SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

My own practice is to charge a low enough price to encourage lots of buying. I figure the additional expense incurred by printing more pictures is less than the costs of travel, time, and equipment preparations that got me to the event in the first place. So rather than charge $8.00 a picture and sell five or six photos (to end up in the hole), I'll ask $4.00 a shot and sell 40 or more pictures (and come out on top). My profit-by-volume method, though, means that I can only afford to cover outdoor events . . . the lighting hassles with indoor and night activities severely reduce the number of pictures I can take.

But regardless of what price you ask, never mail—or even print, if you can possibly help it—any pictures that haven't been paid for in advance. Too many folks have a tendency to "forget" about their orders if they haven't already put out money on them.

AND THAT'S THE BIZ

That about wraps up my approach to the sports photography business. Competition camera work takes effort—and you won't make $200 every day—but the job is fun and you can, indeed, make a decent living doing it. So if you like taking pictures and want to travel and work for yourself . . . sports photography may just give you your shot at the good life!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr. Messineo's observations come from, the "eye" of experience. The camera ace has worked for several national magazines (including Newsweek), is a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, and has been in charge of Photographic Services at Colorado State University. And John wanted MOTHER's readers to know that—since producing good black and—white prints is one of the hardest photo skills to pick up—he's willing to offer a critiquing service for budding sports shooters. If you're interested in improving the quality of your athletic portraits, write John Messineo, Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 1636, Ft. Collins, Colorado 80522. Send him two or three of your 8" X 10" black-and-white prints-packaged in cardboard—along with a self-addressed (return-mail-sized) stamped envelope aged a couple of dollars. John will gladly tell you what's wrong with your prints and how to improve them.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print