Help with starting freelance sports shooting
ThatCanonGuy
Registered Users Posts: 1,778 Major grins
Hey guys, haven't been around here for a while. Good to be back!
I need your input on my idea here. I want to start freelancing on the side. If you do sports photography professionally, I'd greatly appreciate some advice.
My plan is to take photos at little league baseball games and sell them to parents. I would talk to a client, charge a fee for shooting the event, and then upload the photos to my smugmug site where they can purchase them.
I have a few questions for those of you who already do stuff similar to this. What types of clients are most receptive and interested? Would you do anything differently if you were me?
My biggest question is, how and where can I get in touch with prospects?
Thanks for any help!
I need your input on my idea here. I want to start freelancing on the side. If you do sports photography professionally, I'd greatly appreciate some advice.
My plan is to take photos at little league baseball games and sell them to parents. I would talk to a client, charge a fee for shooting the event, and then upload the photos to my smugmug site where they can purchase them.
I have a few questions for those of you who already do stuff similar to this. What types of clients are most receptive and interested? Would you do anything differently if you were me?
My biggest question is, how and where can I get in touch with prospects?
Thanks for any help!
0
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A former sports shooter
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Is this just a bad idea? Would it be too hard to find clients? Are there specific types of clients that would be interested? Maybe my idea could be tweaked to make it better?
You could maybe make some money working with the league doing T&I, but they likely already have a person for that.
+1
www.acecootephotography.com
It's funny how many people seem to come up with the idea of doing "sports photography". "My plan is", like no one has ever taken pictures of kids playing sports.
However, you have a more unique idea. That said, 99% of people are not going to pay you to come to a game just to cover their kid. Or any amount worthwhile.
You would have to market to the truly higher end customer. This is not a once in a lifetime thing, like a wedding or a prom. There are tons of games, every year.
Assuming there were no restrictions on what you could shoot, you may need to attend a few or a lot of games to achieve a result the client wants. The reasons are many-the player may not play, he or she may not have any action at their position. Lighting, timing, etc.
My daughter played soccer and played at the back near the goalie ( whatever that position is called) so was a weaker player. She loved playing, if she got a stab or two at the ball she was happy.
The thing was, If i HAD to get shots to justify someone paying me, I'd be in trouble. You just can't rely on getting a good shot of every kid with the ball facing the rights way without anyone else in the way every game and the weaker the player, the less they get the ball anyway. Same was with my friends kid. Played a similar position, didn't get near the ball a lot to begin with and when he did it was usually in the midst of half the other players in close proximity obscuring what he was doing.
Trying to get even a decent shot of these kids in one game I think is a risk. Some kids you have no probs, the are key playera and always have the ball and are making breaks etc and you are in with a good chance, others........ Good luck.
In any event, I really think you are wasting your time completely. I get that you are really just playing tiddly winks with this but unless you like making about $2 an hour, I'd definitely be looking at T&I. Yeah, there are plenty of people doing that but If you think outside the box a bit and offer something different, you at least have a fighting chance of making some worthwhile cash.
There are a few rules and guidelines i have formulated over the years to asses the viability of a market. Kids action sports fits the profile with the experience perfectly.
The cost of participation is low which means money for photos is deemed to be a significant expense.
There is nothing you can get the parents can't get themselves and don't underestimate how a lack of quality will be overlooked when they take their own for free.
The saturation is low. You are looking at 1 maybe 2 kids for 80+ minutes plus transport and general fiddling around. Like I said, $2 an hour.
Significance. Like mentioned, they play 15-20 games a year. It's no big special occasion.
Uniqueness of what you are offering. Next.
Ability to sell to client. If you are prebooked, this one is good. It's the only Upside I can see in the whole concept unfortunately.
There are few sports I know of where you can make money these days. I suggest thinking outside the box with other things to photograph. There are a couple of new things I have tried this year that are working ok so far. Only at the start of the effort but so far, so good. I need a bit more time under my belt to tweak the dials but there are things out there that do offer good opportunities.
You simply have to open your eyes, understand what makes the markets viable and see what fits those criteria and go from there.
Kids action sports Pics are not something I would reccomend to anyone these days.
And, lets combine that with the other phenomenon - social media. It's no longer a matter of having a quality photo it's a matter of posting a photo within a minute of it occurring. In today's social media world it's all about what is going on NOW - not what happened a week ago.
