Realistic move to sports photography

Oriel

Hi Folks,
I'm toying with the idea of buying some serious kit and moving into sports photography.
the question is - how easy/difficult is it to get into? And what is the pay like?
By pay, I don't mean how much would one earn, instead, I mean, is it pay per shot? Who pays you - an agency or a paper? etc.
And, well yeah, how lucrative is it?

I'm perfectly aware of the costs involved.
I'm also pretty confident of my capabilities to perform successfully on the job.

Just putting the feelers out there...

Cheers,
Steve.

digitalage

If your serious invest in some equipment and get a Portfolio together, work hard it for a couple of years, get your face know at sports venues, contact your local news papers, to be successful you have to market yourself, taking the shots is the easy part getting somebody to buy them from you is the hard part, or else get somebody (newspapers) to pay for you to shoot the shots they want. If you want good money you have to prove your worth.

Morlar

Oriel wrote:

Hi Folks,
I'm toying with the idea of buying some serious kit and moving into sports photography.
the question is - how easy/difficult is it to get into? And what is the pay like?
By pay, I don't mean how much would one earn, instead, I mean, is it pay per shot? Who pays you - an agency or a paper? etc.
And, well yeah, how lucrative is it?

I'm perfectly aware of the costs involved.
I'm also pretty confident of my capabilities to perform successfully on the job.

Just putting the feelers out there...

Cheers,
Steve.

I have only done sport and event jobs for the local rag where the pay was per event rather than per picture.

Same pay for a 2 page event picture spread that took half a day as for a quick team shot.

Also worth remembering that local papers wont pay you if an event is cancelled and due to the way local sports are organised (Dublin at least) in my experience they tend to have a high cancellation /re-scheduling rate.

Its easy money if you get 5 /6 jobs close together but if you do one at 9am and one at 3pm it can wreck your day for little money - specially if both end up being cancelled and you waited till 5pm for the 3 o clock one to start. The national ones seem to be where its at - bigger more interesting events and better organised.

Borderfox

Join the NUJ then apply to get a press pass for individual events, more than likely you will have to have the signature of an editor of a paper or magazine who will take the pictures.

rymus

but to join the NUJ don't you have to make a good % of your income from journalism? And if you're just starting out, you make exactly 0% of your income from journalism...

Fajitas!

40% of your income.

However, if it's your only source of income, there you go.

rymus

40% eh... why that's almost doable!

Calina

not that the NUJ are noticeably photographer friendly lately...

janmc

Fajitas! wrote:

40% of your income.

However, if it's your only source of income, there you go.

Borderfox

I wouldnt worry about the %, just keep plugging away go to a few meetings and you will get in. Calina I hear you, but your either on the outside or the inside. I wouldnt be a big fan of unions myself (prefer to bargain on my own) but they are a neccessary evil in getting a press pass as most forms have the space for your number. One other thing, if you submit pictures to magazines, ask them if they can sort one out for you or a letter of accreditation at the least which can be used to get a press pass.