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KATELYN MULCAHY
University of Michigan
Q: What drew you to photojournalism as a career?
“I liked being behind the camera in high school. I loved challenging myself and shooting baseball because my camera would be slow. I always tried to get the bat perfectly hitting the ball, and it was such a challenge for me to do it, but every time I got it I was just like 'Yes!'”
Q: What are some difficulties you've faced in this field?
“Someone came in (for basketball) and didn't even acknowledge me. He asked someone else where the basketball writers were and I had to jump in and tell him where they were, and he was just like 'Oh, okay,' and left. I'm a managing editor. I was also a part of that basketball coverage.”
Q: Isn't sports photojournalism kind of scary, being on the sidelines?
“Yeah, it's kind of a process sometimes, but I know that no one has ever died, so... Like there have been injuries before, but you just have to be smart about it. Honestly, my first concern is the gear. If I break a bone I can fix it. You break a lens? You can't fix it. And the cost of replacing it might be cheaper than 'Oh I sprained my ankle, give me a brace.'”
Q: What makes a picture great for you?
“I feel like if a picture has emotion, even if it was taken on an angle, if the lighting was poor, you can still tell the emotion and I feel like that can really separate a good photo from a bad photo. Iconic sports photos wouldn't be those photos without emotion. Like MAAR standing over the guy after knocking him over, that was such an iconic photo at the time and that was why.”
Q: What are some difficulties working with photo requests?
“We'll have 140 good photos of like a specific player in action, and they'll be like, 'Oh, we just want the coach.' Which, if that's what they're writing about is the coach, then we have to find 100 pictures of the coach, but we definitely try to find the ones that are more emotional. I once went to a swim and dive meet and only took one picture of the coach because there are so many players and I was trying to get pictures of them, and I'd heard a few names to watch out for, but like five articles later they wanted the coach and I only had the one. The events go so fast.”
Q: Do you have any specific experiences of not having a particular photo?
“I mean it happens all the time. Like Mo (on the men's basketball team) emotes, it's great, you love getting pictures of him. But some athletes just don't. Some coaches just don't. Mel Pearson (the hockey coach), we got so many pictures of him at a practice one time, but he's so far away during games and he's covered up by his players sometimes. We don't have the equipment to get those shots of Mel. I know he's a relatively nice guy, he doesn't really crack, but if we want like an emotional photo of him, there's only so many ways we can express that.”
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