Despite journalism being my main focus for a number of years now, I’ve had a lot of experience in the fields of photography, graphic design and social media creation – including with professional teams in multiple sports!
Here’s an outline of some of that experience.
Castleford Tigers
Before becoming an employee of the club, I also had plenty of experience with Cas, in various ways:
While the club’s media team were in the middle of a transition, I was asked to step in and help with social media coverage.
This was on top of the fact that one of my concept designs for a shirt was used for the 2025 ‘Tribute’ shirt of the club, which was worn for Super League’s Magic Weekend at St. James’ Park in Newcastle.
I was also involved in the rebrand of the club for the centenary year of 2026, having been invited to join the process by owner Martin Jepson. This was off the back of a proposal I made in early 2025, posted on this very website, suggesting a new logo to mark the milestone.
This project was used as the original basis for the process, and you can see that much of my original thought process has been implemented in the official design.
I, along with Martin and two fellow supporters of the club spent months working with an agency to settle on the image of the club, which included, crucially, nailing down the club’s colours.
Below is a video filmed before the launch, which explained our process. Part 2 is here.
Basingstoke Bison
At the age of 15, I created a fan page for my local ice hockey team, making graphics – which was a huge passion of mine. I was soon contacted by the club, who asked if I could be their graphic designer.
I worked with the club over the next few seasons, creating graphics for matchdays, club statements, transfer announcements, goals and more – before it took a hiatus from play in 2023 due to essential work on the rink.
After that, I took control of the Instagram account due to the previous admin moving to another club.
One thing I’m proud of creating was the #WeAreFamily mark, which became a key component of the club’s brand over a number of years.
Creating an entirely new set of graphics for each season was a whole lot of fun!
When the club announced it would be returning for 2025-26, I created a set of graphics that were never ultimately used, as it seems the club’s new ownership have instead gone with a graphic designer they have used in the past.
Here’s what the club’s graphic output could have looked like.
Sheffield Wednesday Ladies
As Forge Radio were covering a number of SWLFC’s home games in 2023/24, I went down one day to take some photos for fun – and was soon asked to do it officially for the club.
Above are a selection of photos, including a number for a special ‘Her Game Too’ event in Rotherham – as well as one of me in the dugout!
Forge Media
I did a big revamp and revival of the Forge Sport Instagram account and created a graphic pack for people within Forge to use as they saw fit.
I also created matchday graphics for when we streamed Sheffield Hatters games, and made ‘hype’ adverts for Varsity coverage.
Just for fun
I’ve spent much of my free time over the past years just refining my graphic design skills by having fun – whether that’s social media graphics, broadcast graphics, logos, shirts… and whether the teams and competitions are real or not!
Other photography
Lionesses
I was lucky enough to be invited to an open training session – both as a journalist and as a photographer – where the Lionesses were preparing for internationals. Travelling to St George’s Park for the first time was very cool, as was being in a press conference with Millie Bright and Aggie Beever-Jones… and being up close to some of the world’s very best players!
On holiday
The landscapes, streets and architecture of the world fascinate me – so I always like to have a camera on hand when I’m in interesting places!
Ollie Mitchell 