Best Sports Photographers in San Francisco

Sport is a big part of what makes San Francisco a world-class city. The Golden City is not only famous for its restaurants, food trends, and bubbly neighborhoods, it also houses world-class athletes in pro teams and numerous amateur sports teams from High Schools to Colleges.

The San Francisco Bay Area boasts six major league sports teams participating in American football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and ice hockey. The city hosts other numerous sports events in the city and countrywide.

In view of this, San Francisco sports photographers always have work on their hands since there is a long list of sports events to capture and document for their portfolios or local publications.

Among the array of creatives who make up the Bay Area photography space, these professionals are some of the most sought-after when it comes to sports photography in San Francisco.

Brad Mangin Photography

Brad Mangin is a freelance sports photographer based in San Francisco. For over three decades, Brad has been photographing Major League Basketball for the sport’s fans and clients like Major League Basketball, PGA, and so on.

His real eye-model pictures that highlight the drama of the game and show the sports players’ personal sides, such as team camaraderie and the sense of connection between fans and players, is one of the reasons his sports photography stands out.

Jay Watson Photography

Jay Watson is a San Francisco-based sports and lifestyle photographer with a client range from San Francisco companies in Silicon Valley to international magazines. His photos are crispy, clean, high-contrast, and cinematic representations of sports subjects in front of his camera.

His photographs usually focus on one dominant subject and highlight their bodies and movements during a game. He uses faded colors and backgrounds to draw more attention to the central action of his photos, and he has a way of capturing shots from compelling angles.

Alexis Cuarezma Photography

Run by photographer and director Alexis Cuarezma, the Alexis Cuarezma Photography brand is a highly-rated sports photography business in San Francisco and beyond. Having studied art, graphic design, and photography, Alexis combines all of these skills to produce bold and colorful visuals of sporting activities.

His photos capture the essential details of sports events, such as the ferocious physicality of sports players, the intense compassion that comes with participating in sports activities, as well as the strong sense of style and trendsetting ability of today’s modern athletes.

Alexis has photographed a wide range of famous sportspersons across different sports, including Stephen Curry, Floyd Mayweather, and LeBron James, to mention a few.

415 Photography

415 Photography is owned by the talented San Francisco photographer Sean Gibson, who has been in the business for numerous years with a sophisticated portfolio of images cutting across different sporting activities, such as swimming, horse racing, baseball, basketball, and so on.

Gibson’s photography style includes capturing detailed, motion-filled images that highlight the intensity shown by sports players during a game. His images capture the sheer emotion of both individuals and teams during a match.

Santiago Mejia Photography

When thinking of sports photography in San Francisco, think of Santiago Mejia Photography. The Emmy and other multiple award-winning photojournalists is a San Francisco Chronicle photographer who has been in the San Francisco sports photography scene for numerous years.

Santiago has captured many moments and period of sports in San Francisco – including the highs and lows of the city’s sports teams. He was present when the Dubs clinched three championship titles in four years; he was also there when the 49ers had a bad couple of seasons recently.

Whatever the sports activity is in San Francisco and its Bay Area, Santiago is there to document the events with his unforgettable images with deep action scenes that covey players’ passion for the game that they love.

Bay Area Sports Photos

Just as the name implies, the Bay Area Sports Photos photography brand is all about capturing sports events in San Francisco and its environs. Since 1993, Bay Area Photos has been offering photography packages for individuals, teams, High School sports athletes, and so on.

From their portfolio, it is evident that the team at Bay Area Photos approaches every game with artistic intention and a unique, individually-catered perspective that helps them create timeless and intriguing sports documentations. And their passion for sports is apparent in every single image that they capture.

Amanda Hibbert Photography

While taking photos everywhere she went during her time as an aerospace engineer, and she eventually realized that photography is where her passion lies. Today, she is one of the best sports photographers in San Francisco – thanks to her creativity.

From her works, it can be said that Hibbert is not only attracted to people’s stories, landscapes, and other things photographed in her works. She is also interested in the mysteries and uniqueness of her subjects. This unique photography skill makes her photos connect with her audience on a deep but human level.

Nick Otto Photography

Nick Otto is a freelance photographer with over a decade of experience specializing in editorial, corporate, and sports photography. The photojournalist’s portfolio boasts an extensive range of sports events coverage using still-life and photojournalistic shots.

Nick’s photos are usually focused on giving a perfect description of the extensive list of sports in American. He tries to highlight how minute a single person is in a crowd and the larger-than-life description of a batter standing in a batter’s box while tens and thousands of fans either cheer him on or watch in silence as he plays his game.

Lux Proxima Photography

Lux Proxima Photography is an established and sought-after sports photography brand documenting sports activities in San Francisco and California as a whole. The studio is run by veteran photographer Valerie Shoaps, who loves to be a participant-observer with her camera during games.

With her extreme-sports photography, Valerie strives to capture emotion and intimacy with action. Her other sports photos ooze of the captured athletes’ grit, as they can maintain focus through the chaos that comes with their sports and tread the thin line between danger and control in order to become champions.

This unique ability to capture various rapid movements during games is why she is considered one of the best in the sports photography game.

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