MPB Meets: Sports & Music Photographer Sharon Latham

Upon joining Manchester City FC in 2009, photographer Sharon Latham @selfieguideshaz became the first-ever woman to work as an official Premier League club photographer. In her time at the club, she captured countless historic moments—including Manchester City’s iconic 2011-12 title-winning celebrations. Now a freelance music photographer, she has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, including The Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters. Sharon has also recently launched her exhibition, A New World Blazing, featuring her work with Noel Gallagher and The High Flying Birds. Read on as Sharon shares her unique journey in photography, her gear choices and advice for aspiring sports and music photographers.

I’m always asked how I got into photography—how I started doing what I do, how I ended up working with so many famous people and how I got my big break. The answer to all these questions is, simply, my dad. One of my earliest memories as a child was my dad putting his camera in my face. He loved photography, we would drive up into the moors, into the hills and take landscape pictures. He’d take his camera on holiday, he'd take his cameras to parties. It was part of him. It was always with him. Sadly, he died when I was only eight. I took his camera, and it then became part of me, and I felt I still had him with me. Now, don’t get me wrong, I had no idea what I was doing with that Zenit 35mm camera—it literally took me years of wasted film, and reading books in my teens, to work out how to get the thing to take a picture. But, eventually, I got there. I don’t remember ever not having a camera with me now at any point in my life, through the angry teens into my twenties and beyond. Never in a million years thought that I would be making a living, traveling the world, and doing what I do now.

I didn’t go to university. I was totally self-taught in photography and was happy to have photography as my hobby. My passion and love for my cameras have carried me through many traumas, many happy times in my life and many dark and hard times too. I found that these wonderful magical boxes, which captured so many fabulous things throughout my life, were more like comfort blankets. A way to express emotion through images, or a way to hide behind things, places and people. I had children early in my life and photographed everything they did, we did and the whole family did.

Family, friends and random people who saw my pictures always told me how amazing and great they were, something I found difficult to believe as they were just my pictures. It was only when I started to get the empty nest syndrome, and my eldest child left, that I thought if I’m going to try and do this as a job and follow my heart. It’s now or never. So, I moved to Liverpool—I'd been recently divorced and thought “go for it”—a different city, a city of music and entertainment. Go for it. So, I did, I photographed unknown bands, acoustic nights in bars, recording studios, you name it. 

I found my way into non-league football via a start-up club called AFC Liverpool. I photographed their first-ever season and found I had a knack for that too. It all started from there, I was constantly looking for different ways to get my work seen and to get work. I was skint and exhausted, but any money I did make I was just amazed and more and more confident. I knocked on doors, I did photoshoots for very little pay, but I loved it all. I started working and freelancing for other football clubs and still worked in the evening for any music venue or event I could. I made friends with so many other like-minded music people and football people. And, out of the blue, a good friend of mine—a videographer who I’d met years previously—phoned me up and asked me if I had thought about freelancing in the Premier League. I laughed and said, “nah the lower leagues were my limit”. He informed me that he was working at Manchester City on match days, and he reckoned he might be able to get me on the freelance list as he knew quite a few people there. I obviously thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t.

Fast forward six months later, in July 2008, I was photographing a preseason game at the mighty Etihad Stadium, little old me on the touchline. I made friends with some of the web content team and the press office and I got asked back for more games. Then I got asked to pop to the training ground to cover some press conferences and other events. I was doing so much for them that I decided to move over from Liverpool back to Manchester. And, at the end of 2009, they advertised for a full-time club photographer. I applied, along with 65 other photographers, and had four separate interviews and a presentation day. And bang, I was the first-ever female Premier League official club photographer.

In 2016, I made the decision to leave that job and venture into the world of freelance photography, specializing in sports and music. It’s a decision that didn’t come lightly, and a decision that wholeheartedly, I feel, made me a better photographer and got me to where I am now. Little old me, self-taught with my camera, no academic photography training, just little old me. Dream big, follow your passions, and always stay grateful. Because, trust me, I am.

There have been many ‘pinch-me’ moments in what I find to be an unbelievable career to date. One of the most unforgettable ones was while I worked for Manchester City, the infamous and amazing 2012 Premier League win against Queens Park Rangers. That famous, momentous goal from Sergio Agüero in the 93rd minute of the final game of the season, the goal that secured the first Premier League win for the club for so many years. As a Manchester City fan myself, all I wanted to do was to run onto the pitch and celebrate with those wonderful players—the team I’d spent so long with every day of every week to get to that momentous point. However, I had my camera in my hand and I had a job to do. Fan or no fan, I had to make sure that moment, all those moments were captured forever for the world to remember. I frantically ran around on the pitch when the whistle blew, photographing fans celebrating, both as they poured onto the pitch, and as grown men, fathers, brothers, granddads all cried tears of pure joy and happiness in the stands, amazed and so overwhelmed to be experiencing what they were experiencing. Going into the dressing room, watching each player bounce through the door in pure glee and happiness, capturing the absolute joy and emotion of that team on that day will stay with me for the rest of my life. It’s a moment I was simply honored and blessed to experience.

