There has to be a better way than spec.

j-bo · May 14, 2007

I'm supposing if you are shooting motocross or any type of sport you are mostly shooting on spec, unless its the team stuff.

I am getting either frustrated or burned out. Dunno which.

I've had smug since last June or so. I am very active on our local motocross forum, which is HUGE and everyone into mx goes there in our area. I have flyers, banners, and busines cards out. I have large prints in frames for them to see. I even tried an attempt at onsite printing. I've posted over 11,000 photo's on smug and have sold about 850 or so. Is there something else I should be doing to sell more?

Granted we have about 2 or 3 other photogs doing this, we have a finite amount of riders, and we actually have 2 that let anyone download for free, although 1 is has terrible photo's, but I am thinking noone cares about quality stuff. Of course, there are a lot of stolen photo's on myspace and mymotospace, albeit all watermarked up.

I started this as fun, but got wrapped up with giving good quality photo's to the mx community that had been getting nothing but blurred, poor quality photo's.

I am on the verge of just not taking any MX for awhile, but I do like the extra pocket money, even if its a small bit.

Sorry for rambling here, I was hoping I am doing something wrong and someone will point that out. How do you other MX photog's go about covering events and/or getting orders? Heck, maybe my stuff isn't as good as I think too?:huh

BRATCH · May 26, 2007

You are kind of in my territory here. I work for a small town weekly newspaper and I am the only photographer. Photography is only part of what I do, but 99.5 percent of the photos that are generated by the newspaper are generated by me.

I shoot all of the high school sporting events. I'm currently uploading photos to my new smug account, but I've got about a year and a half worth of photos up so far. I haven't sold anything yet but right now I'm a week in and only a hand full of people know about it so far.

Anyway, I have a super small community of people that want my photos. That being the parents of the kids I'm shooting, the athletes themselves or the few friends and extended relatives that think highly enough of a kid to buy a photo from me.

Your audience is even smaller, though it sounds like you are doing well for yourself with 850 sales in a year.

To me it sounds like you are a victim of your own success. It might have started out as being fun, but somewhere along the line you realized that once you started paying for hosting and selling photos that, despite the fun, it's business now.

If the money doesn't mean that much to you, stop for a while and see if that creates a bit of a buzz around the community. If you are making quality shots and people aren't getting to see themselves in great photos, you'll hear about it.

I'm not what I would call a "professional photographer." I guess I can call myself a photojournalist, but that sounds too pretentious. The bottom line is that you and I don't make our living selling photos. My day job might be a photographer and you might take great MX photos, but we don't make our living through print sales.

I think taking a break from it will bring the fun back later.

The beauty of what you and I are able to do is that we can shoot what we want, when we want and if people don't buy any photos, no big deal. Life goes on, but if they do buy photos it's easy money and you have the satisfaction of knowing that someone digs your stuff and you made them happy.

j-bo wrote:

I'm supposing if you are shooting motocross or any type of sport you are mostly shooting on spec, unless its the team stuff.

I am getting either frustrated or burned out. Dunno which.

I've had smug since last June or so. I am very active on our local motocross forum, which is HUGE and everyone into mx goes there in our area. I have flyers, banners, and busines cards out. I have large prints in frames for them to see. I even tried an attempt at onsite printing. I've posted over 11,000 photo's on smug and have sold about 850 or so. Is there something else I should be doing to sell more?

Granted we have about 2 or 3 other photogs doing this, we have a finite amount of riders, and we actually have 2 that let anyone download for free, although 1 is has terrible photo's, but I am thinking noone cares about quality stuff. Of course, there are a lot of stolen photo's on myspace and mymotospace, albeit all watermarked up.

I started this as fun, but got wrapped up with giving good quality photo's to the mx community that had been getting nothing but blurred, poor quality photo's.

I am on the verge of just not taking any MX for awhile, but I do like the extra pocket money, even if its a small bit.

