Carl Auer
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Upload & Sell: Off
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Youth Sports is a VERY hard business to break into. Honestly, many things can kill it for you. Here are some thoughts, ideas, and general observations geared really to all of you who are interested in doing this...not just the original poster or those few who have asked some questions...and I do apologize for the size of this, but I tride to cover EVERYTHING I could think of.........
Practice. Most of the best photographers did not just pick up a camera and start making awesome images. Take a photo class. Know your gear and the limitations of your camera. Read books. Get out to the local gym or ball field and parctice shooting. Study others work, from SportsShooter to Fred Miranda. SI, to the Sporting News. Look at the photos and gain an understanding of what makes them good and why they work. Do not copy them, but incorperate their style into your personal take on photo. The more you shoot, the better you get. Do not just start shooting and try to sell. That is the wrong way to go about anything like this. Work on your weaknesses. If you take great T&I shots, focus on that. If you want to expand into action, do not just add it. Practice. Make sure you are bringing a good product to the market.
Quality. Many event photographers, and some are here so I apologize if I step on how you do business, go for quantity over quality, and I feel this is a poor technique. I met a photographer who will not adjust levels, WB, color, sharpen, or anything on his photos when they are ordered or when he posts them. He does no field editing (too busy talking to the girls 1/2 his age) and will not delete any shot he has (out of focus ref butt's flood his photo website) because, quote "I shoot 500-1000 photos a day, I do not have time to go through them."  He got real pissed when I said that I go for quality over quantity. And he turned around and rattled off a series of frames with a 24-70 lens....of a time out....he did not even pay attention to see if there was action within his lens reach, just shot. AND POSTED THEM!!! Take your time. Sure you can shoot off a burst, but why post 5 shots of a kid taking a jumper when only one of them might be bought. Choose the best of the series, and get rid of the rest. Take dead times between games, timeouts, halftime to field edit. Even on the LCD OOF, poorly framed, obvious miss shots can be deleted, making the time you spend sitting at the computer much shorter. When it comes down to people sitting at your website and each shot they say. wow, nice, cool....instead of, wow, look at that, another ref's butt.....sales will go up.
Know the sport and the rules for both players, and photographers. If you shoot hoops, sitting down on the baseline might seem like a given, but there are guys that will stand, and walk out on the court even. I have seen one guy (yes, the same guy) almost get clobered by a mono pod from a newspaper photog for not just walking out on the court, but standing in front of him while the action was right there. Stay out of play. Protect yourself, your gear, but most importantly, the players. If you put them in harms way, you will not last long. Knowing the sport will also help you know where to position yourself, and what shots just work.
Have approval to be there. Even if you are just shooting to learn, and not going to do anything sales wise yet, talk to the league. Let them know that you are trying to break into the business, or trying to add this sport to your business. Offer them a couple shots that you might get for promotional use, and maybe that will be an in for you. Also, it is better to have permission, because it will usually grant you access that you would not otherwise have. And if you do not have the permission, and you try setting up on the field, then, you may end up with a short career.
Act professional. People will want to talk to you. Do not let them distract you or irritate you. Yes they may make you miss a shot, but they are also potential clients, so do not hack them off. It is the old, you tick one customer off, they tell their friends, yaddayadda.... And respect the other photographers at the event. While you may be shooting for the league, there is bound to be other photographers show up. Small towns may gave a newspaper photog there. Do not run over and say; "You can not be here!! I am going to have you thrown out." Talk to them. Say; "Excuse me, are you media? Oh, who are you shooting for? Well, I hate to do this, but I am contracted by this league to shoot the action photos for the season. I can not stop you from shooting from the stands, but you will have to leave the field" If you act professional and not start throwing your weight around, you will earn respect from parents, coaches, the league and your fellow photographers.
Deliver quality product. I recently got a non-sports related gig because the photographer used the previous year has yet to provide customers with any photos. Been almost 6 months! Get your photos to the website and ready to view by the customers as soon as you can. Choose a service that works for you. If they have their own upload software, learn about it, understand it. If you make the prints yourself, use high quality paper and inks. Choose a lab that is good, fast, and reliable. I like to have single games up within 24 hours, day long events, within 48 hours. Turn around from print order to customer receiving it is 5 working days.
Now that I have said alllllll of this, I will give you the real key to making money in the youth sports business.
On site sales. You get a second person to edit and print photos, and have proof sheets, or computers with the proofs on them, available as the parents leave, or go for a soda, your sales will go up. You can actually start by taking the best shots from the previous week/game, and printing them and setting up a table with someone manning it for you, and letting people buy and place orders that way. But most people who do onsite and web based sales usually will all agree that onsite sales blow away web sales.
Ok...I am done.
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They perform very well in a T&I setting, they are cheap and because we don't print larger than 8X10, the image quality is perfect. In short...they do the job..Most of the time we even use the 50mm 1.8 lenses...so it isn't exactly how much you spend on gear, it a matter of getting gear that fits your needs. I "volunteer" to shoot action work with a Rebel and 200L 2.8 prime on occasion, but the Rebel is really lacking in that area.