Shooting Sports, Youth Action and Making a Living in Sports Photography
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- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2019
- Making a living shooting sports is a challenge. Youth action and T&I (team and individual photography) continue to be the driving force throughout the industry. Peter chats about the spray-and-pray photography model as well as the individual direct sale model and introduces GFCrew (www.gfcrew.com), his trusted friend and sponsor. GF Crew is not only a wonderful company, but we trust them and are proud to be associated with them. GFcrew is an awesome community and app that helps sports photographers make money shooting action photos. Be sure to check them out! www.GFcrew.com and on Facebook at @GFcrewphoto.
AP/Sports Illustrated Photographer and Canon Explorer of Light Peter Read Miller is among the most accomplished photographers of all time, now enjoying teaching his sports photography techniques .
Peter Read Miller has been photographing athletes, events and the sporting life for more than 40 years. He is has worked as a staff and contract photographer for Sports Illustrated for more than 35 years. His images have appeared on over 100 Sports Illustrated covers.
His editorial clients have included: Time, Life, People, Money, The Associated Press, Playboy, Runner’s World, Newsweek, USA Weekend and The New York Times. In addition to covering 9 Olympic Games and 40 Super Bowls, Peter has shot 14 NBA Finals. He has covered the Stanley Cup Finals, the World Series, the Kentucky Derby, the NCAA Basketball Final Four, and the Men’s and Women’s World Cup Soccer Finals.
Peter's workshops involve major sports such as the Tennessee Volunteers, and much more, all with top of the line cameras and lenses by Canon USA. The workshop is sponsored by Canon, Western Digital, ThinkTank, Dynalite and Hoodman. www.peterreadmiller.com/
Email Peter at: peter@peterreadmiller.com
I am an Getty Images staff photographer, but I got my start in youth sports Action, Team and Individual photography. The owner of the company I used to work for made a very great income from this type of photography and is literally a millionaire. He has at least 20 large leagues and does pre-payment with add-on packages, which means the league includes $15-$20 in the entrance fee to join the league. This takes out parent-pay and basically if the parents want to add to their basic included package, then they can do that and they do, but a basic package is included. When you have an AYSO league with 1200 players and $20 pre-paid for each player, plus additional packages and you can see just how much money is in this type of photography. However it is very difficult to get any leagues and this takes many years to develop into a thriving business.
I started in shooting sports with my son's soccer, rugby , GAA, tennis. I did on a couple of occasions give free jpgs but after that I would refuse to take photos of kids when parents asking as they didn't want to pay me. The usual 'can you take a couple of photos of my son/daughter please and email them to me'... my answer was I can offer you a print at $ xx.. A couple bought prints but the rest stopped asking me and used their iphone getting action photos either of a plain field or a 'midget far away'. Same with the club; during events I offered to shoot the events, print 7x5 prints of various kids and sell them on the spot and give the club a percentage ... they weren't interested. Eventually my son went to university and I stopped photographing him and no more kids photography.
I can't speak for anybody else, but I make a living shooting youth sports tournaments (mostly girls volleyball and dance competitions). Here is how I do it:
...Sell onsite! (You will need to have at least 1 employee and 3 laptops with monitors)
...Do not edit (The time invested in that isn't worth it)
...Only shoot girls' sports (My sales come from the kids being interested in our photos and hanging out at our viewing stations. Girls will do this, but boys couldn't care less)
...Do NOT spray and pray (The kids and parents get bored with multiple shots of the same play. And as I said earlier about no editing, we do not even vet our photos, meaning that all the images we take are on the viewing station)
...Do not sell online (If you tell parents they have the option of buying later, they will not buy them now, and will likely forget/talk themselves out of buying later. It is the impulse buy you are aiming for)
...Have a good rapport with tournament directors (I pay a vendor fee to be the official shooter of an event)
...Have a sales goal (I give my sales staff an incentive to sell by offering a commission when the sales goal is reached. Most of my salespeople have been college kids, and you need to give them a reason to actively try to sell, and not to just sit there and play on their phones)
...Do not offer prints (For me, that ship sailed around 2007. We went from prints, to photos on CD, to flash drive, to uploading to phones. Kids and parents want pics for social media these days, not an album, or a walled framed shot)
...Photos need to be "good enough" (Pics need to be in focus and have a ball in frame or a good expression of the kid. They DON'T need to be magazine quality. So many people I've hired are so fixated on not showing shots that they think are subpar. This is subjective of course, because I don't want garbage shots. But parents and kids are a lot less picky than what photographers are)
So, here is an associate explaining our sales method:
ruclips.net/video/EeFrPIVs5B0/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/AvqsNt19dRA/видео.html
And here is an example or two of albums that sold as a team package:
www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/albums/72157713352809462
www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/albums/72157713085372798
Thank you Sir !!
