sports photography in UK - help please

[ausha]

Hi all,

I am very keen to try my hands on freelance sports photography in the UK(football/rugby/cricket etc)

I would be extremely grateful if anybody could advise me how to get into the circiut. My main questions are

How do you get press access to games/club grounds etc. Does the photographer make individual applications to the club or sports governing body ie FA/RFU/ECB

Would I be better off registering with an "photo agency". If so , any idea which one I should approch.

Is there a sports photographers society/ guild in the UK and specially in the north west.

I was not sure what forum to post this. So tried here.

Many thanks in advance for alll advice and comments.

cheers

ausha

 

[Martin Wilson]

You "try your hand" on the local park where you learn your craft and get to know the people and the culture of the sport. Then if you can produce good results reliably ONLY THEN do you try to freelance and that means thinking as a business person first and photographer second. Actually you will find that if you are producing good results at the local level AND thinking in a business like way the earning opprtunities will come from the network you build there.

You don't start in ANY field as a professional you have to earn your way up, network and then you will get better and better access. It's tough, it takes time (years) and it is very, very competitive.

I earned my living as a full time professional sports photographer and went into IT because it paid better and I worked more social hours (only occasional weekends)! And it has only got harder, less well paid and more competitive since I was full time.

I still occasionally go the local amateur venues and shoot to keep my hand in - I even sell prints without even trying but I look and behave like the professional that I am.

Oh and it takes initiative - lots of it. There are no glib answers from this forum or anywhere else. If you haven't worked out what you need to do you are probably not ready as you have not started thinking in a business like way. Sorry.

Pay your dues then good luck.
--
Martin Wilson
Nottingham, England

 

[Vegasluv]

I started out shooting college football, basketball and baseball games. I then askes a professional sports photographer who shot for Sports Ilustrated if I could tag along with him at a local NFL football game. I was basically his gofer BUT he let me shoot images of the players and some action shots. By mid-season, he let me shoot pre-game warm ups. I gave him the images for his use but he credited me if he used the images in the teams media guide books.

The following year, he let me shoot along side him. He shot the offense and I shot the defense. He turned me loose on a team that didn't get much publicity so I took it from there. By the third year, I was part of this photographer's team of photographers.

To break into sports, try starting out with a college team. Go into the university's athletic department. Tell them if they will give you a press pass that you will provide them with some images. Do not be greedy because if you start asking for money, they will probably turn you down flat. Just tell them you will give them 12-15 images for their use. Once you get your images noticed, you will be asked to do other sports for the college.

To break into professional sports is a whole different story. You must be a working professional with a portfolio.

 

[Graham Snook]

If there were still darkrooms you could get a foot in the door of sporting picture agencies, I know, because I did :0)

I got my break because I was a student at college, and was already photographing sailing events, then I introduced myself to a professional photographer who had been hired to cover the event...from that I got a work experience with Allsport (now getty), from that I had a job straight from college with the biggest sporting picture agency in the world...I worked in the darkroom, was up to my arm pits in E6 and c41 chemistry mon-fri but at the weekends I was able to get press passes for lower league rugby and football, and got coverage in the nationals etc..I was also a wire tech, processing, scanning and sending off images...I was also a studio tech, and second photographer whenever I could get time away from the darkroom. And during the london marathon all the wannabee snappers get press passes and access of just go to different parts of the course, and if you get images in the sets then you were laughing...I also got to shoot rugby internationals at Twickenham and advertising shoots with Beckham, so it wasn't just smelly chemicals and windowless rooms

Now your way in would be a a wire tech/computer operator...where you could shoot for the first 10 mins and then wire the pros images back

As for starting off, first you need a strong folio of images, there are thousands of rugby and football matches going on every sat and sunday morning in parks and fields up and down the country go to those and get your experience there...the action is slower and easier to follow...get in touch with your local leisure centre and see if you can photograph the sports that go on there from athletics to trampolining to judo photograph it all and get good at it...submit images to the local papers give cards out to parents etc

Usually you'll only get press passes if you know someone or are working on behalf of someone and they'll make the application for you...or you'll need evidence that you have a client but for all of the above you need a folio

If you're good enough agencies will hire you on a freelance basis...and after a while you might get to join the inner sanctum of being a staffer....but remember there are a lot of other photographers out there who are better than you, work harder then you, know more people and have more experience that you.

So unless you have the energy and enthusiasm to work all the hours you can, and sit in the rain on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of winter in the rse end of nowhere getting freezing cold and wet, then find another area of photography, cos it's not all premier league and F1 :0)

Go out there and get shooting :0)
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Always give the client a vertical-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
http://grahamsnook.wordpress.com/

 

[ausha]

Thank you everybody for your invaluble comments

ausha

 

[Horrgakx]

If you have friends who are taking part in these sports then they can help too. For example I ended up working for a motorsport championship as their accredited photographer because one of the racers brought me along and they liked my photos.

Unfortunately as people have mentioned it rarely pays well and there are established photographers to compete with - so it does take time. Sometimes you get a lucky break.

 

[PaulWa]

Well, I went about things a different way from most. I'm not a full-time professional, I have a full time IT job, but do submit images to the papers for their use, and work as a freelance photographer towards a specific publication.

I didn't start at the bottom (local clubs). Far from it, I jumped in near the top. I shoot sport, mainly rugby. I got accreditation with Leinster Rugby, and the ERC, which covers me for Magners League and Heineken Cup rugby.

My first three games, I purely shot for myself, and my portfolio. I then got chatting to the other photographers there and made some contacts. it was through that that I was offered some freelance work.

Any time I have submitted images they have been used. The quality of my work has been complimented. (Samples of my images available on my website for preview- http://www.photography.paul-walsh.net ).

Bottom line - know your sport and know your client. Learn what shots make it in to the papers. When you know the sport, it's easier to anticipate the action and get the required shots.

With some sporting events, you need access via the local team. With others, you need accreditation with commercial bodies, and with some you need to be accredited by the national association. I assume it would be quite similar in the UK to Ireland.

If you can produce quality images every time, then your images will be used. The problem is competing against the larger sports agencies and the seasoned pros.

Best of luck.

 

[ausha]

Thank you everybody for all your advice.

Paul, I enjoyed your website very much.
I did try to send you a message on it but it wont work.

regards

Ausha