Meet Africa’s youngest female sports photographer capturing iconic football moments on the continent

With women making up “less than a quarter of all professional photographers."

In Africa, the issue is more profound. At the recent CAF AFCON 2023 in Côte d'Ivoire, some young female photographers got the opportunity to capture every move of the players, the emotions of the fans, and goal celebrations.

However, there were only five female sports photographers, making up barely a fraction of the total.

Sarjo Baldeh is one of the fastest-rising female sports photographers on the continent at just 24 years old, capturing iconic moments in sports.

Watch this interview:

Global South World had an encounter with the budding photographer, who has not only captured moments but also the attention and hearts of her people. With the striking details about her appearance, Baldeh stood out at the recent AFCON 2023 held in Cote d’Ivoire and the African Games in Ghana.

In her signature look, a modest Abaya fit and a hijab, Baldeh is relentless in her pursuit of excellence in the male-dominated field. Reflecting on her beginnings with Global South World, she went back to how sports photography started for her and narrated that her dream was born out of the need to document Gambian sports.

“Sports photography was never the plan; I never planned for it. I just see myself doing it because, given that I am a photographer, and I am always on the internet, I have seen other photographers taking sports photos of their national teams and posting them on their pages. That was when I started doing more research about sports photography because I hadn’t seen my Gambian sports documented. So, in 2021, I decided to go in for it and I did.”

“I became a freelancer for one year, continuously taking pictures of our Gambian players and sending to them for free to post on their social media platforms. That is how I started going viral. In 2022, I started working with Real de Banjul (a top football club in Gambia), but I actually started photography at the age of 15 years.”

Big events

As part of her assignments, Baldeh covered the African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast and the All African Games in Ghana. Describing her experiences, she expressed enthusiasm for capturing a variety of sports beyond football. “The African Games was amazing, it was the best. When I reached there and I started taking pictures, I realized that my pictures and pictures of me were also going viral. I had an assignment (All African Games) that took me to Ghana. The Ghanaian people were prepared for me, and they were amazing. I took pictures of all other types of sports, not just football,” she remarked.

Baldeh was among four other young female photographers present at AFCON, including Weam Mostafa Elsayed from Egypt, iLa Yeboah from Ghana, Justina Aniefiok from Nigeria, and Khady Sy from Mauritania.