We were lucky to catch up with Addison Jarecki recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Addison, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Learning to be a sports photographer and produce sports media is definitely a huge learning curve with a lot of trial and error. It’s also a TON of learning along the way. Thankfully, by working in baseball, I got to be in an environment that allowed me to experiment, ask questions, and learn from other photographers and media professionals in the industry. I learned a lot about shooting, creating, and editing from other league photographers, creators online, and from asking questions. To speed up my learning process, I would have definitely worked harder to shoot more variety of games at different levels. I think I was a little nervous to put myself out there as a newbie. Now, with the confidence I have, I would definitely push harder to experience more. That was also the obstacle – myself. Just being afraid to push for what I wanted to do. I know my most essential skills are my confidence, eye for a good shot, and ability to connect with the people I am taking photos of and creating content with.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into sports photography after I started shooting portraits, fine arts, and weddings. I want to work in media or sports agency for the MLB someday, so when I started focusing on baseball photography, I made an Instagram account to post my work on. From there, I connected with a lot of industry creatives, players, coaches, teams, and other photographers, which helped me grow, learn, and network. Now, I have clients that I produce sports media for, I’ve sold photos of players for their brand deals, and I’ve helped create ad content for those brands. I’ve had the opportunity to take photos of every team in the Atlantic League, two MiLB teams, and several former MLB Players. I also have had the opportunity to help with a rebrand and design Instagram promos for a sports podcast. I am really proud of some of my shots and can’t wait to do more – the opportunities are endless. While my favorite sport to shoot is baseball, I can’t wait to try some others.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn perfectionism. I am very hard on myself. Not every photo will come out, and sometimes you miss the shot. I had to learn that that is okay. There will be another game, another hit, another celebration to get the photo you’re hoping for. Unlearning perfection helped me to be more expressive and creative with my photos – I was more willing to try new things and see what happened.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Yes! I want to work in the MLB. I have a few goals, and I’m not sure exactly which one I’ll end up doing, but I think all of them are possible. I either want to do media and marketing, or agency for players. If not the MLB, I want to do NIL work at the collegiate level. So, what’s driving me is the excitement and thrill of possibility, and the challenge of making myself better every day,

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ariley.media
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/addisonjarecki
• Twitter: @jareckiar

Image Credits
Addison Jarecki