Sorry for rambling here, I was hoping I am doing something wrong and someone will point that out. How do you other MX photog's go about covering events and/or getting orders? Heck, maybe my stuff isn't as good as I think too?

bham · May 28, 2007

j-bo wrote:

I'm supposing if you are shooting motocross or any type of sport you are mostly shooting on spec, unless its the team stuff.

I am getting either frustrated or burned out. Dunno which.

I've had smug since last June or so. I am very active on our local motocross forum, which is HUGE and everyone into mx goes there in our area. I have flyers, banners, and busines cards out. I have large prints in frames for them to see. I even tried an attempt at onsite printing. I've posted over 11,000 photo's on smug and have sold about 850 or so. Is there something else I should be doing to sell more?

Granted we have about 2 or 3 other photogs doing this, we have a finite amount of riders, and we actually have 2 that let anyone download for free, although 1 is has terrible photo's, but I am thinking noone cares about quality stuff. Of course, there are a lot of stolen photo's on myspace and mymotospace, albeit all watermarked up.

I started this as fun, but got wrapped up with giving good quality photo's to the mx community that had been getting nothing but blurred, poor quality photo's.

I am on the verge of just not taking any MX for awhile, but I do like the extra pocket money, even if its a small bit.

Sorry for rambling here, I was hoping I am doing something wrong and someone will point that out. How do you other MX photog's go about covering events and/or getting orders? Heck, maybe my stuff isn't as good as I think too?

No you have some excellent photos. Don't feel so bad many people don't realize the timelessness of photos. Think about how many photos you have from your childhood vs how many you wish you had. I am glad the photo bug hit me in college. I have so many that I have to pull them out every now and then and just to take a great walk down history lane.

One thing that may help is put a time limit on the phots of 2 or 3 weeks from when they are first up, or increase the prices to order from the "archives". People procratinate and then don't order and then forget and then don't see the need anymore. Making things more time sensitive could sure help.

You sound frustrated and probably need a break, a new challenge, or just some time away from the photography. I can get this way sometimes and doing other types of photography usually helps me. That way its breaks it up the same ole same ole, and makes me learn new skills, be creative in new ways, etc.

Maybe you and the other 2 or 3 photogs should go have lunch some time and talk a little shop. Share frustrations, talk equipment, talk post processing etc. They or you may realize the value in others with the same interest, etc.

bham · May 28, 2007

Also, if you know any of the parents of individuals (or the individuals) that have ordered in the past, ask if their is something they would prefer (a photo collage, a passing series, etc) instead of waiting for them come to you maybe being a little more sales oriented up front with some people. Just an idea.

Also I didn't see any series of shots, ie holding the shutter release down and following one rider for 6-10 shots. Like preparing for the whoops and then a few in them. A rider about to pass another rider then passing, some side by side racing, preparing for the tabletop jump a couple in the area and then the landing. Not sure you fps(frames per second) but you should be able to get some. Just a idea.

ps Hello from a former resident of Zachary, LA with most of the family still there. Also I know I made a few trips to Livingston to ride my CR80 years ago. And I think I was in a hare scramble in Livingston as well.

lynnesite · May 29, 2007

I do some event photography, when not for media, it is all on spec. And to make matters worse, sometimes I make selects and take the risk to get prints made and sell them at the events. But much prefer selling through smuggy. It costs the riders more, but they're post-processed.

Am looking forward to smuggy offering package pricing, and coupons. In lieu of the latter, sometimes I offer a 20% discount for orders within the first 3 weeks. I also considered not leaving the galleries in place, but like you I have the same customers between events and believe it or not am still getting orders from events a year or more old. Just got an order over $300 profit from an event from Jan 06!

One of the things we have in common is that our sports are hell on equipment. Dust, specifically. And people who don't charge appropriately, taking into account wear and tear are simply fooling themselves IMHO.

There has to be a better way than spec.

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