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Our next News, Sports and Entertainment spotlight focuses on sports photographer Kindell Buchanan. With over 10 years of experience under her belt Kindell has shot some incredible events including last year’s Super Bowl.

Read on to find out how she became a professional photographer, prepared for the Super Bowl and for her expert advice when it comes to quickly uploading Live News content.

SH: Please tell us a bit about yourself and what made you want to get into News photography?

I live with my husband and our dog in a suburb just outside of Nashville, USA and have lived in the area for about 15 years now, originally from Texas. American football is
my favorite sport, but I have really grown to love photographing traditional football/soccer
in the past couple of years! I’m proud to be a woman in the sports media industry, I also
work part time as a social media manager for a women’s football team and I have started
my own website dedicated to women’s sports and women working in the media industry.
I also love to run and I am a 6 time half marathoner and a 2 time marathoner. Right now, I’m not training for anything, but I want to get going again soon!

I’ve been a professional photographer for a little over 10 years now, but I’ve loved
photography as long as I can remember, even as a kid I played around all the time with
disposable film cameras. Then I took a film developing class in college for fun and it
became a hobby for me while I was pursuing a career in the audio recording industry.
Over the span of a few years after I graduated college, I started to become more
interested in photography than anything else and decided that I wanted to try it as a
career. I dabbled in every genre, but event coverage such as sports and live music and
entertainment really drew me in, and I finally decided to focus on that. Once I made that
choice to hone in on one thing, I improved my skills dramatically and started to love it
even more. I realized I’d found the perfect thing for me! After working as a freelancer for
different events and working for a local newspaper for many years, I decided to
pursue covering events for a photo agency back in 2023 and that’s when I found Alamy!

SH: It’s great to see that you give a good amount of focus to the crowd in your
photography, how important is it to capture both their experience and the players
themselves?

Yes, I love to capture the entire atmosphere of a game and not just the action because
that is only part of the story. To capture photos of fans in the stands holding signs or
celebrating can be just as compelling as the action on the field if you shoot it right.
Sometimes I feel like I don’t fully do it justice, but I try to!

SH: You photographed this year’s Super Bowl (2025), how was that experience?

It was an incredible experience, and a dream come true! Ever since I got into sports
photography 10 years ago, that was the ultimate goal – to shoot the Super Bowl. Now all
I can think is, when is the next one?! But really, it was such an honor to get to shoot it for
Alamy. My photo position was up at the top shooting down at the field, which was not
something I am used to doing, so it was a challenge to get creative and think outside the
box of how I normally shoot on the field. I was also shooting from the Eagles home side,
so when they won and did the ceremony with the confetti and fans throwing their hands
up, it was really cool to be in the midst of that and one of my favorite photos of the game
was from that moment.

I still can’t believe it happened!

SH: How did you prepare to cover both the Super Bowl and the lead up to the game?

I was fortunate to have a good friend to stay with in New Orleans, which allowed me to
be there for the entire week of Super Bowl events and really immerse myself in the
experience. I prepared by looking over the calendar of events for the week and choosing
what I wanted to shoot and what I thought would do well for news stock photos and
curated a schedule for myself based on those factors. I covered 1-2 events each day
during that whole week and it was a lot of work to stay organized and shoot and edit
everything by myself on a tight deadline, but it was so rewarding! I made sure that I had
plenty of memory cards and an extra hard drive because I knew that I’d be shooting high
volume with not a lot of time for backing things up until later on.

SH: Are there any other sports events in 2025 you’re excited to be capturing?

I’m not sure yet what all I will be capturing yet this year, but I do know that I will be
shooting more U.S. Soccer events which I really enjoy doing! Anytime there is a game
within a reasonable driving distance to me I pitch it to the editors because it’s always a
great experience and does fairly well in the news stock world. I always try to think of
events that I myself will enjoy shooting, but also events that I know will be worth it for
ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏto send me to – for both parties!

SH: What was the most memorable match/event you’ve attended?

I’d have to say Super Bowl LIX or the 2024 Final Four. Both were really special, but
since I have already talked about SBLIX, I can mention the Final Four because it was
such a historic event. It was Caitlin Clark’s final game in the NCAA and one of my photos
I took of Dawn Staley throwing her hands up into the confetti after winning is one of my
favorite images I’ve taken so far.

SH: Why did you choose ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏto supply your images to?

I did some research when I decided to start pursuing live news photography and I found
ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏthrough I think maybe Instagram first and then I did a deep dive on the website
and decided that it seemed like a good fit if they would take me on. I reached out and
was accepted as a live news contributor, and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever
made in my career!

I’m so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had shooting for Alamy.

SH: And finally, any advice for fellow photographers who would like to shoot news
photography?

A few things! ALWAYS have a camera with you! Even if it’s not your most expensive
gear, just have something with you. You never know where you might find yourself in a
situation where you could capture breaking news.

Learn how to caption and apply IPTC Metadata! And practice getting faster at it. You can
be a great news photographer, but if you can’t caption images efficiently then you may
miss out on opportunities. Especially in sports and music because you’re shooting high
volume on a deadline. I edit and caption between 50-75 photos after a game within 24
hours and I’d not even consider myself fast – I’m always trying to improve my speed
without sacrificing image quality.

Also, I would advise fellow photographers not to give up! It is a competitive industry, and it can take a while to break into it, especially with
sports and music. Keep shooting and doing the best job you can with what you have
access to, keep an updated portfolio, and keep seeking out opportunities.

To see more of Kindell’s photography you can visit her websiteor check out Kindell’s full ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏcollection here.

To find out about another one of our sensational sports photographers click here.