For Katie Cahalin, sports photography was a space she unexpectedly became immersed in during her time in college. Despite playing basketball growing up, this Woodbridge, New Jersey native did not have much interest in the world of sports at a young age and was instead drawn to music and entertainment photography. It was in college though, as she began to take photography more seriously, that she started covering local sports—with the goal of building out her creative portfolio—and stumbled upon sports photography. After photographing an array of local high school, college, and professional teams—from basketball to baseball to soccer—, Katie's interest in the sports industry grew more and more. In 2016, she began working with the New York City Football Club (NYCFC) as a Media Relations Game Day Staff and hasn't looked back since. A "pretty fast but gradual journey in soccer," as she describes it, Katie has continued to elevate throughout her career as a storyteller and creative with the NYCFC. Currently the Senior Manager of Photography & Content for the club, Katie is thrilled to embrace this chapter in her career and focus on living in the present; while also reflecting on the incredible journey that has led her to this moment.
You’re currently the Senior Manager of Photography and Content with the New York City Football Club. Could you share more with us about your journey there and your role now with the club?
Yeah! So I came into the club at the end of 2017 as a Digital Content Coordinator. With that, the expectation was that I was going to be handling photos for training and things like that. I also was going to be more involved in social media and other kinds of content capture. Photo kind of started out as a smaller part of it, and then as I came in and got a feel for the place, I definitely saw that there was a need to build out a proper photo team essentially—a system and archive. We have a video team established and things like that, so it was really important for me to get the club to understand and get on board with the fact that photography is really important and needs to be treated the same way as any other department. I kind of just took the reins. We were a really small content team when I came in and now we've practically doubled since I got here. Over the years, I became more and more involved and more heavily focused on photography—really establishing myself as a go-to person for any type of photo needs that anyone needed around the club. With that, I've traveled with the first team for the away games, covering all the home games, training, events, (and) anything that pops up. Any photo that needs to be taken in the club, I kind of handle that situation. We just started with a photo intern and then we have another photography and content specialist on our team that helps out with the coverage. It's growing for sure. It's good to see a lot of years of hard work pay off. It's been tricky in terms of the logistics with titles and things like that because I still am really heavily involved with the social media side of things and the publishing of all that; but I would say now my job is pretty focused on photography and serving as a consultant, guide, and resource for those that are incoming onto the social media side—showing them the ropes of how we do things, how the creative is all connected with design, video, photo, and all that. I've dabbled in a little bit of everything since I've been here.
If you could describe a “Day in the Life” within your role, how would you describe it?
It's definitely something different every day, and it definitely requires a lot of flexibility. I'm sure everyone in this industry will tell you that weekends are not real (*laughs*). A normal person’s Saturday will be your Monday, let's say. It definitely changes depending on the week, and what comes through with player signings coming in or an event popping up. It's definitely changing all the time, which is something that I wanted. I never really had an interest in a job where it was a nine-to-five type thing, so it keeps me on my toes for sure. In terms of a game day for me, I tend to get to the stadium four hours before the game. I start out taking some scenic photos of the stadium, all around the locker room, and things like that to get the scene setters for social media.
Then, the players will start to arrive. If it's a home game, maybe there's an event or something happening around the stadium—some other requests that come in. Then, it’s the warm ups, the procession, team walkouts, and obviously the game itself. It's a lot of being on the go and a lot of quick editing. You know, turning around photos really quickly throughout the day. A lot of the work comes after the game, honestly. There’s a lot of editing, organizing photos, compiling everyone's photos from our other team members or freelancers, and delivering those to players. I mean, the game days are the fun stuff and why everyone does this.
Reflecting back on your journey thus far, what are some things that you have learned about yourself?