How to become a Sport Photographer?

[haring]

How does one become a sport photographer? The easy part is to buy those $5-10.000 lenses... Seriously, how do sport photographers sell their pictures? How do they get hired by magazines and obtain permission to photograph sport events?

[timbertoes]

You mean the $25 they get for a picture ?

[bigjon0107]

Long process condensed. Shoot little league, master it, get noticed. Shoot high school, master it, get noticed by an editor. Shoot some smaller college stuff, impress your editor, make contacts, move up. Get up to professional, realize you made more money with little league and be happy shooting back where you started :).

But really, it all comes with mastering each sport at whatever level you can shoot, developing a portfolio, and make contacts where you can.

Here is a great thread going on over on SportsShooter. Not all of it will apply, but there is good info in there:
SportsShooter.com - How to internship/shoot professional sports?

Edit: Just reread the part about how to sell pictures, it all depends on who you are shooting for. Personally, I mostly profit from being paid for my time to shoot. Others will work on spec. It all depends.

[Tom]

It depends. Do you want to make money at it or do you want to shoot big events?

If you want to make money at it, little league and T&I is where it is at.

If you want to shoot big events, be prepared to invest a lot of cash with little to no financial return. I think there are ~3 full-time sports photographers for the entire Houston metro area.

[toverman]

I've got a buddy who does OK shooting professional events in DFW for publications and Web sites. His path started shooting for newspapers, including major papers in Chicago. Now he shoots for publications and a sports-photo service that zaps images to Web sites. One thing that makes him stand out in my mind is that he is consistent, reliable and versatile in just about every major sport at the high school, college and professional level. He has some nice glass and fast cameras, but not necessarily the latest and greatest. He also doesn't do it for the money.

[haring]

Thanks for the info! :) I thought there is money in it. But it looks like it doesn't.....:(

[kayumangi]

Here's a thought, if you wanna get rich don't be a photographer. Shoot because you love to.

[seamonkey03]

I know a girl who is the photog for a college V-ball team. She makes $100 for each game she goes to. Good money if you consider the time for the game to take the photos, but not so much if you look at the lens (Canon EF 75-200mmL IS) she had to buy and the fact that the season only goes through the fall. And that she only shoots 1-2 games/week.

And yes, little league is where it's at. I just made more than her doing a softball game full of 8 year-olds. Parents are willing to pay to get pics of their kids playing!

[Tom]

I know a girl who is the photog for a college V-ball team. She makes $100 for each game she goes to. Good money if you consider the time for the game to take the photos, but not so much if you look at the lens (Canon EF 75-200mmL IS) she had to buy and the fact that the season only goes through the fall. And that she only shoots 1-2 games/week.

A volleyball match lasts about 2 hours. Plus you gotta get there for warmups. ~3 hours shooting.
How much post do they require her to do? Burn a disc? Delete the OOF and bad shots? Enhance them? Keyword with player names? If she has to caption, keyword and edit, that could easily be another 5 hours. If she just sorts them and deletes the uggos, its probably 1 hour.

So Uncle Sam takes 1/3rd.

If you have to edit, you spend 8 hours. If you don't you spend 4 hours. Travel time, time cleaning lenses and sensors not included.
If she has to edit/keyword/caption, she is getting ~$8/hour after taxes. If she just culls, she makes ~$16/hour after taxes.

Takes a lot of hours to get a 70-200.

[haring]

Originally Posted by seamonkey03

i know a girl who is the photog for a college v-ball team. She makes $100 for each game she goes to. Good money if you consider the time for the game to take the photos, but not so much if you look at the lens (canon ef 75-200mml is) she had to buy and the fact that the season only goes through the fall. And that she only shoots 1-2 games/week.

And yes, little league is where it's at. I just made more than her doing a softball game full of 8 year-olds. Parents are willing to pay to get pics of their kids playing!

wow! :(

[seamonkey03]

I know she burns them to CD for the team's coach, along with minimal editing I'm pretty sure. And yes, she goes through and takes out the bad ones. As for taxes I don't think she even files them for her business, so I guess she's making a little more. Funny thing is, she laughed at the idea of doing little league because it was a "step down". I do little league 3 nights a week and make $400 a night for 3 games (1 hour each), before taxes. She thinks the big money is in the major leagues!

[Tom]

As someone who shoots all the major sports, she is wrong.
This week, my schedule is:
Rockets vs Nuggets
Rockets vs Hornets
Oklahoma vs Texas A&M
Chargers vs Texans

She pretty much has to file for her taxes. I don't know a college that would pay without a tax ID or SSN. She's going to have major problems if she doesn't.

Funny thing is, she laughed at the idea of doing little league because it was a "step down".

It certainly is a step down in terms of prestige. I get a half dozen calls or emails a week asking if they can assist me at a Rockets or Texans game. But you can make really good money if you know how to run a business and shoot kid sports. Very few people make good money at pro sports, and the ones that do have had decades of experience.

[Mr. B]

Originally Posted by timbertoes

You mean the $25 they get for a picture ?

Hahaha
This made me laugh so hard.

[d2creative]

Originally Posted by kayumangi

Here's a thought, if you wanna get rich don't be a photographer. Shoot because you love to.

Agreed.

Forget the equipment and forget trying to make money.
Just shoot. Shoot some more. Then keep shooting.
And if you are good, things will fall into place over time.

[crazyfoo]

Originally Posted by d2creative

Agreed.

Forget the equipment and forget trying to make money.
Just shoot. Shoot some more. Then keep shooting.
And if you are good, things will fall into place over time.

not exactly the best business model if you want to put food on the table and have a place to live.