Molly Darlington: what it takes to break into sports photography

Although still a relatively fresh face in sports photography, freelance sports photographer and former Canon Ambassador Molly Darlington, at 23 years old, already has a CV to inspire envy in those twice her age. She has covered high-profile motorsports championships, as well as domestic and international football competitions, and this year is photographing the world's leading international multi-sport event.

There's no shame in inexperience. In fact, says Molly, being a fresh face allows you to look at things in a different light. Contact people in the industry to ask for help and get feedback from them on your work in order to improve.

"It's helped me along the way," Molly admits. "There are a lot of photographers out there to advise you. When you start out it can be daunting, but people are willing to guide you.

"Put together a portfolio and build a network of contacts," she continues. "Most sports photographers will reply if you ask for help – it might not be straight away, as we're not the best at communicating, but they will reply eventually and give good advice. Even if you just want someone to look at your photos, know there are plenty who will."

It's easy to assume that someone as young as Molly must have had a stroke of luck to achieve all she has. However, to get where she is today, Molly has already put in most of a decade of hard work, beginning at the age of 16, when she began photographing her local club.

"I saw an advertisement for my local non-league football club, 1874 Northwich F.C., asking if anyone wanted to be a photographer, just for experience," she explains. "I did that for nearly four years, following them at home and away. I loved it. So that's what I carried on doing. I believe I have got to where I am today through hard work and determination to succeed."

Accordingly, Molly's primary advice is to put the hours in and keep practising. "When young people come to me for advice I just say, 'Keep taking photos.'" I was rubbish when I started. I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I often messed up, but I kept practising my settings."

"You have to tell the story of each game. Sometimes that's hard, especially mid-season. If a team is going to get promoted or relegated or is going for the play-offs, there's way more emotion than in a game with nothing resting on it. You have to create emotion there because people can relate to that – fans can think 'that is how it feels during games'."

Molly advises utilising the individual surroundings of each game, for example the stadium and crowd, to add layers and emotion to your imagery. Again, she says, lower leagues are perfect for practising this. "Turn every game into a feature and make it individual. The other day I went to a League Two game in Carlisle. Because it's an old ground, I could use the character of the old stadium in my images – the big new grounds all look the same. And because it was League Two, there was no pressure to make it onto the back page of every paper, so I could be more creative."

A crucial factor for success as a sports photographer is knowing the sport you're shooting. This, Molly says, is the only reliable way to capture those game-changing, split-second moments.

"I'm a football fan. My dad's a football fan. My brother's a football fan," she explains. "Because I've always watched football, I know how the game works. If a player runs down the wing you have to think, 'Will they cross it this way, pass it that way?' You have to be aware of what's happening, know the game and be able to judge what will happen next."

Your camera's fast continuous shooting is great for sport, but it's not needed all the time, Molly says. "Sometimes if a player is running towards me with the ball, I will wait for them to come to me and take the photograph when they begin to fill the frame. I would rather take a shorter sequence with the frame filled than have the player too far away in the shot."

Molly advises that you plan boundaries for every different angle or fixed point you intend to shoot from. This requires a good knowledge of the game and it might take a while to perfect your timing, but you will end up with more considered final images.

"I will only take a photo outside of these boundaries if there may be a goal or important moment," she says.

Higher education can provide a fantastic opportunity to formally learn photography and receive expert guidance, but if you choose a different path, you can absolutely still succeed, says Molly.

"A lot of university courses aren't geared towards sports photography," she explains. "In the end, mine was fine with me doing it. They tailored my degree and my modules as they knew I was working a lot outside of the course.

"But remember, there are other routes – a lot of it is about who you know and learn from. It will seem quite scary going it alone, but it's not actually that bad. When I was 16, I thought the industry was petrifying. Now I'd tell you it's absolutely fine."