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

Mitch, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

If you ask most anyone in the sports creative industry today, a majority of them will tell you they are self-taught or that they never really had a legitimate teacher starting out. This is true for many of us, including myself. Instead of actual teachers and proper education, we looked to Youtube as one of the important places of education and inspiration to help us learn and develop our crafts.

Apart from Youtube, I’d say one of the most useful places to learn was by sending Instagram DM’s asking others about their own processes. When I was graduating college and working towards getting into the sports photography industry, I would send so many DM’s to others in the industry asking for tips, advice, or asking them to just to simply critique my own work. By doing this, I was able to develop connections within the industry, make friends, and learn more than I could by just doing it on my own.

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

My name is Mitch Martin and I’m the full-time Team Photographer for Atlanta United FC in the MLS. My job as Team Photographer is to photograph all matches including road trips and trainings, collaborate with our digital team to create innovative content to engage their audience, and approve all imagery going out from the club.

Before I had this position, I worked for AMB Sports + Entertainment as a Photo Assistant and then as a Staff Photographer covering the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United and everything from college football to concerts at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

I went to Florida State University for my undergrad where I first started photographing sports as a photographer for the student newspaper. I originally went to FSU to study music but fell in love with sports photography there, and after some back and forth, decided to take my portfolio and run with it.

I’m from the north Metro Atlanta area so I’m really grateful for the opportunity to work around the teams I grew up watching and supporting.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of the biggest pivots in my career / life was changing from pursuing a career in music to pursuing a career in sports photography while attending Florida State University.

Growing up, I played piano and drums. I was in band all through middle school and high school, I was in drumline and marching band, I played with local jazz bands, and always had this idea that music was what I wanted to do going forward. Music was who I was and I really wanted to make it a career.
So, I got accepted into FSU’s College of Music and became a Percussion Performance major with the hopes of one day playing on Broadway. My first two years at FSU I was enthralled with music and it seemed like what I was meant to do.

Around this same time, I got involved with FSU’s student newspaper, FSView, because someone I knew said “Don’t you have a camera? You should get involved with the paper!” So, I reached out to the editor, got on-board and started shooting sports.

As these both were going on, it was quickly becoming evident that I was getting burnt out from music. The long days of practicing, the incessant feeling of not being good enough, and the constant impossible pursuit of note-perfect perfection was starting to get to me. This all lead up to my Junior year Fall semester when my professor, during one of our lessons, stopped me from playing and said “What do you want to do? Because I can tell that this isn’t it.” And I just started crying.

It was a bittersweet feeling to say the least. On one hand I was confused about the thought of having to tell my parents and friends that I was not pursuing this big dream that I had anymore, and on the other hand I was half relieved and half excited to really look at sports photography as a serious career. So, there were a lot of emotions but I knew it was the right thing to do.

I always tell anyone who asks that it’s okay to not know what you want to do, especially in college. But, it’s important to keep trying, to keep pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and by doing that, you’ll start to see what you love and don’t.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

One of the most important things you can do to build your reputation, especially in the creative field, is to be kind and to pay it forward. I wouldn’t be where I’m at today if it wasn’t for others helping me grow and learn.

Because of that, I always try to help others when I can, to answer DM’s if people have questions, and to be a positive source of motivation for those around me. We weren’t made to tear one another down, so I always try to spread the positivity when I can and to encourage those who are starting out.

It doesn’t cost anything to be a nice person, so commit to that as you build yourself within your industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mitchmartinphoto.com/atlutd-2023
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitchmartinphoto/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchmartinphoto/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mitchmrtinphoto