Now, if you're going to try and sell people a product they're already making themselves or getting for free from another parent - it's gotta really be WOW. Most people don't produce WOW. And, don't undervalue what equipment does for WOW. Look at some soccer or baseball photos from full frame and 400mm 2.8. Look at the creamy backgrounds and the POP of the images. No one likes to admit it but the ol' 70-200 2.8 with 1.4x TC just doesn't come close to the "wow" that differentiates the pro results from the rest.
Finally - for regular games - parents just don't NEED a lot of quality photos. Heck, now that my son is playing sports I'll typically shoot 1 game - that's it. After that I'm just getting images that are more of the same.
Most outfits I know of that still make money are doing it at important tournaments and often printing on site. The key is - it has to be an important event - not just a garden variety traveling team tournament.
All-in-all, from a business standpoint you are still infinitely better off shooting T&I. Your equipment costs will be WAY less as will your time commitment. And, the business model lends itself to pre-paid. The down side is you really need an assistant to do it well and it's not as fun as shooting the action.
In the end, shoot action if you enjoy it. But don't think you're going to make money off it. There is a reason why you don't hear from people 2 years later talking about how their sports shooting business is going gangbusters. Lots of people can make like $1,000-2,000 a year IN GROSS income. But when you factor in time and equipment and expenses, it's really not even minimum wage.
That said I will say the one exception I have rarely seen is the "photog for hire". I have seen and heard of a few parents of better kids hiring a shooter for their kids game. $100 and shoot and give us a CD of all pics. Scottsdale AZ has some upper income areas and I have seen some parents here hiring people to shoot their 7 year old at soccer or lacrosse.
You certainly won't make a living and likely won't even pay for your gear, but you might make a buck or two. The key is persistence. Very few want to be the first, but a lot of people want to jump on if they see someone else doing it. Keeping up with Jones's. "Well, if the Jones's can hire a pro for their son we certainly can too". Pretty soon you are shooting for 4 or 5 people per game.
Good luck.
The others are right that it is generally a waste of time for full time pros to shoot youth sports action.
However if you already have a main source of income, it can be a fun side-business and a nice chunk of change.
I am doing it. Some examples of my recent work are in this thread. This is the fourth year I've been the official little league photographer in my town. There are 43 teams, about 450 kids. I will gross over $6000 this season. It's a lot of work, a lot of hours, and dealing with a surprising number of people who can't read directions. So if that doesn't sound worth it, then you can stop reading now.
Still interested? Here is how to do it.
1) Have a portfolio of youth sports images ready to present to a league board of directors. If you don't already have a portfolio, you are first going to have to do some shooting for free. Having kids of your own playing sports is an easy way to do this, just shoot their teams. If you don't have kids of your own or friends with kids you can shoot, you're going to have to figure this part out on your own.
The three most important pieces of advice for getting photos that will impress parents and board members are:
- Above all else, shoot from your knees, to get on the kids' level. This makes them look like pros. Most parents simply don't think to do this.
- Shoot wide open - bare minimum you need a 70-200 f/4, preferably f/2.8. This blurs the background and makes the subject pop. This is something mom and dad can't do with their f/5.6 POS kit lens, superzoom, or iPhone.
- Shoot with a high shutter speed to stop the action and get a crisp subject. Minimum 1/1000, preferably 1/1600 to 1/3200. Unless you are specifically trying for pan-blur. If you need more advice than this on image capture, you're not ready.
As for the rest of the gear you are going to need a bare minimum of a Canon 60D, Nikon D300, Nikon D7000 or something like that. Or a used 1D3. Enough people recognize a Canon Rebel or Nikon D3200 as an amateur camera, and the AF isn't up to the task. In Canon land, a 7D is a great value. You are also going to need a speedlight and another shorter high quality lens for the portraits. Like a 17-55/2.8, 24-70/2.8, or 24-105/4. If you're on a budget, get a 35/2 for APS-C or a 50/1.4 for FF.2) Find a contact on the board of directors and ask them if you can bid for the job for next season. Boards usually make these kinds of decisions many months in advance. Many head coaches are also board members. Just approach one of them with your portfolio and turn that person into your advocate. If you don't know anyone with a connection to a board member, I'd say just walk up to the snack shack during a game and ask someone in there who you might talk to. It's good to do these things in person so these people can see that you're not a weirdo. Don't talk to a coach during or before a game.
3) Have a business model ready to present to the board when you bid for the job. How are you going to get the images, how are you going to sell them, how are you going to deliver them, what are your contingency plans and guarantees?
4) Be nice. You have to win the job, and then you have to keep it, with your people skills as much as your photography skills.
