— #WMDCC2024 Sports Media Trainee Blog

Raleigh Emerson (26) is the latest winner of the Sports Media Trainee Programme. In March, he was selected to join the World Curling Federation Media Team at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 2024 in Oestersund, Sweden as a photographer.

that’s a wrap!

After over 24+ hours of travel and layovers I’ve made it back home to Oregon. That long trip gave me a lot of time to reflect on my last two weeks working with the World Curling team in Östersund. 

As the final days of the tournament came to a close it was a very bittersweet feeling for me. The tournament was ramping up and you could see more and more emotion in every end from the players. This led to a lot more energy in the arena which led to much more engaging imagery being made from me and the photo team, as well as the videos coming out from the social team. But as we approached the championship matches Saturday I couldn’t help but have the nagging thought in the back of my head that it would all soon be over. 

Sadly, our head photographer Stephen Fisher had to leave a few days early, so for the last two days of the tournament the sole photo responsibility fell on the shoulders of myself and the other photographer Céline Stucki. I would like to take this moment to give Céline her flowers. She was incredible the whole tournament, but even more so the last few days. Céline was encouraging and helpful, giving me photography tips and advice whenever I asked, all well managing the photo load and creating incredible imagery herself. Her guidance through the last few days was instrumental to my success as an artist and I cannot thank her enough. 

The championships on Saturday came and it followed the bittersweet trend of days prior. The final day was easily the most stressful work day of the tournament, but also easily the most satisfying and rewarding. I was put in charge of covering the final matches and medal ceremony of the Senior tournament.

I was the only photographer out there so it was solely on me to make sure that all the big moments and emotions that this tournament had built up to were properly captured and represented. While this was incredibly stressful, it felt very good to be trusted to capture this myself. I felt like the Media Team gave me all the tools I could ever need to succeed, and to feel their belief in me as a photographer was incredibly validating. 

This day was really a microcosm of what I loved so much about this trainee programme. From the jump, Stephen and the Media Team, through their words and actions expressed belief in me as a photographer. They trusted me to go out and capture good imagery and really gave me the creative liberties to do what I thought was best when it came to my work. Rarely this week did I ever truly feel like a trainee, I always felt like a respected member of the team, and that my work, time and input were as valuable as anybody else’s.

While I rarely felt like a trainee, I always felt like I was being trained. Any time I needed help with my photography Stephen and Céline were always quick to help in any way they could. They cared about my growth as a photographer and they wanted to encourage that growth as much as possible. This extended to the whole team too. Any time I had any question about imagery, protocols or even just the game of curling itself anybody on the team was happy to help me out.

All these reasons are what makes it so bittersweet for the tournament to have drawn to a close. It was such an incredible experience to get to learn a new game and hone my craft with the incredibly talented group of people on the Media Team at World Curling. But as Dr. Seuss probably said “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” It was a pleasure to get to work the Mixed Doubles/Senior Championship, and I hope to get another opportunity some day to work with the team again.

I want to especially thank Stephen and Emily for this incredible opportunity. But to Mike, Céline, Amy and Marianne it was an incredible experience to work with you all and I hope to do it again sometime soon.

Cheers,

Raleigh

Learning curve

The first week of the championships flew by faster than I had expected. It was a tough process adapting on the fly to a new sport and ‘client’, but never once did I feel hopeless or as if the team wouldn’t be there if I needed help getting through any particular issue. The five days of group play gave me ample time to adapt my workflow and photography style to the expectations of the organization.

Some days were much better than others though. There was a steep learning curve that I experienced when the tournament first began and I was still getting used to the process of the World Curling team. Day by day it began to click more and more, and now I feel confident that I’ll be able to provide the quality and speed of work that is expected and needed going forward.

The whole team played a large part in this, but photo manager Stephen Fisher helped clear up a lot of confusion and anxiety when guiding me through the process. He obviously understood that it would take time to get used to the process, and made sure that I was not overwhelmed by the job as I learned. He broke down the factors that I needed to tweak and improve on, and day to day we worked to fix each of the main issues that I was having with the job. It was a very effective way of making an incredibly daunting task seem doable and quickly attainable. 

