We recently connected with Kaitlin Marold and have shared our conversation below.
Kaitlin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?
I believe to be successful you need to be comfortable taking risks and failing. Living in a social media heavy time it’s easy to fall into a rhythm of shooting straight on because you have the highest probability of getting “the shot”. I know photographers who will take the most convenient position on the field to get the best action and the best celebration shots every time. If you look at the end line of a soccer game you will see a mass of media huddled in the same area waiting for the same exact shot. But, what if you went out of your way and instead of waiting for the shot, you make the shot. Taking creative angles, different vantage points and so many other things that can take a shot and make it your own. “But what if I miss the goal because I was walking somewhere else?” What if you don’t? Would you rather have the same shot as 30 other photographers or have one unique one to you? There is more to a game than just the goals and even if you miss one goal there’s always a chance for another. Or you can take advantage of the time to make a new angle on a normal play of the game. Sometimes you have to take risks if you want to grow creatively and sometimes you will miss a big shot. And that’s okay. But other times you will end up making the shot you didn’t expect. Some of my personal favorite shots have been from being in the highest part of the stadium and shooting downward. One game in particular that stands out is a playoff game. I was heading to the nosebleeds and while I was on the elevator heading up we scored our second goal of the game. I sprinted out of the elevator and tried to capture whatever lingering images of the moment I could. There wasn’t much happening so I continued my way to the top. Not even 10 minutes later we score again and I get a clean shot of nothing but the whole team celebrating into my corner. Just clear green grass around them. It stands out to me because when I look back at it there are no distractions in the background. It’s just me and the team celebrating. Growth comes from discomfort, it’s all part of the job.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
All my life I’ve been surrounded by cameras. My parents were very into photography, always carrying cameras wherever their travels took them. My mom was very into beaches and sunsets where my dad was into nature and later sports photography because as I got older soccer started to consume all of our lives. My uncle has a hand in photography too shooting nature with a specialty for birds. I was always playing with their cameras whenever I had the chance. Taking thousands of picture of anything and everything. “This is gonna be such a good picture” I said to myself while taking a picture of a white wall in my Nana’s house. Little did I know at the time the camera they had given me was a disposable camera that expired and no longer had any usable film in it. Nonetheless I had grown an appreciation for the art. Growing up my focus had shifted from photography to soccer. I would still take the camera out on vacations and such but vacations became few and far between once soccer picked up. I dedicated my life to playing the beautiful game and had doubled down on making a career out of going pro. Once I started looking into college a part of me considered majoring in photography. That quickly fell apart as I realized I wanted a degree for a career that I believed could provide me a steady income and good insurance incase soccer didnt work out. I settled for a criminal justice degree. News flash, soccer didnt work out. I played four years of college soccer and when it came time to graduate I decided to pursue a career in criminal justice. Unfortunately due to various physical and mental health issues I realized a career path in law enforcement might not be the path for me. As I sat around at 23 years old with what felt like a borderline useless degree in hand I decided to pick up the camera again. I received a hand-me-down Canon Rebel T3I from my mom. I remember the picture that sort of shifted my perspective on photography and possibly making it a full time career. It was a cold November day in Virginia Beach, Virginia. My family and I were on vacation. While walking on the beach taking pictures of the ocean I spotted this surfer catching a few waves right as the sun was setting. Between the hotels on the boardwalk behind us a ray of sun hit surfer perfectly and I took a picture. Looking back at it now I laugh because of its poor quality, editing and framing, but back then that was the first image that made me realize maybe sports photography was going to be the bridge that would help me hold on to my passion for soccer and incorporate my first passion of photography. I reached out to a friend I made in college who was an actual sports photographer and asked for some tips on how to get started. Thanks to him, I am happy to say my photography career is doing pretty well. That first photo of the surfer was in November 2018. My first professional game I covered for my new outlet was New York City Football Club (my favorite MLS team) vs DC United in March 2019. It was unpaid work at the time but now almost six years later and I’ve worked for both D.C. United, New York City Football Club, Gotham FC, US Soccer and many others and couldn’t be happier. I am currently working as a freelancer in photography while working a day job utilizing my now not so useless degree. Although I do have aspirations of making photography my full time profession, I am enjoying the journey and learning from so many great mentors and friends along the way. It isn’t the exact route I anticipated for myself, but sometimes life has a way of working itself out and for that I am grateful.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Soccer is called the beautiful game and for good reason. It’s powerful, theatrical, dramatic, gut punching, heart wrenching. It’s a story. I want to tell the story of the game through photos. The most important thing that makes soccer so beautiful is the community. No community, no team. I want to give the community and fans a full visual story, mapping out a match day making them feel as involved as a player or staff would be. From the beginning getting jerseys ready in the locker room, player arrivals and fan marches. To the middle, the nitty gritty match action you love to see over the span of 90+ minutes. To the end, either sweetest or most bitter part of a match day. I want you to be there for it all.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding thing is seeing fans and players reacting and/or using photos I’ve taken during a match day. I try to emphasize the storytelling of a match in my photos. Capturing every detail that makes a match day a match day. So when I have others reacting positively to photos I’ve taken, part of me feels as though maybe I am serving my personal purpose of storytelling well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kaitmarigoldphotography.wordpress.com/
- Instagram: kmarigoldphotography