In my 4 years I've tried 3 different business models, and I think I've finally found the one that works for a single freelance part-timer like me. All 4 years I've used my SmugMug pro account.
Year 1: I pre-sold packages, because that's what the town was accustomed to from the previous T&I-only agency. In addition to the kids whose parents bought packages, I also shot every team and every kid in the league on spec, regardless. T&I portraits, and action. This was before SmugMug implemented packages, so I had to fulfill them myself. That was a royal pain in the ass, don't do that. This was the first year the town ever had action photos, and I blew them away with a used 1DIIN and a 70-200/4L IS. I grossed over $5000.
Year 2: SmugMug finally rolls out coupons and packages. Personally I think packages are stupid both as a customer and a photographer, so I didn't go there. I used coupons instead. Again I shot every team and every kid on speculation. I uploaded to SmugMug, then emailed the coaches to email their teams with info on how to see and order photos. I offered coupons - one for 30% off which expired in 2 days, and one for 20% off which expired in 2 weeks after the photos went online. Surprisingly, this didn't quite light the fire under parents' butts like I thought it would. I grossed just over $4000 that year.
Keep in mind this shooting-on-spec model only works when there is a pre-existing culture of having professional photos taken. If there is no history of that, I can't fathom this model working at all.
Year 3: I didn't really have any bright ideas and was reasonably content with the revenue, so I just continued on with the coupon model like year 2. I also tried configuring SmugMug "Events" for a few pilot teams to allow parents to choose favorites and create their own galleries of favorites. Didn't work, complete waste of time. That season I grossed about $3500. I figured I was saturating the market. I also realized that a lot of people were simply enjoying and sharing the photos online, watermark and all, and then they had no need to buy. Other people wanted to buy, intended to buy, but then never got around to it and eventually forgot. I was averaging about 3 orders per team and a few teams didn't buy anything at all.
Year 4 (this year): Year 3 was two years ago; I took last year off because I'd had enough of the shooting-on-spec nonsense and people not buying. And the income over the 3 years had allowed me to buy pretty much everything I wanted, so I was satisfied. Last year the board hired a full time pro with assistants to do T&I and action. The assistants weren't very good, the difference in quality showed, and the prices were higher. The town told me they wanted me back. Coaches, board members, parents, even parents I didn't even know.
So this year I am pre-selling print credit coupons through paypal buttons on my website. I scheduled each team for a picture day coinciding with one of their games. $20 gets you a $25 print credit, $40 gets you $50, etc, if you do it before your team's picture day and time. I get the paypal payment, create a print credit coupon on SmugMug, and email you the coupon code. You redeem your coupon when ordering from my SmugMug gallery. If you end up ordering more than your print credit, you just pay the difference at checkout. The catch is, if a child's parents do not pre-order, I don't take that child's photo other than in the team photo. I will also take orders for print credits at the field on picture day if someone asks, but I don't discount them then. In this case I take cash, or if they don't have any I take their email address and send them a paypal invoice later. If nobody on a team pre-orders anything, I don't shoot that team at all. But so far every team is participating.
I figured this business model would be a no-lose situation for me. Either it would throttle back the workload and make it more relaxed, or it would finally light that fire under parents' butts and generate more sales. I'm happy to report it's the latter. My customers are happy to pre-pay. Several have even thanked me for "forcing" them to buy something, because in years past they had loved the photos but never got around to buying. Furthermore, I did not anticipate many people buying more than their print credit, but several are - bonus! An extreme example is one woman who bought a $50 print credit, and then ended up spending $175 once she got in the gallery and saw her little star in action.
So, it's still not enough to make a living (the per-hour pay rate is low), but it's a fun way to turn your hobby into a nice side-business and pay for your gear and then some. This year I'm shooting a 5D3 and a 300/2.8L IS (the holy grail) for the action, all paid for by this job.
Well that was more free consulting than I planned to give so I hope you appreciate it. Back to processing my pictures now...
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
There are a number of things you touch on there that are very interesting and I will give some thought to incorporating into the work I do to see if it may be of benefit.
A few questions to put things into perspective...
When you talk about the board and the kids you are photographing, is this one club and the different teams they have or is it all the different clubs that play against one another in that area's Competition?
How many weekends/ days per season are you spending shooting and are you just at one Field or do you travel to different fields around your area?