Could just be the school I went to but the yellow rubber bands might not go over well with some coaches that are strict on uniforms and wouldn't want players wearing it. Other than that, GF Crew seems pretty great!
They have some innovative ideas, but the truth of the matter is that the opinions about the value of photography has changed over last decade. The internet and social media have conditioned people to believe the images are free. Most parents are not prepared to pay for images. If you are there they have no problem asking for images of their kids, but scoff at the idea of paying for them. As hard as it may be to swallow photography as a profession is a dying trade. I know very few photographers who can sustain themselves only through photography.
I can't speak for anybody else, but I make a living shooting youth sports tournaments (mostly girls volleyball and dance competitions). Here is how I do it:
...Sell onsite! (You will need to have at least 1 employee and 3 laptops with monitors)
...Do not edit (The time invested in that isn't worth it)
...Only shoot girls' sports (My sales come from the kids being interested in our photos and hanging out at our viewing stations. Girls will do this, but boys couldn't care less)
...Do NOT spray and pray (The kids and parents get bored with multiple shots of the same play. And as I said earlier about no editing, we do not even vet our photos, meaning that all the images we take are on the viewing station)
...Do not sell online (If you tell parents they have the option of buying later, they will not buy them now, and will likely forget/talk themselves out of buying later. It is the impulse buy you are aiming for)
...Have a good rapport with tournament directors (I pay a vendor fee to be the official shooter of an event)
...Have a sales goal (I give my sales staff an incentive to sell by offering a commission when the sales goal is reached. Most of my salespeople have been college kids, and you need to give them a reason to actively try to sell, and not to just sit there and play on their phones)
...Do not offer prints (For me, that ship sailed around 2007. We went from prints, to photos on CD, to flash drive, to uploading to phones. Kids and parents want pics for social media these days, not an album, or a walled framed shot)
...Photos need to be "good enough" (Pics need to be in focus and have a ball in frame or a good expression of the kid. They DON'T need to be magazine quality. So many people I've hired are so fixated on not showing shots that they think are subpar. This is subjective of course, because I don't want garbage shots. But parents and kids are a lot less picky than what photographers are)
So, here is an associate explaining our sales method:
ruclips.net/video/EeFrPIVs5B0/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/AvqsNt19dRA/видео.html
And here is an example or two of albums that sold as a team package:
www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/albums/72157713352809462
www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/albums/72157713085372798
This was a gem!
Nice content
I shoot youth action sports and making money is next to impossible. Parents would ask if I could shoot their child, I would and then edit, crop and color correct 10-25 photos. All at no charge. How busy was I? I would have a list of 20-40 athletes for a high school track meet. This year I began to charge $20 at the time of the request and they would get unedited photos (I would just crop). Editing I charge $25 an hour. Do you know how many parents were willing to pay? Two!!!GFCrew sounds interesting. Thanks for the info
woolybugger1962 I just let parents and the kids know. I charge 25-35 per athlete and they get all the photos of them in digital. It seems to be working ok so far.
