PShizzy
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 p.1 #1 · How I got into SportsShooter | |
Ok guys, here it is. I figured with all the talk on SportsShooter, I would show you guys exactly what I put up as my work for SportsShooter to see. I'm also gonna rant and give some advice. Do what you want with the info.
First, here is the gallery I posted for my sponsor to see:
http://www.mackstyle.net/MaxS/
Guys, make a gallery. Seriously. I didn't know what kind of guy my sponsor was, and I figured I'd take the safe route and post a link to a site, to avoid sending him a bunch of loose files, to avoid having his email bounce it back days later while I wondered why I received no feedback. It, even in this basic state, is an organized way of showing off my work, and I wanted to facilitate the viewing for my sponsor. Remember, he's doing me the favor of looking at it, and vouching for me to the peeps at SS.
Once I got in, you need to make your own SS page. They could still at this point deny my application, so again, I took it serious. I reedited every photo I wanted in from the original file instead of just resizing the ones I had in my gallery. Why? Because, I didn't want anyone catching on that I had shortcutted anything and then felt maybe I was too lazy to get in. Was I paranoid? Maybe. Did I make it in? Yes. Was it worth the worry? Totally.
http://www.mackstyle.net/gallery.zip
I spellchecked the captions. I thought them over and over. I decided to keep it simple, but I had read what others wrote as captions, and tried to stick to the basics.
Anyhow, I hope this has helped. And I do have some words of advice.
1) Make a gallery. Show your potential sponsor A LOT of photos. The 10 you think are great might not even register on their scale, but the ones you might not have thought of posting really click in their mind.
2) Respect their opinion. They are objective critics, you are not. You add a certain sentiment to your work (I hope), and tend to defend your work zealously. I know a few of the photos were ones I felt should be shoe-ins did not work for my sponsor. I asked why and he stated it pretty matter of factly. He was right. I remember one shot I loved, because it was the first time I got an image straight out of the camera that matched exactly what I saw. I still love seeing that image. Guess what? Noone cares.
3) Take it pretty seriously. SportsShooter, like any club or group with standards, sets them as a way of weeding out the less serious folks. Honestly, they don't need you, but you do want to be a part of them, so guess who has to listen to who. I would. If you don't agree with this or any of their other rules or regulations, then don't join. It's no shame. SportsShooter is NOT for everyone.
4) Your SportsShooter page is the initial representation you put out for others to see. It is what others will use to form opinions of your work. While I may post here regularly, I only take some of the best shots for posting on my SS page. Do I always choose THE best shots? No, I'm human. But I will say that I try to be even more scrutinous with my updates than I am with what I post here.
And now, if you don't have a good amount of work to post, or need to improve a bit, no shame in that, but here's my advice to you about that
Shoot a lot. And have a gameplan in mind. All the pro's here always have a hit list or a necessary shot list every time they go to an event. They write down a list of their goals, and strive to acheive that. For you shooters that are looking for SS quality work, this is what I think:
Take the shots that were almost there, and look at what you did right, and what you did wrong. Now strive for the same shot, only eliminate the wrong. Simple eh?
I tell people this all the time. I say "You had the right idea, but you missed a detail, so don't miss it next time".
Anyhow, that's all I can say on the matter. But please, don't take what I say as the end all be all way to join SportsShooter,. Form your own opinions, listen to what others have to say. I'm just posting this so people can see how I did it, not how it needs to be done. All the advice is just that: advice. It's not a rulebook, it's just my take on things.
Hope this has helped. Enjoy.
Max
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