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10/09/2007 10:50:06 AM · #1 |
We have gotten more calls and emails this year then ever to see if we can shoot action shots for local little league soccer/baseball/etc. tourneys and such. You would think this is a good thing, but we determined it means this:
Whatever guys were shooting these in my area, are no longer doing it, and after talking to some people at different leagues, it sounds like this gig has become way more work then what its worth.
Have any of the people on here noticed this trend? It seems that since entry level d-slrs have become so affordable and readily available, that parents are taking their own action shots of their children. |
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10/09/2007 11:03:45 AM · #2 |
Originally posted by ajdelaware:
Whatever guys were shooting these in my area, are no longer doing it, and after talking to some people at different leagues, it sounds like this gig has become way more work then what its worth. |
Plenty of people willing to do it for lower than costs and certainly not doing it at a profitable level.
Internet distribution, internet order fulfillment, digital delivery makes it easier than ever to get set up and provide these services without much outlay. Plenty of people start up, get bored, drop out, but enough to damage someone trying to do it for real money.
Seems like the history of it was photographers with exclusive contracts overcharging keen parents. The balance appears to have swung too far in the other direction. I suspect there is plenty of market for innovative and original products and photos. Probably not much market for shooting with a middle of the range DLSR and a 200mm lens though.
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10/09/2007 11:07:07 AM · #3 |
| Yeah, I was going to actively start courting a few of the leagues around here to see if this would be profitable, but based on what I've been hearing and the trend in my local industry, I might redirect and work on studio type stuff instead. |
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10/09/2007 11:12:43 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by ajdelaware:
Yeah, I was going to actively start courting a few of the leagues around here to see if this would be profitable, but based on what I've been hearing and the trend in my local industry, I might redirect and work on studio type stuff instead. |
It's in general a market that is really attractive to keen amateurs with a half-way decent SLR. Parents that are already at the games, shoot them, take better than average pictures and give them away to the parents. Suddenly they see a potential avenue to make some lens money.
The barriers to selling photos are pretty low (other than a ridiculous investment in personal time - which for a hobby, is free) so these people sell their photos and have an 'in' with the school - their kids go there, they know the people etc. Slowly or quickly they build a hobby business, sell to other schools that play at their school etc. They don't make money, they do it for fun, they spend a huge amount of personal time for little return etc. Then about half way in to a season or after a year its boring/ becomes a job/ stops being worthwhile/ kid moves to another school etc or other commitments come up, so they drop out, leaving everyone else in the lurch. Cycle repeats on a fairly irregular basis, but often enough to make each pocket of potential profitability very volatile. Least that's what the market is like around here in Austin.
Add in the fact that many of the high school papers/ photography clubs have IDMkII's and 400mm L lenses for the students to use and I wouldn't like to be trying to make money there. I'm sure there is some cash to be made, with better services/ on site printing etc, but its a lot of work and not much return from what I've seen.
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10/09/2007 11:33:54 AM · #5 |
I shot soccer at a high school a couple of weeks ago. Had LOTS of "lookers" at the images. Not a single sale.
Contrast that with "league" soccer games, where the parents are paying to have their kids play sports, and I manage to make a lot of sales at those venues.
Could it become a full time job for me? No way. I generally make a few hundred $$$ for a day's work, which is nice since there's a lot less work involved handling sports than there is handling weddings. But after awhile you just sort of saturate the market. After you've shot the kids and sold photos to the parents once ... chances are, you won't sell any more to those parents this season. Gotta wait until next season and shoot 'em again. :-)
There was a big sports shooting company here in town. I ran into one of the owners a couple of months ago (his boy was playing soccer). I asked why they weren't shooting soccer any more. He said they've switched to mainly shooting Dance Studios. You get a LOT of "eager to buy photos" parents all into one place at a time, you take lots of pictures and you sell lots of photos. Contrast that to a game that plays for an hour and a half and only has a couple dozen potential buyers.
I've done a two dance studio shoots... it's not something I have real "contacts" for (and so I have not really pursued it), but I managed to bring in about $2000 in one day's time both times I did it. So if you can get into it ... it can be profitable, especially with the bigger dance studios (both of these were small).
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10/09/2007 12:03:37 PM · #6 |
| Terry - so what do you shoot at a dance studio? Like recitals? Or just candids of the person dancing and stuff? That sounds like it could be a good one to pursue, but I wouldnt know what to shoot at first. |
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10/09/2007 12:52:21 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by ajdelaware:
Terry - so what do you shoot at a dance studio? Like recitals? Or just candids of the person dancing and stuff? That sounds like it could be a good one to pursue, but I wouldnt know what to shoot at first. |
Check out my Dance Studio folder.
I'd love to do some actual dance pictures too. But then you're back to lots of time with low return. How long does each dance take and how many kids are you going to shoot during that dance and how many of those shots are salable? Dance Studio pictures, on the other hand, you're just setting them up, one right after the other. Lots of kids. Lots of sales.
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10/09/2007 01:15:25 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by ajdelaware:
Yeah, I was going to actively start courting a few of the leagues around here to see if this would be profitable, but based on what I've been hearing and the trend in my local industry, I might redirect and work on studio type stuff instead. |
I'm running into a big problem with this idea right now. I'm trying to get team/individual photo work from my local city parks & recreation department. They currently have a big company (someone like lifetouch) who does this work. This company pays the city a flat fee and/or a commission of their sales to get the contracted work. I submitted a contract proposal, and it doesn't look like I'm going to get the work because my print prices to the parents are LOWER than those from the big company, so my commission total that I would pay back to the city would not be as much as they get from the other company. I never expected that having a lower price would cost me the opportunity to have the work :)
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10/09/2007 02:57:54 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Originally posted by ajdelaware:
Yeah, I was going to actively start courting a few of the leagues around here to see if this would be profitable, but based on what I've been hearing and the trend in my local industry, I might redirect and work on studio type stuff instead. |
I'm running into a big problem with this idea right now. I'm trying to get team/individual photo work from my local city parks & recreation department. They currently have a big company (someone like lifetouch) who does this work. This company pays the city a flat fee and/or a commission of their sales to get the contracted work. I submitted a contract proposal, and it doesn't look like I'm going to get the work because my print prices to the parents are LOWER than those from the big company, so my commission total that I would pay back to the city would not be as much as they get from the other company. I never expected that having a lower price would cost me the opportunity to have the work :) |
Dont give them a percentage, give them a flat rate. Ask them how much they would like to make off this, and then do something like for every kid that purcahses pictures, you will receive X, and then you just tack it on to your most common package.
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10/09/2007 02:59:50 PM · #10 |
| and just tell them that by having a lower price, more people will be likely to purchase images, which will give them more money. |
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