From the local rinks of Alberta to the global stage of the Olympics, elite sports photographer Candice Ward has built a career defined by technical precision, strategic preparation, and a commitment to authentic storytelling. As a member of the Kehewin Cree Nation, Ward also brings a unique and vital perspective to a male-dominated industry, serving as one of the few Indigenous women operating at the highest levels of sports media.
Ward has spent her career building her skills as a visual storyteller, and her path has taken her from the grit of daily news to the high stakes of the NHL and the Olympic Games. Her career is a testament to the power of the professional pivot, the importance of cultural representation, and a technical workflow built for the speed of the modern digital age.
From Photojournalism to High Stakes Sports
Every elite professional has a “testing ground,” and for Ward, it was the demanding environment of daily newspapers. Her journey began in 2006 at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), where she immersed herself in photojournalism. After graduating, she spent a decade as a versatile media professional, balancing the triple threat of writing, photography, and video.
After years as a news photographer, Ward started looking for a niche where the stakes were high, but the narratives were rooted in achievement and community. Naturally, that led her to the wide world of sports.
Ward’s entry into sports photography wasn’t a tentative step but a deep dive. She began with the Calgary Rage, a women’s tackle football team. The experience provided a unique vantage point: excellent access to compelling personalities in a niche sport that required a keen eye for detail.
This foundational work paved the way for a rapid expansion into professional leagues, including:
- The NHL: Covering games for USA Today Sports Images (now IMAGN).
- The Calgary Hitmen (WHL): Serving as a contract team photographer for the franchise founded by Bret “The Hitman” Hart
- The Multi-Sport Portfolio: Expanding her reach to the Calgary Roughnecks (NLL), Calgary Stampeders (CFL), Calgary Wranglers (AHL), and Hockey Canada.
For Ward, sports like box lacrosse and hockey aren’t just assignments. These are opportunities to capture split-second moments of human peak performance that will never exist in the exact same way again.
“I really like being able to capture a moment that can never be replicated. It’s knowing that moment is gone. I love that,” explains Ward. “I love that you got it, or you didn’t. I like the pressure, and that moment is never going to exist in that way ever again. I love that about sports.”
Strategic Partnerships
Securing a spot to cover a global event like the Olympic Games requires a professional mindset that aligns with the client’s bottom line. Ward’s high-profile clients like Team Canada and Getty Images is the result of a deliberate, client-focused philosophy.
Team Canada
In late 2022, Ward was scouted by the photo team lead for the Canadian Olympic Committee, leading to an invitation to shoot the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.
“The lead photographer for Team Canada reached out to tell me that I’d be a good fit for the photo team, and asked if I was interested in going to the Pan Am Games,” recalls Ward. “They have very specific deliverables, so for me, it’s about being a part of the team and delivering the specific content they need.”
Being a part of the team also means being able to solve problems while still doing the work. Ward was able to balance multiple challenges, solve problems, and deliver a marketable product. After Ward’s efforts at the Pan Am Games, she was selected for the photo team for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
Her reputation as a reliable professional led to the initial opportunity. Her value as a problem-solving team member moved her beyond a “skilled photographer” to becoming essential talent for clients across North America.
Getty Images
In 2022, Ward was onboarded as a contributing freelancer for Getty Images. At the time, Ward was living in Las Vegas. With the steady stream of sports tournaments and events, there was plenty to cover, and Getty Images needed regular freelancers to help them with these events.
Identity, Storytelling, and the Power of Representation
As one of the only Indigenous women working at the pinnacle of sports photography, Ward carries the mantle of representation with pride and purpose. Her heritage as a member of the Kehewin Cree Nation informs her approach to every frame.
“It’s good for women and girls from my community to see that it’s possible for an Indigenous woman to succeed in a male dominated field,” says Ward. “To them, it might not be enough to just see that it’s possible for women. For them, it’s important to see that a woman like them can succeed in a field like this.”
Ward views herself as a natural storyteller, embracing her culture and translating it into a visual medium. She advocates for the necessity of Indigenous people telling their own stories.
“It’s extremely important to have the ability to tell my own people’s stories,” Ward notes. “When you see it from someone who lives it, it just hits a little different.”
Ward’s presence on the sideline is a powerful signal that reminds women and girls in her community that this career isn’t a dream: It can be reality. Better yet, Ward has seen a heartening shift over the past decade.
During the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s curling semifinals, there was a notably diverse group of women from various cultural backgrounds, following this career path, and performing at the highest levels. The representation on display made Ward exceptionally optimistic about the future.
Controlling the Chaos
The core of Candice Ward’s success can be distilled into a single guiding principle:
“You can’t control what happens in front of your lens, but you can control everything behind it.”
For Ward, “control” means strategic preparation. Ward’s prep naturally includes technical readiness. The next step is that she also performs deep-dive research into the psychology of the game:
- The Emotional Map: Upcoming milestones for each team to understand the objectives and impact for a team’s season.
- Anticipation: Who is likely to score and from where, athlete habits, best photo options from her position.
This dedication to research, game knowledge, and mental focus is what separates a technician from an artist.
Candice Ward’s journey is a blueprint for the next generation of visual storytellers that goes beyond a collection of high-speed captures and technical triumphs. By blending the precision of a seasoned photojournalist with the heart of a Cree storyteller, she has redefined what it means to own the sidelines.
As she continues to anticipate the roar of the crowd and the quiet, raw emotions of victory, Ward remains a vital force in sports media. Her career proves that while you can’t control the game, you can always master the way the world sees it.
