My friend told me about this place, after talking about I wanted to try something new which is sports photography and I just looked through this sports section and I like it alot.. only problem is I don't know where to start... or should I say how to start..
Is anyone from MD that does this? and is it possible for me to go with to take pictures as like assistance or anything like that?
I want to photograph pretty much any sports games to start and go from there...
kc,
be sure to introduce yer self if you go shoot youth sports of any kind... to the coaches, officials, etc. Here in Texas, there is a Press Association that can provide credentials that will help w/ access and help keep peeps from being
suspicious of you. But, I ALAWYS introduce myself to make sure.
Good luck and share when you get images regardless of "quality". The members here are very supportive. They can be
hard on the critic, but always in a learning manner.
Bret
Be careful of just showing up somewhere and starting to take pictures. As Bret mentioned above, communication is the key. Introduce yourself. Find out who makes decisions. Speak with that person and just be honest about what you are doing and/or trying to accomplish. Work *with* them to achieve your goal.
Lots of opportunities out there to shoot and improve your craft. A lot fewer opportunities out there to make money doing it. Three pieces of advice FWIW...
- Don't give away your work for free.
- Don't exchange work for access or credentials
- If you're looking to shoot the pros, buy a ticket. If you want to make really, really, great frames, look no further than the ballpark, gym, or court down the block.
Fish On wrote:
What you're asking is very general. Do you mind narrowing what you are looking for, that way we can steer you in the right direction.
For example, how much experience do you have as a photographer? what kind of gear do you have? what sports do you want to shoot?
Well, I've been shooting for 9+ years, I'm known as automotive photographer in the area, published in magazines as well as many internet magazines. - I still do.
I want to shoot any sports really, basketball, baseball, soccer and so on... my dream and goal is have my photos pulbished in sports magazines like I am with automotive side.
and hope to attend olympics to take photos as media.
I pretty much had your set up at a certain point (D700, D300s, 24-70, 70-200 & 300 2.8) and I was able to cover almost anything from hockey to lacrosse to football to competitive youth dance . You could shoot a lot of long field sports like soccer/football/golf with either of the D300's and the 300 2.8 because of the crop and even have the D700 with the 24-70 or 70-200 as a second depending on your flavor.With the D700 and 70-200 you could easily shoot basketball or hockey if your in a corner. To be honest your covered. If you got to a point where you would want to mount a remote you could do it with the Sigma.
Like what others have said look around locally and see what you could get access to. I agree with people for the most part when they say don't give photos for free depending on who is asking for the photos. The hard part is to get access to get a portfolio to show work and move up. Yes you could always go to a public basketball court and practice but odds its going to be difficult to get clean backgrounds which is a biggy for sports photos especially if you have the goals you have set but it is a good place to start.
If you decided to go to some youth soccer match on a Saturday and a parent asks if you will give them photos absolutely no matter what say no because you won't get anywhere. On the other hand if you can get access to lets say to some high school game or some club rugby match in exchange to give them some photos personally as a start don't make a habit of it. I think at the end of the day it offers more benefits than negatives to a certain point. I know some people on here won't agree but its up to you. Buying a ticket to some pro match is the same as doing something for free except you are paying to get an elevated uninteresting shot.
No matter what though as others have said be nice, humble, introduce yourself, see what rules they have of where you can shoot and always always say thank you.
One thing that just occurred to me and might be a good way to get into something for free and have decent access is if there is a community college that has a soccer team usually you can get into matches for free and be able to hang out in a corner field level and shoot.
Yea, I think with equipments I have now is pretty good for do sports photography, I will keep in mind what you said hope to get some shots soon and post some here to share
