We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alana McCallion. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alana below.

Alright, Alana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I am incredibly fortunate that I what I love to do also happens to be my full time job. I’ve always had an interest in photography, but I started to really take it seriously in college. I went to Clemson, and with that comes many opportunities to shoot major sporting events. I initially shot Clemson sports for the student broadcast club, Tigervision, and from there I was able to build a portfolio and earn an internship with Clemson’s athletics department.

My senior year was spent worrying that I’ll end up in a career that I was not fulfilled with. Sports photography is a very niche field and not many full time jobs are available. Throughout my senior year I reached out to multiple people in professional sports in search of advice of how to break into the industry. I was lucky enough to meet some outstanding people through this process and build a network of people who I still keep in contact with. Eventually, I reached out to fellow Clemson graduate Brittany Alvarado who put me in touch with her Charlotte FC co-worker and team photographer, Taylor Banner. From there, I learned that Charlotte FC was opening up a photography coordinator position, and I threw my name in the pot immediately. After an extensive interview process, I secured the job and have been thrilled to call Charlotte FC my sports family ever since.

Applying for a job in sports can be emotionally tolling. I sent my resume to MANY teams and heard nothing back. In the end, it all came down to utilizing my network. As important as your craft is to your portfolio, the way you treat people in this industry is ten times more important. Be a good person and things will line up!

Alana, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I think what sets me apart from other sports photographers is that I’m always on the hunt for the ‘off the pitch’ moments. Capturing the match itself is fairly easy. Most of the movements captured on the pitch becomes fairly repetitive for the most part. What doesn’t become repetitive are the little moments outside of the action.

Things that don’t get old are a fans face when they are meeting their favorite player for the first time, or maybe even a player blowing a kiss to their family in the stands. The human side of the game is sometimes neglected, and it just so happens the most powerful photos can come from these little moments. The athletes are people too, and I think it’s very important to emphasize who they are outside of the sport they play. Long story short, I’m most proud of the fact that I can show our players friendly nature through photography.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think what non-creatives might not understand about the industry in general (more specifically, photography) is how time consuming the job is. What you see on social media is typically the glitz and glam of it all. What you don’t see is the hours upon hours of work put into the craft.

For example, a typical match day for me starts at 2 in the afternoon, and ends at 11 at night. The next day I will edit all of my photos. I typically take around 5,000 + photos on a match day, and I’ll edit around 1,000. After each select is individually edited, I’ll tag relevant topics and player names into each photo. While tagging is a tedious process, it is essential for the photo archive to remain as accessible as possible. Photos are then uploaded to our photo archive, as well as a separate website for our players, so they have access to photos of themselves. When that process for my own photos is completed, I’m typically doing the same thing for the work of 2-3 freelancers.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate that my boss, Taylor Banner, has taken extensive time in teaching me all of the nitty gritty of what it means to be a pro sports photographer. It would be remiss of me to not give Taylor her flowers. Her creative work speaks for itself, and she has moved mountains to give women in the sports industry a spot at the table. Everyone deserves a boss like Taylor at some point in their life! (Taylors Instagram:@tay.banner.photos)

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a creative for me is the interactions and brainstorms I get to have with other creatives on a daily basis. Working truly solo in this industry can only get you so far.

At Charlotte FC, the vast majority of our content team work in one big room called the ‘Content Cave’ (sometimes the ‘swag dungeon’, depends on who you ask). Throughout the day, we get to bounce ideas off each other, regardless of what our area of expertise is. I’ve been able to learn what makes a graphic pop from lead graphic designer, Tessa Hansen, and how to best portray a storyline from videographer, Marco Yanez. Am I an expert on graphics and video? Absolutely not, far from it. However, I’ve been able to add to my understanding of these topics through close collaboration that I did not have prior to joining CLTFC.

The hours are long, and the days are short. Who you spend your time with in the office, on the pitch, or traveling with can be a make or break to your success. Luckily, I can confidently say I work alongside some of my best friends who I have the privilege of learning from every day! Use your coworkers as a creative resource, they are more likely than not happy to help you out on your creative journey.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Alana_helen
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanamccallion?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits

Alana McCallion