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Archive 2015 · Some food for thought...

  
 
gene2632
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Some food for thought...


This article is in Shutterbug now. They are talking to some highly respected and successful photographers who made their living from shooting sports for many years.

http://www.shutterbug.com/content/what-killed-editorial-sports-photography-you’ve-really-got-hustle-make-living-sports-shooter#HMrRp6bz4y7sAqio.97

Please, read it, think about it and try and understand why so many of us have been harping about not shooting for free or for cheap just to be there or to "get a foot in the door". You can get your foot in the door but you are very likely of find that no one is home any more.



Nov 30, 2015 at 08:09 PM
P Alesse
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Some food for thought...


The writing has been on the wall for awhile now regarding editiorial work. What we are starting to see now however are corporations going in for the jugular... contracts that take away copyright from the photogs and choke any chances for secondary sources of income. Up to that point.. the Titanic, although sinking was still floating parallel to the water. We are now on the final decent however. Totally perpendicular and headed to the bottom of the ocean


Nov 30, 2015 at 09:09 PM
cocodrillo
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Some food for thought...


I think part of what really killed things was the Global Financial Crisis and how it destroyed advertising budgets. We used to sell a fair bit to a couple of publications that paid reasonable rates and also snagged corporate work on the back of it. Both have dried up with the former greatly reducing what it buys and making do with considerably lower quality reader-provided content. I actually think that the editors don't want to do this, but have no choice as their advertising revenue has dried up.

The other thing the article doesn't completely emphasize is how important those distribution channels are if you are trying to make it shooting high TV rating sport. Unless you're directly filing through one of the really big wires your images are pretty much stuck in purgatory and good for little more than a slide show to impress your friends. At a certain point you'd think even a hobbyist will think 'this is too damn much work at the end of the week for too little return.' Of course, that doesn't seem to be happening.



Nov 30, 2015 at 10:22 PM
TrojanHorse
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Some food for thought...


The dying print market has to be largely responsible too - magazines, news print... who pays for that when you get the same info on line for free?


Dec 01, 2015 at 01:26 AM
CW100
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Some food for thought...


TrojanHorse wrote:
The dying print market has to be largely responsible too - magazines, news print... who pays for that when you get the same info on line for free?


yes, magazines and newspapers circulation have been declining for years

"sports enthusiasts who are willing to trade their photos for season tickets"

I know a "sports enthusiast" who shoots the Washington Redskins for free!
He uses a crop model and inexpensive lens and doesn't make any money but has NFL football sideline access,












Dec 01, 2015 at 06:38 AM
thebmrust
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Some food for thought...


I call it the McDonaldlification of an industry. Below average is acceptable. Even if it can't really be called meat. Photos are the same. No one cares anymore of it has a watermark on it. No one cares if it's in focus. It doesn't even matter if there's a ball, face, number. A partial of any will often still sell.

Granted, that mostly applies to private sales. Bit look at Sports Illustrated. Once the bastion of great publishing. The paper itself isn't remarkable. The photographers are all contract. The pages... lower counts. Most content is available online from 100 sources. (We could also look at National Geographic but that's for another thread).

There used to be a large barrier to entry for photography. It used to be an art form. Just the cost of gear and knowledge of light & film would deter nearly everyone. But now, get 100 people in a room and you'll have 100 or more cameras. Cell phones have bigger sense it's than the Camon 1DmkIIn.... faster frame rates and built in darkroom capabilities and can send to a wire faster than a traditional workflow.

Yes... The citizens with zero skills are becoming the news gatherers and image takers (note that I didn't say image "makers"...).

So, before fast food we are real meat and before digital we had real image makers. The results were great images that few could make. Now, we eat 'food' that is not really meat (or food) and images are captured rather than made and the consuming oublic who sees millions of pieces of imagery every day doesn't care if it's from a citizen with a phone ... or a pro with a DSLR working their decades of knowledge of light, shutter speed, ISO and aperture.



Dec 01, 2015 at 09:27 AM
gene2632
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Some food for thought...


In some ways the decline in print media has hurt but the demand for images for the web has grown and grown. I know I had to make a lot of changes in the way I did business as we shifted from film to digital and from printed to the web. I made it work for a while but more and more I saw parents with cameras, fans with cameras, alums who like photography all doing it for free...Add to that SID staff with cameras covering events I used to do just to save a few dollars and ok was good enough. The other side of the equation is auto focus and digital allowed me to add an extra 10 years to my own career so that was a good thing.


Dec 01, 2015 at 10:36 AM
CW100
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Some food for thought...


thebmrust wrote:
I call it the McDonaldlification of an industry. ure.


that could be a good description !
but with most people now viewing pics on a cell phone or tablet the difference in photos is not so apparent





Dec 03, 2015 at 09:53 AM
thebmrust
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Some food for thought...


