We caught up with the brilliant and insightful David Berding a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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’m incredibly fortunate that I make a full-time living from sports photography as a freelancer. And even moreso because I don’t have to rely on youth sports to supplement my income, I only cover pro and college athletics. It’s something I’m grateful for every day and I make sure to remind myself to not take things for granted. The journey isn’t really all that different from anyone else’s experience in any field someone pursues because they’re passionate about it. I started off small and worked my way up and frankly got lucky with some timing. Part of that too was being as opportunistic as I could be. When I first started freelancing for Getty Images, I said yes to every assignment even if it wasn’t paid because I had and still have a hunger to prove myself. Also, I’ve met some really incredible people along the way and if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here. I tell people that when you look at my photos, you’re seeing the fingerprints of everyone that’s had an influence over me.

There’s a few milestones I like to keep, like first time taking photos for a paper, getting to see different athletes I always loved watching, things like that but the big ones I’d say were when I signed contracts with USA Today, AP, and Getty Images who I mainly freelance for. Could this whole process been sped up? Probably if I carry over my photography skills but I’m glad things happened the way they did. It took a lot of time and dedication to get to where my photos are and it still demands it of me, but I love it.

David, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

This is going to be a long read, but how I worked to becoming what I am today almost feels like fate whenever I think about it. As a kid (in the early 90s for a frame of reference), the few times I got to read a copy of Sports Illustrated I was always stunned by the photography that anchored the stories written on those pages which fueled my love for sports. I grew up in central Iowa, a state which has no pro teams competing at the highest level. College football dominated my TV, with the channel glued to the Iowa Hawkeyes game. As luck would have it, I was able to go to #1 Ohio State vs #16 Iowa in 2006 and I don’t know how to this day, but the guy I was with went to the bathroom, came back and said “I have two spots first row on the 50 yard line.” As I’m soaking in the game and how close I am, I look down and see people walking past with big, white lenses. And I remember thinking how cool it must be to be that close and how it’d be cool to do that. Flash forward to 2019 and I’m going to Vegas with a friend who’s a photographer. I played paintball as a kid and after baseball it was the sport I wanted to go pro in, but I stopped playing around high school because of how expensive the sport was. However, I always loved and missed it, and I told my friend I’d love to see a tournament. He confidently told me “We can get you a credential easy, let’s go.” And sure enough, I’m on the field, occupying the sidelines for the very first time. Eventually I was given a camera and after taking some really bad photos, I knew it’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I started freelancing professionally in 2015 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN and started covering the NHL. And from there things slowly started to branch out for me and after networking and working on improving my photos for 7 years I was finally able to start freelancing full time.

I love photography, it’s a hobby I think everyone should take up even if you don’t feel particularly artistic. At it’s simplest, it’s a captured moment in time that you are seeing and I think being able to have a history of that is pretty cool. And that’s why I love providing the people I work for what I see with sports photography. They are all getting my recorded history of whatever it is I was at.

I work with some incredible people so I really don’t know if there’s anything that sets us all apart aside from visual style. Some people prefer a more creative approach and create these beautiful photographs, some people like myself chase after peak action. For the longest time I worked solely on my action photos because I wanted to never be overwhelmed by what I’m pointing my camera at.

It’s tough to talk about things I’m proud about because I have an unhealthy mindset that I can’t be too proud of the things I do otherwise I’ll get complacent. What I will say is I’m proud of the community I’ve helped contribute to and I’m damn proud that I persevered. So many people have quit early on for legitimate reasons and somehow I was one of the lucky ones. One thing I’ve learned is how you act towards others leaves a lasting impression, so I try to remember that and try to be genuine and treat people with kindness. Unless it’s my friends, but we all roast each other.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Honestly, being able to do my own thing. I wasn’t the best student and the prospect of doing four more years after graduating high school sounded exhausting so you can imagine how I felt about working 9-5 jobs. Well, I worked 9-5 jobs and that’s when I realized I didn’t want to do that for the next 60 years (let’s be real, we’re going to be working until we’re dead). Everyone has to work so I wanted to do something I enjoyed. I work to live, I don’t live to work, I just so happen to be fortunate to really, really love work.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

For me, it’s been word of mouth, kind of. I don’t really try to seek out clients so much and when the couple new clients do come it’s usually because they saw my work or someone I know had to pass on the job and gave them my name. Also you eventually get to a point where your name starts floating around there more from bylines, social media growth, editors and such. I’m definitely not a big name by any means either, but one thing I tell newer photographers is this: It’s a big country but a small industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.davidberdingphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidberdbag/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidberdbag (I treat this as a personal account just FYI)

Image Credits
David Sherman