Maddie Knight knew she wanted to be a photographer since she was four years old. Growing up in Los Angeles, California, Maddie remembers taking photos with her dad's DSLR camera of anything and everything—family members, things around the house, of nature during family hikes—, and quickly falling in love with this art medium. At just six years old, Maddie got her first point-and-shoot camera and officially immersed herself in the world of photography. The rest is history! Throughout middle school and high school, she focused on nature photography with the goal of one day becoming a National Geographic photographer. It wasn't until her time at the University of Oregon though—where she majored in journalism with a focus on photojournalism and began to explore different types of photography—that she discovered her love for sports photography. From basketball to tennis, Maddie covered an array of sports throughout her time in college and became more and more fascinated with the opportunity to tell sports stories through visual media upon graduation. Sure enough, she did just that. After graduating in 2021, she began working as a photo editor for the National Football League and has been with the organization since. Eager to continue shining light on the stories of athletes and teams through her photography, Maddie is looking forward to diving more into creative portraiture work and studio photography in the near future.
When did you discover that you wanted to dive into the world of sports and pursue a career in photography within the industry?
I was really into nature photography growing up. My dream originally when I was super young was to be a National Geographic photographer, but then I realized: “I don't think I could survive being by myself in the wild for hours on end.” So then, I was doing all different kinds of photography throughout middle school and high school. I ended up going to the University of Oregon, and that is where I actually fell in love with sports photography. The University of Oregon has such a great sports (atmosphere)—all of the sports programs are great. I majored in journalism, so I really was focusing on photojournalism. I worked for the school newspaper all four years and that really allowed me to branch out into doing sports, music, (etc). I basically branched out into everything and fell in love with sports photography in college.
How was that transition from college into the world of sports photography like for you?
Right now I'm doing mostly photo editing, but I am also shooting here and there—and that has actually been really great. I feel like I was very prepared. My experience at Oregon definitely prepared me for my experience in the real world of photography. It's been great just learning color-wise (how) to shoot in arenas that don't have the best lighting or having to learn color correcting. For example in basketball and tennis, in a lot of their lighting situations, you have to really learn about color balance and all of that. That was very interesting to learn in college and then bring that over to now where we're constantly editing all different kinds of photography; or editing two different photographers at the same time and they each have color balances set differently. It's been very interesting to see how my experience at Oregon has transitioned over to the NFL.
As you tapped into the world of sports photography, what were some challenges that you faced early on and how did you work to overcome them?
I wasn't huge on football before I started at Oregon. I feel like that's kind of where my challenges (were)—learning different sports and how to navigate that. Also, another thing throughout college and in the NFL now is being the only woman in the room. You know, being the only woman working on the field or in the office. I mean, I'm not the only woman but sometimes I'm the only woman in the room. That's another reason I really wanted to go into sports because it's such a male-dominated field and I wanted to enter a field where I could kind of make a difference as a woman in this industry. Other challenges…it's very interesting having to edit other people's work. In college, I was only editing my own work. I was the Photo Editor of the newspaper, but I wasn't editing anybody else's photos. I was kind of teaching them how to edit their own. So that has given me a new eye for my own photos as well as looking and seeing how other people shoot. It's very interesting to see how different people shoot, how to color correct different images, (etc).
Diving into the world of branding, how did you get started building your personal brand in the space?
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