Your photos are outstanding so I can see why you get sales. I also like the way you have gone to a pre order system. I tried that when I was doing action sports and could not get it to fly at all. It's definitely the way to go though. No use hammering camera's wearing them out when you are actually making money of less than 1% of the pics you are shooting.
The comment about forcing people to buy something is VERY interesting. There is much to be considered around that. I had a lot of problem with trying to do online sales and maybe the reason the onsite sales were successful was because we always told the people after I gave online away that it was now or never. They always complained but they bought. I never did a single online sale despite handing out card, flyers and wallpapering all the cars in the carpark at multiple events.
I hope this season turns out to be your best ever and a stunning success. You have approached this entirely professionally both in the business and photographic aspects and deserve all the success I'm sure you will have.
The former. One town, one club, no travel. Age groups from T-ball to Majors.
Shooting 4 to 6 days a week, one complex of 3 fields. Midweek I'll just shoot two teams per evening. Saturdays are busier.
Thanks. I'd like to think I'm good at it.
Exactly. Pre-orders are the only way I'll do it from now on. It solves so many issues. I don't even worry about people stealing, err, "using" the online images anymore. Now I enable right-clicks, X2Large, and I have a minimal watermark in the corner. I figure hey, they're already paid for, may as well let people enjoy them.
I think there has to be a culture in place where the parents are expecting photos to be taken. Without that I imagine it would be very hard to build that culture from nothing. In that case on-site today-only sales are the only way to make real money. I'm not set up for that, and it seems like a big capital investment all at once. I do know of a guy who makes his living doing that at a race track.
Also my town is very in to sports. Our high school typically dominates its class.
Thanks Glort!
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Actually that expectation could be built up with clever and effective marketing done in advance. The board would have to support this in their email communications and website content, and you would need to post signs at the fields and do an email blast or two of your own (if the board will give you their list, or forward email from you). A good way to get the board on board is to offer them a kickback, say 10% of net profit. But don't say "kickback" as this makes you sound like a union thug. Say "incentive" or "sponsorship".
...in the absence of advance marketing and pre-existing expectations.
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Thank you so much for all the free consulting - awesome info there. I'll be going back to it more as I explore the market. I like your model, but my local league has about twice the number of kids yours has. There is no way I could shoot all the teams. I also think it's unlikely that I could get a contract with the league, as they already have T&I photographers. They currently don't have any official action photogs, but like I said I can't really do that much by myself. So I was thinking it would be better to seek out clients individually, rely heavily on word of mouth and maybe some very targeted advertising. I would be more of a high-end option. I'm just concerned about whether anyone would be interested or not.
That said, I am totally willing to try other options if you think they would work better. Thanks for all the advice so far.
Oh, yeah, you would need a team of at least 2, preferably 3 or 4 competent shooters to cover the whole league. You could probably find such talent willing to work for peanuts at a local college, or maybe even high school, but that's a whole other project in and of itself.
Or you could try to arrange it so you were only shooting one or two age groups. I would recommend T-ball and/or Majors. T-ball parents are thrilled to see their babies in a baseball uniform for the first time, and for photos that make them look like they are having fun or like real athletes. In my town the Majors have the best uniforms and the best action, and photos done right make the kids look like pros. The kids in Majors have "made it".
In your situation I suppose it could be a fun experiment to just show up to the field with a large (like 24x36" or bigger) self-standing two-sided sign that says "Action Shots $10", photoshopped on a really impressive image of your own. You'd have to get league permission of course. It would be best if there could be an email blast announcing that you will be there to do this. Then you stand there next to the sign with your camera and see what happens. I think you would need at least a 70-200/2.8 for the camera itself to impress anybody. A 300/2.8 with the hood on really gets attention. Take orders, give them a business card and write a unique coupon code on it for $10 worth of prints in your pro smugmug gallery. Maybe they'll buy more than that. Take a few shots of their kid (10 keepers tops), upload, and pray. Or I guess if you can't afford a pro gallery, you just pocket the $10 and they get to buy whatever they want at cost.
Just spitballing here. No idea if that would work. If you get traction then the following year perhaps you could establish an online pre-order system. But whatever, I can tell you for certain that the shoot-upload-email-pray business model does not work at all when there is no up-front payment and no culture or expectation of having photos taken at an event. I shot a very well established 3-day soccer tournament that way, which had never had photos before, and made less than $50 on those action shots. Fortunately I was being paid by the organizers to shoot team photos.
Regarding word of mouth and targeted advertising, Facebook is your friend. That is another book I don't feel like writing, so on that note, good luck! Let us know how you do.
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.