Football photojournalists/photographers are people who take photographs of football matches, training sessions, interviews and sometimes teams travelling to events for newspapers, websites and magazines. Quite a few tend to be self employed and get paid hourly or whether one or more of their photographs were used for publication. To become a Football photographer no set qualification (degree) is required, however larger companies will want whomever they hire to have extensive experience or some type of educational background within photography and journalism. Some smaller companies hire candidates who have graduated college and have knowledge of photography. If you are looking to make it big within the Football photography field working for a big well respected company, there are various steps you will need to take.
Gaining A Degree
This is something that will benefit you and help you get to working with the big boys in the industry. There are bachelors degree’s in photojournalism and they consist of the theory and practice of photography. In this course, you will cover:
- Visual design
- Visual editing
- Editing for print
- Online media
- Photojournalism fundamentals and techniques
- Media writing
- Lighting
- How to create a body of work
Creating A Portfolio
This is crucial for you. This it is like your own showcase where you are able to put your artistic talents on show for potential companies to view your work with an option to hire you. You want them to see that you are capable of taking a variety of photographs in different atmospheres, weather conditions, lighting, backgrounds etc. How you can do this is by firstly gaining the consent of whomever you will be taking photographs of and then snapping various action shots and other shots, doing any editing necessary and putting all your best work together in a book/portfolio as your body of work. You can work on your portfolio while you are studying, working or even working under an experienced photographer.
Gaining Relevant Experience
Gaining experience is very important to you as not only is knowledge power, it is your ticket to employment. Just like a portfolio, this is another way of showing potential employers you have experience working within this field. The more experience you have the better it looks for you just like it does on a CV. Whether you are able to work for a campus newspaper or website taking photographs of local football matches, you will not only gain experience but possibly make good contacts along the way. You can also try internships or contact local newspapers as they sometimes hire college grads.