Stephen was always very direct when giving constructive criticism, which I appreciated. It helped me quickly identify my own shortcomings as a photographer, and he did what he could to give me the tools to fix them. This led to a very gradual improvement in my own mentality during the tournament. 

I feel most photographers tend to be their own worst critic, and I am no exception. The hectic and fast paced nature of a tournament such as this played a big role in both adding to the easing of my anxiety and self frustration I have towards my work. I have a habit of being hyper critical of my work to a fault, letting these feelings tear down my own self worth as an artist. And in the best way there is, I simply do not have time for that during an event like this. Having dozens of matches between the seniors and mixed doubles tournament every day felt chaotic at first, but it made it very easy to look forward to the next opportunity, rather than wasting time lamenting on your own shortcomings. 

It was a very hectic journey getting to where I am today and I still have plenty that I need to work on if I want to be the photographer that I want to be for myself and World Curling. With the qualifications and medal games on the horizon, the next few days look to be the most jam packed and chaotic ones yet. But I feel confident in my own ability, and the team I’m with to pick me up from any pitfall I may experience. 

FIRST FEW DAYS

I didn’t quite know what to expect from the photo trainee program when I was awarded the position a few months ago. I applied at the recommendation of my friend Logan who worked under World Curling photo manager Stephen Fisher and the team during the same event last year. I was a bit surprised to even get the position, but I was excited nonetheless to come across the world to Oestersund to try my hand at shooting Curling.

After around 20 hours on planes and in airports I finally arrived at the Åre Östersund Airport. I was already met with an aspect of curling that I was not expecting, the tight knit community that followed the sport. The plane that arrived was nearly entirely filled with people from all over the world who all knew each other from competitions past over the years. This type of community and camaraderie is something I wasn’t expecting, but has come to be a foundation for everything that I’ve seen from the sport and my experience as a trainee thus far.

I soon arrived at the hotel and went to meet the team. I arrived late to dinner and entered the restaurant to meet the entire crew of media staff that would be working together for this event. I sat down and after introductions from the team they went into regaling stories both personal and professional from past events over the years. It immediately felt like this team was close and cared for each other as much as the work. This could have been intimidating, as if I was an outsider into their crew, but really the opposite was true. It felt as if the team was welcoming me into their world with open arms.

After that it was very much hitting the ground running, the next morning was an early start and arrival to the stadium to get things prepped as the 20 mixed doubles teams and 40+ senior teams arrived and began practices for the upcoming week of competition. This was a very intense day for me personally. I was trying to learn on the fly how to shoot a new sport in the middle of a very hectic and professional scene.

The Photo Manager, Stephen, showed me the ropes and the basic tips and angles to look for, and from there he was primarily in the studio taking promo images of the mixed doubles teams. It felt good to be trusted enough to work by myself, but still was a bit of a come to earth moment where I needed to make everything happen myself. The other photographer Céline has been incredibly helpful in both my growth as a curling photographer and easing the stress and anxiety that comes with trying something new at this level.

There was a lot to learn those first couple days — from the rules and nuances of the game itself to the regulations and protocols of World Curling. However my biggest learning curve came from changing my mindset on what images to be taking and producing for the team. My history with photography has been primarily for newspapers and traditional journalistic organizations. There are very specific rules and practices expected with this genre of photography, and it definitely took some trial and error to shift my mindset to a more stylized and cinematic version of photography, rather than photography that is there to tell a story that I’m used to and was taught.

Stephen has been incredibly helpful in nurturing my growth thus far in this regard. He has given me pointers in both my way of looking for shots, and for how to handle the editing in post to create images that more align with the promotional goals of World Curling. And all this direction came without pressure or stress, Stephen gave me calm and direct advice but it was clear that he simply wanted me to improve and grow as a photographer.

After just two days of being out on the ice shooting, I already feel as if my work has made demonstrable improvements and I look forward to the remaining days I have to further my growth as an artist.

I write this as I finish getting my camera bag ready to go out on my 4th day working for World Curling.

Cheers,

Raleigh