She may not be playing the sports that she shoots, but in the Gambia, sports photographer Sarjo Baldeh is as popular behind the lens as most other athletes are in front of it.
The 23-year-old is the only female professional sports photograher in the Gambia — and earlier this year, she made history as the first photographer from her nation to cover the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) live.
“I’m glad that I have a legacy for Gambia because being the first to do and the nation every single day talking about you [and] talking about how proud they are, must be something really big,” she told The Athletic Ummah.
“I felt really good and I’m glad I [represented] each one of them well.”
Baldeh was in Côte d’Ivoire in January to photograph the Gambian national men’s football team during the 2023 AFCON. She rented a professional camera and lenses for the job, and her travel was sponsored by Fortune FC, a Gambian football club that she works for.
“The Fortune [FC] president … [offered] to pay for my accommodation,” she said. “I actually don’t know how much it cost, and I don’t think he will want to tell me.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever pay him [back].
In Yamoussoukro and Bouaké, Balde followed the Gambia as they played the likes of Senegal, Guinea and Cameroon, snapping as many pictures as possible. She also got the opportunity to take photos of Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire’s teams during a group stage game in Abidjan.
After sorting through the photos, Balde would then post her best ones on social media, where they were widely shared by Gambians across the world.
The photos made Baldeh a social media star in her home nation, and even the Gambia’s own players were asking her to share her pictures with them due to their professional quality.
“From admiring them to actually having to sit with them on the same bench and having them post my pictures on their social media platforms is really beautiful,” she said. “They make me want to even take more pictures for Gambia.”
She hopes she can use the experience gained from this competition to help inspire other young female photographers across the Gambia and Africa.
“I want to work harder … and [I] also want to train more people who are really passionate about sports photography and share my knowledge with them so they can also make a difference in their communities as well,” she said.
From a photo program to the pros
A native of Lamin in the western part of the Gambia, Sarjo Baldeh’s passion for photography started when she was just 15 years old.
In the summer of her ninth grade, Baldeh was part of a program run by Starfish International, a non-profit organization empowering girls in her birth country.
Girls were randomly put into different classes to learn specific skills, such as sewing. Baldeh was randomly enrolled into the media class, where she used borrowed equipment to take photos of daily tasks and chores.
“So after this program was done, I continued taking pictures,” she said. “I was a student at the organization, at the same time a photographer as well.”
Baldeh tried wedding photography and photojournalism, under guidance from another male photographer. Baldeh also watched YouTube tutorials to learn how to shoot better.
“[Photography is] very difficult,” she said. “It’s really absolutely not an easy thing that people think you can just go into. You need perseverance.”
Professional sports photography wasn’t a legitimate career choice in the Gambia when Baldeh was breaking into the field. So when it came time for post-secondary schooling, Baldeh studied building construction at the Gambia Technical Training Institute.
But that didn’t stop her from taking on sports photography opportunities when they came up. In 2022, Baldeh photographed an AFCON qualifier between the Gambia and South Sudan in Senegal — her first job at an overseas sports event.
A year later, Baldeh joined Fortune FC as a full-time sports photographer. In joining the club, Baldeh became the first woman to get a professional sports photography job in the Gambia.
“The club is professional. They have been treating me well,” she said. “They respect my opinion. The innovation that I bring, they appreciated it.”
Persevering with parental support
Sarjo Baldeh’s path to professional sports photography hasn’t always been an easy one, though.
For one, finding a professional job as a woman in the Gambia can be challenging. Some women face cultural pushback or family interference when attempting to pursue a public-facing career.
That’s the case in photography. The vast majority of photographers in the Gambia are men, especially in the sports sphere. So according to Baldeh, she had to work extra hard in order to get some of the same opportunities as her male counterparts.
“It’s a male-dominated area,” she said. “I would say they have literally the most experience, they are physically fit, They are really, really good in it.”
“So … if you are a girl working, you have to double up whatever that you have to do in order to be in that position.”
“My sister used to say I’m the only girl … that looked for a job without family interference.”
Sarjo Baldeh, sports photographer
On top of that, Baldeh missed out on some key opportunities abroad — namely the 2023 U-20 AFCON in Egypt, which the Gambia ultimately finished runner-up in.
“I went to Senegal to look for visas but it was not possible [to get it],” she said. “It was hard for me to come back and … it was embarrassing and I was angry.”
But throughout the difficulties, Baldeh knew she could always rely on her family’s support. Baldeh said her parents have always backed her and been so proud of her, and they haven’t stood in her way of pursuing her photography ambitions.
On the contrary, Baldeh’s parents have always trusted the 23 year old to carry herself well, even if she’s gone for hours and days on shoots.
“I would say today my job becomes very easy for me, especially as a female in the photography industry, because my parents are really, really supportive and really understanding,” she said.
“My sister used to say I’m the only girl … that looked for a job without family interference,” she joked.
For their unwavering support in her path, Baldeh said she’s going to make them even prouder than they are now.
“I want them to live the most comfortable life because they have given that to us,” she said. “The only way to repay them is to work hard.”
‘Allah (s.w.t.) knows better than you’
On top of her parents’ support, Sarjo Baldeh sees the hand of Allah (s.w.t.) in all of her affairs.
“It’s crystal clear to me that my dreams have been accepted, my duas have been accepted,” she said.
Baldeh is a visibly Muslim women — her pale-pink hijab and bright outfits were a trademark look of hers during the 2023 AFCON. She said her hijab “makes me who I am” and it doesn’t hinder her from performing any physical tasks expected from a journalist.
“I am so comfortable,” she said. “I can run, I can jump, I can do what I want because I know I am not insecure about who is looking at me.”
Baldeh is proud of her beliefs. She reads from the Holy Qur’an every day, and she hopes her constant dhikr (remembrance of Allah (s.w.t.), duas and prayers will benefit her in both this world and the next one.
She said her faith in Allah (s.w.t.) is a foundation of her identity that she can always go back to and motivate herself with.
“I’m glad that every single day I’m given the opportunity to prostrate and pray and put my head on the ground, because any day I do not put my head on the ground [means] bad,” she said.
“So I’m glad that I have that in my life, and it’s what defines who I am.”
That unwavering faith in Allah’s (s.w.t.) plan has helped Baldeh through some of the most difficult moments in her career, such as not getting a visa in Senegal for the 2023 U-20 AFCON.
To get her visa for the AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire, Baldeh said she had to go to Senegal again. This time though, she got her visa to allow her to go to the tournament — and that made Baldeh ponder about the new opportunity she got after missing out on the 2023 U-20 AFCON.
“Allah (s.w.t.) knows better than you and has better chances for you than the other one that you wanted to go for, and I’ve seen that,” she said.
Going to Côte d’Ivoire for the 2023 AFCON also gave Baldeh the opportunity to connect with other Muslimah sports photographers like herself — something she never experiences in the Gambia.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I loved seeing someone doing the same thing I’m doing, especially you are Muslim and you cover up and you do the same thing too.”
To Ghana and beyond
Just over a month after returning with the Gambian national team from the 2023 AFCON, Sarjo Baldeh is back on the move. She’s currently in Accra, Ghana, to cover the 2023 African Games.
It will be her second major competition covered this year — and with the U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Colombia coming up, she hopes it won’t be her last.
“Insha Allah, [I want to] attend this year’s [U-20] Women’s World Cup that is approaching in August,” she said. “I am working towards that and I hope Allah (s.w.t.) makes it easy for me.”
Headline image credit: @eyelit_studio/Instragram