CW100 wrote:
that could be a good description !
but with most people now viewing pics on a cell phone or tablet the difference in photos is not so apparent


That is true... and I am still with the mindset of printing artwork to hang on walls so I shoot accordingly.



Dec 04, 2015 at 01:29 AM
Yellowfin
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Some food for thought...


CW100 wrote:
that could be a good description !
but with most people now viewing pics on a cell phone or tablet the difference in photos is not so apparent

Then the task remains now as it has since the beginning of the digital age:

What photos can I make that the person at home, or now holding a cell phone, cannot? What can I do that someone else so clearly cannot that they will pay me money to have it? The barriers to entry have dropped, the barriers to publication entirely erased, so what rises to the top?

I am asking that question myself right now really, really hard as I ponder getting back into the biz. I used to make money taking pictures of people playing paintball because other people didn't want to get their camera shot up and/or have a 500mm lens and know how to use it. Also because I played I knew where to look and when, so the shots I got weren't something the players (or their parents) could get and they wanted them. Same thing with golf: who can play AND take pictures of themselves from further down the course, below the sand bunker, etc., and are they going to lug around a big heavy lens to do it from angles not possible from the cart? And while they're gulping down beers and shaking hands to write business contracts? I did what they wanted and they paid. Now the question is what can I do to make pictures someone else isn't doing by sitting in the bleachers AND what's so compellingly good and obviously not within their capability so that they'll pay again.

It's the same thing for food: if McDonalds tastes better than the food you cook, could it just be that you're boring as a cook if you can't do better than food that takes no skill, knowledge, or inspiration to make?



Jan 04, 2016 at 06:49 PM
z4roadster
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Some food for thought...


I shoot a ton of "club" gymnastics, I even went so far as to get certified as a women's gymnastic coach, including back ground checks etc so I could get on the floor. That was a cost that I thought could be recouped. I have been a staff photographer for a gym now for over 2 years and have not been able to break even. All the parents tell me "We're so glad you are shooting our meets, I'll be buying some photos soon", but soon never comes. This year I didn't shoot one meet, I'm not paying to travel, and spend my time, for promises. A lot of these parents have dslr's and shoot from the stands with kit lens, so I know that their photos are not near as good as mine, but I guess that on Facebook they can't tell the difference.


Jan 04, 2016 at 07:16 PM
gene2632
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Some food for thought...


and if you post them online many parents and kids too are happy to just go online and look at them there. Many just don't feel the need to own them anymore when they can see them for free.


Jan 09, 2016 at 01:11 AM
z4roadster
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Some food for thought...


You are so right, I sometime think that they use my website as their photo album, but I have a huge watermark over the center. I hate to do that but if I don't they just grab a screen shot and I see it on FB


Jan 09, 2016 at 08:36 PM
gschlact
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Some food for thought...


z4roadster wrote:
You are so right, I sometime think that they use my website as their photo album, but I have a huge watermark over the center. I hate to do that but if I don't they just grab a screen shot and I see it on FB


I have started to lock my galleries shortly after I send out a reminder email at the end of each season. This sometimes accelerates a couple of small purchases. At least they can't keep viewing for free once locked.



Jan 12, 2016 at 06:31 PM
leewoolery
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Some food for thought...


I know of so many very talented press photographers who are no longer in the business when newspapers terminated them and are now requiring their sports editors to, not only write articles, but take photos, as well.

One of my close associates, with a major paper that also owns tv stations, now records more video with his digital camera than stills, to be uploaded immediately, for sports stories to be used on the 11'o clock sports, feature stories and for the paper's website.

Many sports editors were also forced to become photographers, or else!

To stay active in the business, I only concentrate on those areas of the photographic industry where professional services are still required ( and needed ) such as team sports for schools and youth leagues, school and senior pictures, small business/corporate portraits and commercial photography in the studio or on-location.

My days of photographing figure skating, gymnastics competitions, rodeos and horse shows and displaying the images on-site or on-line, with no guarantee of payment upfront, are now ancient history.

So many photography companies have devalued those parts of the business by selling CD's for ridiculously low prices and parents with cameras giving away images by free download or passing around jump drives full of action coverage make it no longer profitable for me to participate.

I now work closely with businesses and corporations ,youth leagues, high schools and event coordinators on projects that are paid for upfront or shortly after the photographic products have been delivered, with most being COD and I don't even go near those speculative sporting contests from the past.

My approach now is to make sure there is a clear-cut distinction between what images, services and products I produce, as a professional, vs. the average parent-with-camera or Uncle-Joe-who-just-got-a nice-camera-for-Christmas types.

When I fail to take ownership of that aspect of the business, I will be closing my studio and liquidating all of my photo gear, like so many have done in the recent past.

Lee



Jan 16, 2016 at 06:21 PM





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