt it was getting a little repetitive. So we moved, and then he got excited again,” Dawson says.

“I wanna do what Dawson does when I grow up. It was so much fun,” says Bishop.

“It was the highlight of Bishop’s world,” Christa says.

A few comments left on the Instagram post highlighting Bishop's shots.

Sure, Dawson helped Bishop, and not all of the photos were in focus or framed the way a seasoned photographer would prefer, but he captured the spirit of the day and deserved the credit for his work.

Dawson and Alex Branson co-conspired once again to get Bishop his own Instagram account set up, for no other reason than an Instagram page dedicated to a 5-year-old photographer is cute, and Dawson wanted to tag him. Christa does not want to use the account to become a stage mom of Bishop’s potential future influencer career.

Bishop will likely be back on the baseline at a home game later this season. “He's probably a little upset with me that I told him he can't do it every match,” Christa Branson says. Dawson will keep his job for now.