As we enter the high school sports season, just curious to see how many folks have a system in place to sell photos to parents throughout the season. Many (most?) of us here are amatuers -- some highly skilled, of course -- and some have a lot of money invested in gear. I've wondered about possibly offsetting some of these costs through image sales. Goal is not to make a profit but to offset the investment. Interested to hear how others approach this. Thanks.
i have a question for all those dads/moms who take pictures of the entire team instead of just their own kids. Have you ever had any other parent complain or at least express a concern about you taking pictures of their kids? People are so paranoid these days...
I started taking photos of my daughter's HS basketball team last year, and I did take photos of all the girls throughout the year. She goes to a Lutheran school, and I know a lot of the parents (and yes some are a bit paranoid, especially since we are talking about female players). I will generally only post images of my daughter, or in very limited cases other players whose parents I know very well. I also only upload photos to a site where I can lockout people without the proper link (I use flickr). I send a link to the school's administrator and the coach when I'm done editing and uploading the photos. Then I notice shots going up on Facebook from proud parents shortly thereafter, but I
never upload photos there unless I know the parent is OK with it. Instead I let the parent upload the photo*.
As mentioned, people really don't mind scrolling through a bunch of photos as long as they are edited and processed a bit. I also find that 24-48 hours seems to be the sweet spot for having people view them. Although for Friday night games the email to the parents from the school doesn't go out until Monday.
Last year I combined my photography and woodworking passions and made each player a collage with some of the best images of them in action and built a custom frame for it. At the sports banquet I presented each player with their photos. I received heartfelt thanks from most of the players and their parents.
Because the school has a limited number of students and no formal photography class (they do offer a multimedia class every other year), they are always looking for photos for the school yearbook. I was asked specifically if I had photos of more of the men's teams. Unfortunately, I only had a few due to time. Because of this, both my daughter and I are trying to attend a few other of the sporting events to take photos. It's currently both soccer and football season. When I mentioned to the soccer coach I was going to attend a few of the games and take photos, he was very happy. Friday when I arrived at the soccer game, several parents came over and thanked me profusely for coming to take photos.
So, going back to what the OP asked. I don't charge, I have a day job that pays well, and I do it for the school and parents many of which I know through personally through school and church.
*Note: I will sometimes take photos where the kids aren't recognizable such as group images from a distance, or like Friday where there was some very nice landscape around the playing field (Friday's game included a working ranch right next to the playing field), and I'll post those because of their photographic qualities, not anything really to do with the players. ... Such as this photo which I posted to FB with the caption: One of spectators at the Concordia vs. Waldorf soccer game.
One of spectators at the Concordia vs. Waldorf soccer game.
