When you think of professional sports photographers, who do you think of? Most people will think of a male because only 36% of people in this field are female. One female professional sports photographer I think of is Monica Bradburn.
Monica is a 28-year-old sports phosphor in Detroit for the Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Red Wings. She has been working for these teams for five years. Monic started taking pictures when she was seven. "this is really where I started learning about cameras and developed a passion for it," stated Monica. Then, in high school, she was on the yearbook and newspaper staff as a photo editor; cause of this class, she decided to go to Central Michigan for junior high. Then, in college, she worked for the student rain media called Central Life. Monica said that this job pushed her to be the best photographer she could be. Then, in her junior year of college, she attended an intensive program in Alaska where she got to shoot photographers all around Alaska at the national parks. Then, in her senior year, she focused only on her college sports teams and worked for her athletic program.
After college, she applied to the Arizona Diamondbacks as a photo intern for the 2019 session and got the job. "I am very thankful for their organization. It was a great program for which to work. I learned a lot while I was there.", Monica stated. Then, she started working for the Detroit Tigers in 2020. During the 2021 baseball season, Monice began dating a guy, and five months into the relationship, he told her to give up on her dreams. "He said give up on your dreams and get a real job. I was baffled, and I had to say I broke up with him. Then on out, I started to work my ass off to prove I have what it has to make it." Monica state.
My little cousin told me I should post what I do at work to TikTok", she states. Her first video had 50,000 in less than 24 hours. During the 2021 season, she attached her GoPro to her camera and started posting what it was like to be a professional sports photographer.
Monica proved to her ex-boyfriend that she had what it takes to be a professional sports photographer. Today, she has over 694.5K followers on TikTok and 111K on Instagram, all interested in watching her take pictures of different games. Evan thought she took amazing photos. If it hadn't been for that one TikTok post, no one would have known that those were her pictures being posted and published by the MLB and NHL.
Thanks for reading,
Graci
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