This growing trend of sports stars making guest appearances as photographers at professional games outside their discipline doesn’t sit well with me.
Take Olympic ski champion Mikaela Shiffrin, for example, who recently spent a night photographing an NBA game between the Nets and the Hornets, kitted out in an official media vest with a pro mirrorless rig in hand.
Shiffrin isn't the only athlete to temporarily find themselves on the other side of the camera. Gymnast Suni Lee, for instance, photographed the Vikings’ win over the Lions in Minnesota on Christmas Day last year.
It’s hard not to see why these athletes get that honor. Shiffrin's appearance behind the camera, for example, was arranged as part of her press tour.
My worry is that these athletes may be getting one of the limited spots over an aspiring photographer who’s spent years honing their craft, or over the professionals who have invested blood, sweat, tears, and thousands of dollars to earn a courtside position.
Olympic ski champion, Mikaela Shiffrin, recently worked as a "pro photographer" at a Nets NBA game.
This isn’t a “bash Mikaela Shiffrin” piece – I actually think some of her images are quite good. Nor am I talking about athletes who eventually go on to become serious sports photographers, like Ken Griffey Jr., for example.
But giving a limited press spot to a sports star feels like a gut punch to photography as a whole, regardless of whether these athletes are genuinely interested in the art.
Sports stars are enjoying a night of photography, then walking away with a level of publicity 99.9% of working photographers could only dream of. And yes, I get that this is the point. It’s not really about photography. It’s about driving attention to celebrity athletes and revenue to the organizations that invite them to play photographer.
But there’s a better way to approach it. Instead of replacing professionals, why not have these athletes collaborate with them? Imagine a setup where a pro athlete works alongside an experienced sports photographer during a live broadcast. That would shift the focus back to the craft and give photography the visibility it deserves.
The best sports photographers understand the sport intimately – what better way to boost both sports photographers and athletes than by having them work together behind the camera?
Olympic gymnast, Suni Lee, also decided to be a pro photographer at Viking's NFL Christmas Day 2025 win.
It could even inspire fans of those athletes to pick up a camera themselves, or at least take a deeper interest in how sports imagery is actually made. It would also show photography for what it really is: a discipline built on years of practice, timing, and technical skill, not a casual hobby you can dabble in and expect decent results, let alone gain a media pass.
As a massive NHL fan, I’d love to see pro athletes from other sports rinkside, working alongside seasoned hockey photographers capturing the action. These athletes might not be photographers, but their experience in high-stakes games could give them a unique eye for what makes a compelling sports image. And with proper guidance from professionals, the results could be genuinely interesting.
Commanders quarterback, Mike Sainristil, was invited to photograph a Washington Capitals NHL game.
To be clear, this isn’t a call for celebrity photography segments or gimmicky TV formats where athletes are handed cameras. I can already imagine it turning into some strange Instagram Live series where only the most famous and good-looking of athletes are invited to look good pitchside, only with a camera in hand.
But if sports organizations are going to invite celebrities to shoot games anyway, then something should be done to ensure working photographers get a piece of the pie too. And having them take the invitee under their wing for a one-night mentorship could be a way of doing it while also shining a limelight on photography as a whole.
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