Sometimes these moments can be smaller than the epic Manchester City one, but still as ingrained in my brain and still all captured through my camera lens. Like the first time back at the Manchester Arena in 2018, the first time I’d photographed there since the Ariane Grande bombing [in 2017]. I was touring with Noel Gallagher and the High-Flying Birds, I was doing my usual crawling behind the drum kit, hiding behind the amps on stage so the crowd didn’t see me, but I saw them. Noel started singing Don’t Look Back in Anger and the audience sang in unison. I felt a huge surge of emotion as I pointed my camera and photographed those fans singing that song so loudly back to Noel. So incredible, with tears literally streaming down my face, I found myself sobbing and snapping at the same time. “How lucky, how so bloody lucky am I to do this job?”, I thought.

I’ve met and photographed so many famous people like Lady Gaga, Elton John, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen, Noel Gallagher and The Rolling Stones, just to name a few. I don’t really get star-struck, as I’m doing a job and they are all just human like myself. However, one occasion I did get slightly start-struck was when I met a rather famous chap called Bradley Cooper. I think it was the fact that I was in a social situation and not working. I had no camera to hide behind, and Noel had taken me over to where he was sitting at an after-show party in LA. “Come meet Bradders”, Noel had said affectionately after I’d commented on the fact I thought he was a look-alike. After being walked across the room with Noel, I then stood alone with Mr Cooper, after Noel had been distracted by someone else in the room and walked off. To say Bradley was a total gent would be an understatement. He chatted to me for about 20 minutes about photography, selfies and Noel. It was totally surreal and a moment I won’t forget. Nice one, Bradley, you’re a true gent!

I travel the world, I meet some amazingly talented people who do incredible things in film, sport, music and entertainment, and I never take what I do for granted. I always, always feel humbled and totally and completely blessed to be able to do something I love so much.

Music and sports photography do have some similarities. Most sports are fast-paced, and music photography similarly can be fast-paced. And action-orientated too, depending on the artist or band. My skills and understanding of the two genres go hand-in-hand. The equipment I use for both also work well in each setting too, sports and music photography equipment are slightly different to the type of equipment needed for, say, fashion or landscape photography. You’ve got to think about the speed and robustness of your camera when working outdoors and in the elements, same in the hustle and bustle of the camera pits at gigs.

Music photography usually means you’re in a pit at the front of the stage, along with other photographers. Depending on the venue and the rules of the gig, you could be with a lot of other snappers or a handful. If you have a general accreditation for the gig, you are usually allowed to photograph the first two or three songs. Those are the rules, I’m afraid. 

My advice is to plan in your head, before the gig, the shots you want. If I’m shooting a band I don’t know, I will research them, look at other photographs taken of them and look at the venue setup. It sounds corny, but preparation for me and planning make things so much easier. I’ve shot in most of the venues in Manchester and London, and various other stadiums in the UK, so I have previous knowledge of them. However, if I’m shooting at a venue I don’t know, I research it—trust me, if you know the lay of the land, you know how and what shots are going to work. You need to have a blueprint in your head, because those three songs will fly by.

It may also be that you have a brief, if you’re shooting for a magazine, a publication or even the band themselves. There is nothing more frustrating than turning up to a venue and finding the stage is too high, you’re not going to get that amazing wide shot you had in mind or the angle for that side shot of the lead singer just isn’t going to work. I always check out the band's previous gig shots or videos on YouTube. I want to work out what’s the best way to shoot them and how quickly I can get those shots in the venue I’m at. 

Don’t get me wrong, you can plan and work out what you want to do and then be thrown into disarray by the PR person for the band telling you not to shoot for the artist from this side or not to stand in the way of this piece of equipment, things can go a bit ‘tits up’, but I always feel better if I’m prepped. Knowing how an artist or a band performs allows you to know their best angles, moves and images to shoot. 

I also like to choose unusual angles that might not have been tried before in previous gigs on various acts. I research to make sure I can do something different. Think about the audience, sometimes shots the other way round—not facing the stage—are as exciting and special. And the artist themselves, and band management, like to see the fans’ reactions.

