In 2007, Madelaina Polk never dreamed that she’d be on the sidelines at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a five-pound camera lens in her hand within the next decade. At the time, she was only 7 years old — sporting a kid’s-sized football jersey with light-up Skechers sneakers at the Georgia Dome, jumping up and down after every Falcons touchdown. Her father, Nick Polk, was dressed up in a gray suit. He’d just accepted a position as the Director of Football Operations with the Atlanta Falcons.
“I grew up around football,” Madelaina says. “The Atlanta Falcons have always been such a huge part of my life.”
Over the next 10 years, her dad naturally grew close with the Falcons’ photographers. Since Madelaina had a budding interest in sports photography herself, she got permission to shadow the photographers at some of the football training camps, which kickstarted her love for the art form. Shortly afterward, she began her sports photography journey with the NFL at just 17 years old.
The first time that Madelaina shot with the Atlanta Falcons was in 2017. Incredibly grateful yet incredibly nervous, she was guided by Kara Durrette and Jimmy Cribb, the two team photographers at the time.
“I had a baby camera back then,” Madelaina laughs. “I didn’t have any of the appropriate equipment to photograph at this level, so [Durrette] let me borrow some of her bigger cameras. She took me under her wing and showed me everything that I might need, which really helped me get to where I am today.”
Since then, Madelaina has taken hundreds of thousands of photos of sporting events across the Atlanta area — including Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium, Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium and of course the Atlanta Falcons’ Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“Football is number one for me,” she says. “It’s without a doubt my favorite sport to photograph.”
Now that Madelaina’s been at her sports photography career for a while, she’s got her pre-game prep down pat. She’ll usually pack her black Pelican 1500 case the night before, carefully placing her camera bodies and lenses into their foam compartments.
“Bring two camera bodies,” she advises. “One camera body to put a long lens on, and another to put a portrait lens on.”
For action shots, Madelaina prefers bringing her Nikon D6 camera and connecting it to one of her zoom lenses: either the Nikon 200-500mm or the Sigma 150-600mm. She also makes sure to pack her Nikon D5 camera as well, pairing it with a Nikon 24-70mm lens for stunning post-game portrait shots.
“Tripods are also really important,” she says. “Especially with long lenses because they can get pretty heavy. And it’s nice to have the security from the tripod if you choose to sit on the field to take photos instead of standing.”
From there, she’ll unplug her laptop from its charger and pack it into her backpack, followed by extra hard drives and SD cards.
“Bringing a laptop is crucial,” Madelaina adds. She explains that at halftime, teams will often request those photos from the first half of the game right away, meaning that they need to be exported immediately after a swift editing process. Without a computer of some sort, the quick turnaround that’s necessary is almost impossible.
“That’s the one thing I don’t like,” she admits. “I love everything else about sports photography, aside from the stress of making sure I have great pictures for that halftime export.”
After packing her bags and alleviating any pre-game jitters, she makes sure to get a good night’s sleep. When it’s time for her to leave for the game the following afternoon, she’ll slip a few tangerines in her bag on her way out, just in case she craves a halftime snack.
Her apartment is about ten minutes from most of Atlanta’s football stadiums, so it’s an effortless, nearly trafficless drive. For the photographers and other people of media attending the game, the stadium opens two to three hours before kickoff. Madelaina likes to arrive as soon as she possibly can — she’ll slip her complimentary parking pass over her rearview mirror when she arrives. Then, she’ll head towards the stadium’s press box to unpack her camera equipment, chatting with other photographers as she clears her SD cards and attaches her lenses.
“There aren’t many young sports photographers that I’ve met,” she says. “But I do have a couple of photographer friends that are around my age, so when we do see each other on the field, we get really excited.”
Madelaina admits that sometimes older sports photographers can be a little intimidating. “A lot of them are older men with years of experience — that know what they’re doing — and they don’t want to be talked to,” she says. “So, sometimes it’s quiet on the field for me, but I’m always happy when I run into someone that I know.”
Whether she’s with a buddy or not, Madelaina tries to get on the field just in time for warmups, so that she can secure a nice spot to shoot from during the game. As warmups die down and pre-game tensions rise, her camera shutter clicks and clicks. The cheerleaders wave pompoms in the air, the marching band pounds mallets against bass drums, and the crowd goes wild amid all of it. When the other photographers begin to gather near the tunnel to the stadium, Madelaina knows that it’s time.
As special effect fog escapes from the tunnel, the home team sprints in her direction. One of the quarterbacks, already high on adrenaline, flashes a pearly white smile. Madelaina captures the shot perfectly.
Once the kickoff whistle blows, Madelaina makes sure to stand where the offense is, snapping hundreds of photos as they move toward the endzone. When defense is on, she’ll jog to the other side to photograph any brutal tackles. Although the other photographers are getting similar action shots at the same time, Madelaina likes to stand out once in a while by catching coaches’ and players’ reactions from the sidelines.
During halftime, she’ll peel her tangerine as she waits for her photos from the first half of the game to export. “Most sports photographers will probably take over 2,000 photos in one game,” Madelaina says. “So, before I go into Adobe Lightroom to edit, I use Photo Mechanic, which is a faster way to sort through my pictures to find which ones are best for a quick edit.”
Then, she’ll import some of those photos into Adobe Lightroom. Since Madelaina usually adjusts her camera settings while shooting, she doesn’t have to edit much — just a few minor exposure and contrast refinements.
“Most sports teams just want really sharp, clean photographs that aren’t heavily edited, which makes my job a little easier,” she says. “But once the photos are sent off to the team, sometimes they’ll add to the editing process if they need to.”
By the time the photos are edited and exported, the second half begins. Madelaina takes a few more action shots throughout the game, but as the final seconds on the scoreboard count down, she begins the process of switching to her portrait camera.
“During games, I’ll focus on the action for the most part,” she says. “But after the game is over, when we can run onto the field and get really close to the players, I like to use my portrait lens for those more personal shots.”
And once she’s satisfied with the couple thousand photos she’s captured during the game, it’s right back to editing in Adobe Lightroom for the rest of the weekend. As she flips through each shot, whether it’s of a player catching the football in the air or the fans watching him with awe, Madelaina reflects on how far she’s come in her career.
When asked if there’s something about her work that she hopes resonates with her audience, Madelaina shares that she strives to capture the love of the game. “Yes, there are a lot of sports fans out there, especially here in America — but showcasing the love for what these players are doing and how they’re pushing their bodies to the limit is what I aim to do.”
“It’s not just a game,” she says. “It’s more than that.”
