Wheelsy
Well-Known Member
Good to see — she really is a very funny woman and gets on well with the players (and has a mad crush on Aleks Kolarov). Although, if there's one thing going against her, she's the one responsible for those god-awful captions on the Carrington Today bits on the website...
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Photographer Sharon Latham knows a thing or two about bad luck.
Since the age 34, she has endured a catalogue of personal setbacks that most of us wouldn't expect an entire circle of friends to go through between them.
She suffered the murder of her step father in 2000, battled aggressive breast cancer and leukaemia for almost five years until 2005 and fought back from paralysis following a serious car accident in 2007.
Just over three years on, though, Sharon has one of the most high profile photography jobs in football – official photographer for newly crowned FA Cup winners Manchester City.
But she says that her current career would never have come her way if it hadn't been for a spot of volunteer work for Manchester International Festival.
Before being diagnosed with cancer, Sharon had a high-pressure sales job focused on figures and targets and was told by her doctor she had to reduce her stress levels. So she decided to rethink her life and career once she'd been given the all clear.
As Sharon remembers: “I was dealing with the loss of my step father, I was still working, still being a mum – something had to give, and that was my health.
“I started looking at my hobbies and what made me happy, and I've taken photographs since being eight. My dad was into photography and he got me my first SLR camera.
“He died when I was eight and I just focused on photography to get through it. I wanted disposables, Polaroids – anything to do with cameras.
“I looked up what I would need to do to take it further and turn it into a job. It was a massive step; I'd always been in sales and been the major breadwinner in the family, so I had to juggle study and doing things for free, like gigs and weddings – anything that meant I was taking photos and putting together a portfolio.”
She made great progress establishing herself as a freelance photographer, but her accident in 2007 left her in hospital for a year with a cracked spine and severe nerve damage, which paralysed the right side of her body.
“They thought I'd never walk again because it was such an unusual injury,” Sharon says. “It was only down to fantastic physiotherapy and pure determination that I managed to recover.
“I just wanted to get home and try to get well again. Slowly but surely, I got up onto crutches, then one crutch and then to where I am.
“More so than with the cancer, though, my self confidence was absolutely shattered. I sat there and thought, 'Well, what else is going to happen?'. I had no motivation, no drive; I was depressed and all the things I loved to do I couldn't do.
“Photography went out of the window. Getting through 2008 was an emotional and mental battle, as well as a physical battle.”
Encouraged by her best friend Elsepth Potts – now volunteering at her third MIF – to look into ways she could help out at the festival, Sharon met with volunteer coordinator Caroline Birnie at an MIF volunteers day and showed her and the panel her work.
“I wasn't convinced,” she confesses. “My self esteem was battered. Then I started looking at my photos and thought, 'I was actually pretty good at this'.
“So, I came along and had interviews to volunteer as a photographer – I showed them what I'd done and I didn't go into too much detail about what I'd been through – and they invited me to join the team.
“At first, it was so scary. I did the launch party with Rufus Wainwright and Marina Abramovic, and in little baby steps my confidence started coming back.”
Sharon went on to picture some of 2009's key events, including Jeremy Deller's Procession. And the experience was so instrumental in focusing her ambitions that even when thieves broke into her car and stole all her cameras, she couldn't be derailed.
Friends fundraised to get her started again and she went on to work with the non-league club AFC Liverpool documenting their beginnings and first season, and eventually drew the attention of MCFC's videographer.
“He was an old colleague of mine, and he called and said, 'If there's any stills work, do you want me to put your name forward?'. I just said yes!.
“When he phoned back and said he'd spoken to MCFC and the club would like me to come along and photograph some of the games, I had no clue what I was letting myself in for!
“I took about 2,000 pictures because I was so scared about what I was taking, I wasn't sure what I was looking for. Luckily a lot of them turned out really, really good. My former colleague showed them my photos and they said, 'She can cover every home game from August 2009'.”
In February last year, she was appointed to the club's first full-time photographer position. And Sharon, who now lives in Boothstown, says that without MIF she'd never be experiencing such an exciting career.
“Dipping your toe in and getting an experience can either focus your ambitions or it can open your eyes to potential careers out there,” Sharon explains.
“If you'd have asked me if I would have even tried to go for a job like the one I have at MCFC, I wouldn't even have dared.
“Volunteering is also absolutely tremendous for the CV; who wouldn't want to write 'volunteer for MIF' on their resume? Increasingly employers are looking for people who like to get involved in volunteering and sustainability projects.
“For volunteers, the camaraderie, the friends you make, the experiences that you have, you would never get to do without an exorbitant amount of money. Watching that festival happen and knowing part of it is because of you is so rewarding.
“The stories you can tell are a bit name-droppy!” she laughs. “But mainly you just meet so many diverse, different people. It's great fun and you get a sense of being part of something so important.”