I shot baseball tourneys this summer. Shot at 8-10 team tourneys at $300 a team. 80% buy in. Email me a sportsphotofl at Gmail. Charlie
I can't speak for anybody else, but I make a living shooting youth sports tournaments (mostly girls volleyball and dance competitions). Here is how I do it:
...Sell onsite! (You will need to have at least 1 employee and 3 laptops with monitors)
...Do not edit (The time invested in that isn't worth it)
...Only shoot girls' sports (My sales come from the kids being interested in our photos and hanging out at our viewing stations. Girls will do this, but boys couldn't care less)
...Do NOT spray and pray (The kids and parents get bored with multiple shots of the same play. And as I said earlier about no editing, we do not even vet our photos, meaning that all the images we take are on the viewing station)
...Do not sell online (If you tell parents they have the option of buying later, they will not buy them now, and will likely forget/talk themselves out of buying later. It is the impulse buy you are aiming for)
...Have a good rapport with tournament directors (I pay a vendor fee to be the official shooter of an event)
...Have a sales goal (I give my sales staff an incentive to sell by offering a commission when the sales goal is reached. Most of my salespeople have been college kids, and you need to give them a reason to actively try to sell, and not to just sit there and play on their phones)
...Do not offer prints (For me, that ship sailed around 2007. We went from prints, to photos on CD, to flash drive, to uploading to phones. Kids and parents want pics for social media these days, not an album, or a walled framed shot)
...Photos need to be "good enough" (Pics need to be in focus and have a ball in frame or a good expression of the kid. They DON'T need to be magazine quality. So many people I've hired are so fixated on not showing shots that they think are subpar. This is subjective of course, because I don't want garbage shots. But parents and kids are a lot less picky than what photographers are)
So, here is an associate explaining our sales method:
ruclips.net/video/EeFrPIVs5B0/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/AvqsNt19dRA/видео.html
And here is an example or two of albums that sold as a team package:
www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/albums/72157713352809462
www.flickr.com/photos/sjhfoto/albums/72157713085372798
@@SJHFoto Thanks for teaching us about this. I love shooting kids sports. I saw your comments on Jerry Lai's great channel and went to check out some of your work. You are the real deal. You said you're not trying to sell parents art but everything you shoot is usually pretty clear and in focus. I'm amazed you focus a lot on volleyball. Volleyball can be tough to shoot. I've done volleyball. I'm happy for you that you've found a way to make a living doing this. That's inspiring. I know someone who shoots dance and it looks like you've kind of taken that model and broadened it. Congratulations!
@@_SYDNA_ Thanks! I appreciate that
Very interesting...one item not mentioned is access...when game is in a stadium, getting onto the field is not easy and to show up in the event bib won’t help much especially if you tell them you are there to shoot 5 players for my business...any thoughts on getting field access to implement this plan? I’d have a much better chance to get access if I was shooting all the home team players. Thx.
The app is only from the Apple store
This is a really good idea but still I have to agree with all the comments on parents actually paying, been there never get paid. I still enjoy giving the kids something to look at in stop action and do my best to make them look like a sports magazine photo. I don't know how other states are but to be on the sidelines of a lot of these sports in PA you need a PA State child welfare background check and get a letter showing and registration with the state that you have no record and reapply again in 2 yrs. Not sure the vest alone will grant you all access.
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What if the kids u are shooting are majority on the bench and u don't get any shots of them?
I love the vest idea. On those occasions that have had an official one issued to me it made a huge difference in the amount of parents that came up and asked questions. I'm just wondering if wearing such a vest when you truly aren't the official event photographer would create any issues? I'd be interested in other people's thoughts.
Ed Crawford that’s been my concern as well. It might come off as false marketing that you’re associated with the event organizers.
@@FirstLast-il6ok I assume you would talk to the event organizer or the facility owner before you show up for an event full of kids when none are yours. That's what I do, anyhow. I don't trust parents not to sue, so I get permission in advance.
Photographer need stop working for free.
I understand not charging for complete novices (i.e. never shot that sport before, or never shot at night before), but after that people expect to pay you.