Low light, bright lights and flashing lights are all things you must contend with in the music world, and working quickly to change your settings to adapt is vital. I also enjoy shooting in black and white, as well as color at gigs. If the lighting is poor, black and white always works to compensate. Knowing your way efficiently around your camera is imperative. I can change my settings in the dark, my camera is a second set of eyes. One of my biggest tips for any photographer I talk to is to know your camera inside out and make sure you can use it in any environment.

If you get access over and above the general accreditation—backstage or full gig access—you have more to plan, more to think about, and more people and areas to shoot. I love being able to be on tour with a band and building a relationship with everyone, not only the band but the road crew as well. This opens you up to shoot not only gigs but sound checks, backstage pre-gig, post-gig and everything in between. Again, as I stated earlier, planning your daily shoots as well as the gig shoots is massively important and key to make sure you get the best out of your time with the artists.

My quick tips would be to plan, prep and research the venue and the band. Think outside the box when planning your shots. Remember the audience. Know your camera. No flash. Shoot in RAW. Control your exposure, using manual setting. Keep that shutter speed fast. Go with a high ISO. Always use earplugs. Be patient—don’t overshoot, refer back to your planning and prep. Be nice to everyone, including staff and other photographers. Friendliness is key.

It's only recently I’ve moved back to my original digital love, Sony. Sony’s professional range of cameras have simply blown my mind. I’ve converted to mirrorless, something I never thought I’d do in a million years, but the Sony range is just epic to use. I’ve been amazed by the lenses—something that has shocked me, as Canon glass is simply wonderful—but, coupled with the amazing technology in a Sony camera body, Sony glass is more than comparable to Canon.

I have a Sony A1, which shoots at an amazing 30 frames per second. This helps you to capture each and every moment. It has an incredible 50.1 megapixels, which means my images could be blown up to mega-size prints to don any wall or any billboard. The autofocus technology on this camera is unreal. No matter how fast, or how dark and fast, things are moving, on the right settings, this camera will capture it. The digital sensor on this bad boy is just fantastic.

It's lightweight, something I’m not quite used to after lugging around a very heavy Canon EOS 1DX for many years. The A1 also has 8K 30p 10-bit 4:2:0 XAVC HS video recording setting, which in layman’s terms basically means you can shoot a movie-standard quality film on this. And video for me is something I want to move into in the future, diversification is always good in business. One of the smaller features of this camera is that it's silent—I mean, totally hardly audible. My Canon EOS 1DX and Canon EOS 1D Mark IV bodies made the loudest and most incredible noise. That’s fine, but only when you actually start using the Sony do you realize just how handy it is not to hear that loud clunking. Trust me, when you’re shooting behind the scenes and want to stay discreet and hidden, it's perfect. I also have the Sony A9 II, a slightly lower spec than the Sony A1. But it’s still a spectacular camera with the same amazing technology.

I have a 70-200mm f/2.8 G SSM II A lens, which is a must for every music photographer. It allows you to zoom in close from the pit and get those tight profile images, while keeping yourself at a distance. My second—and possibly my most-used lens—is the 24-70mm f/2.8. It’s the workhorse lens, allowing you to capture a wider range but also superb for portraits and general documentary-style shots backstage. And, of course, handy for fan shots and crowd shots. It’s always nice when you’re working in a stadium, or larger venue, to have a wider lens. So, for this purpose, I also have a 16-35mm f/2.8 GM. This allows me to go slightly wider, without any fisheye or bowing of the image, perfect to use on stage to get those unique shots of the audience from behind the drum kit. I use a 50mm f/1.4 A lens for some of my portrait work. I love doing one-off portraits backstage, or in unusual environments, and this little lens packs a full-on punch of clarity and focus. The only other lens I use is a long 400mm f/2.8 GM OSS. This lens is vital if you shoot at a stadium with minimum pit access, sometimes the photographers will be a million miles away from the stage, something quite common with big presentation shows in big arenas. 

Having the right gear and equipment is massively important to do your job as a photographer. Working in low light, and in environments with changing light as I do in the music industry, your gear is vital. If you want your work to be spot on, and used in different formats like the internet, newspapers or magazines, then you need top-notch gear. However, one of the main things I feel about being a photographer is your personality. It’s no use having all the kit and then not making your subjects or the people you work for feel good about you. People buy people first. It helps not only with the artist or band you’re shooting that you’re a nice person but also the people hiring you, like the management company, record label or magazine and picture editors. Music photography is a highly competitive world and being remembered as an amazing person as well as an awesome photographer will get you hired more and more.

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This article is part of the MPB Guide to Sports Photography, our comprehensive look at how to create sports photography, with camera recommendations, advice and interviews with experts.