EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY
THE INTAKE SIDE — Breaking down the phrase “Event Photography” into it’s two components simply means any occurrence or groups, or masses, in one place for an occasion is part one, and the recording or photographing said project is part two. Events are trade shows, corporate announcements or promotions, holidays, feel good morale boosters, weddings, banquets, proms, team sports, anniversaries, trade shows, fundraisers, political social enterprise, and more. More than twenty people, its an event.
Many sources support events, your local organized Little League games; elaborate intra-company sporting events; community organizations, churches, schools, professional associations big celebrations, parties and charity events, to drama clubs, proms, fairs, and more in your city, town or state, the list is endless. And companies large and small sponsor golf tournaments, and they want attendees to go home with a photo reminder of the awesome day they had. One of the most popular shots I ever sold was one of the participants falling in the lake. We always did the Rotary Tournaments with team and foursome shots many times around a particular hole or in front of an exclusive clubhouse. We called that the “Oh, you played there shot”.
Schools, churches, and other groups sponsor Santa, Easter Bunny, Halloween and other events – sometimes for charity – and sending participants home with a souvenir picture is a big part of how they build excitement, name recognition for their event, and loyalty for future gatherings.
But we’re not talking about just taking photos. To be successful with the revenue-generating opportunity that event photography presents today, you’ve got to offer something more than the pictures that camera phone users, hockey Moms and Uncle Fred can offer, those shots they can take themselves.
THE OUTPUT SIDE — The images taken may be used for promotional purposed, on web pages, programs, posters, press and newspaper releases and of course Facebook, Instagram and other social media with the object of you getting paid for the job. Some of us forget that.
SHOOTING FOR THE MONEY
—
Unless it’s part of your
job description at work or you owe a favor to your boss or company, it’s
another shooting job for you and making money is what this site is about.
As with most sole proprietorships, it is your additional responsibility
to seek and incorporate the opportunities, which are there, but many don’t see
them. Don’t just shoot the usual, anybody can do that with a cell phone
and they will. You need the upper edge, something better. A product they can’t
compete with. Work the crowd, usually plenty of opportunity for something
different in their reaction and emotion. Do your homework, understand
your true cost of doing business and tailor your products and services
accordingly. Keep a close eye on what sells, and what doesn’t, and keep
improving your processes so you can maximize profits through efficiency.
The THREE “C”s COMMUNICATION + COOPERATION + CONSISTENCY
Win friends, don’t invade territories. The old adage, the oldest in fact, the Golden Rule works. Be a good contributor, friendly with everyone, and mingle in a social way. In team sports talk with the parents and coaches. You’ll be surprised at what you might learn.
You never know what sells. Shoot the warm-ups and preliminaries early. Some events use those shots for preparation next year and may get you an invite for next year. They may not be the money shots or the most exciting but, it makes you comfortable with the crowd, gains accessibility and builds confidence of knowing you have images to fall back on.”
Local youth sports organizations want team pictures and pictures of individual players – cheerleaders and coaches, too. When they have tournaments, both the leagues and the parents want professional action shots.
POSTING AND SALES —
If you are using a posting
service for sales like SmugMug, many event photographers, paparazzi, wedding
and sports photographers let the customers know these shots are for a specified
period of time. Hint: Set a deadline for best pricing.
Sometimes a special offer with an expiration date will motivate the lazy into
action.
If they can’t find their pictures easily enough, don’t expect greater sales. Those who see the images they want quickly hit the buy button sooner. Basically test your posting and process on friends and family members and pretend they are customers and fine tune your presentation on the web.
Post early and don’t drag out the presentation. Time is basically your enemy. And expose yourself. The excellent products from the vendors we recommend will build your presence and get you referrals. They not only champion the event, you get your name out, display professionalism, your location and your process. Catapult Banners are simple devices, easily transported, tell your story at the event and define your location. A sign at a Wedding will sell pics you never would of had a chance to sell and cash on line, on the spot.
In addition, a small table with cards, posters, and promotional material, samples and maybe a fishbowl for a free picture drawing asking for the participants business cards might will stir up further business. Be sure to state if you do more than lets say “sports”. You also do Weddings, of all faiths, Bar Mitzvahs, and in the United States the tradition of La Quinceañera and so forth. A small sample book kept handy works. I picked up a June 3000 dollar Wedding from a corporate Christmas Party. Walk through the crowd with your cards, ask the coaches to help you, ask the event organizers to send an email for you, rent the Goodyear Blimp and fly it over the event – anything!
WORK PROFESSIONALLY — Dress codes are important and first impressions count. One way of letting people know that you’re there is to logo your shirts, black shirts pants and shoes, being the most popular but an outdoor event in Florida during August, black might not be the answer.
A professional approach also means being prepared, knowing the venue, get there early, set things up, test, be sure you have backups, know who, what, where, when, the tenets of journalism should be your mantra for the money shots. Do your research ahead of time, and allowing yourself to focus on the things that will result in your increased profits.
THE PLAN —
PROS: UNLIMITED EASY QUALIFIED MARKET OPPORTUNITY CONS: TAKES CHUTZPAH
Photographers who do not have a lot of photography experience can enter the Event Photographer realm with a short training program, lots of enthusiasm and a small investment. Almost sounds too good to be true. Most photographers own a good portion of the equipment needed and other then the back end, the printing, you’ll have most of what you need. But most don’t have business experience. Read my Wedding Guide, business section.
THE EQUIPMENT CHECK LIST: SEE PARTNERS
- A Digital DSLR with an 18-50 0r 28-80 Zoom Lens and a tethering port or Wi-Fi SIM Card
- Our Version or similar of the Manfrotto Tripod with Quick Release
- Tether capability or a transmitting Sim-Card
- An appropriate back drop holder
- Two Lightstands and a backdrop bar, a green screen and several Gizmos.
- Various backdrops and layouts and some specific to the occasion. You’ll want to add logos and dates. With all the camera phones and amateur photographers for competition you need the niche to outsell their just offering photos.
- A green screen backdrop. One key to success is shooting on a green screen so you can enhance your shots with appropriate backgrounds.
- Two studio lights with power cable or battery, preferably with reflectors or soft-box diffusion
- Business cards , brochures and any other material that will portray you as a capable photographer, and business person with a process for the smooth distribution of prints or other final products, cups, shirts etc.
- An assistant, sometimes with on-site production, two might be needed. This is a great family affair. One person can handle the photography, an assistant capturing information from walk-ups, accepting payment, or answering questions. You’ll also need someone to handle on-site printing and mounting.
- A professional set-up. It’s helpful to have a fold-up transportable table with your name and logo. The excellent products from Catapult Banner Company will provide the signage that explains what happens next, what the print options are, costs, and photo customization.
- Location, location, location...In cases where a green screen isn’t appropriate such as action shots at tournaments or shots where the location is the most appropriate background, you have to scope that out early in the game.
THE EVENT SHOOTING and PRINTING SETUP –
- A NEW BUSINESS MODEL FOR INSTANT PROFIT! — - On-site printing. If you simply load photos onto a website and wait for people to buy them, you may never sell enough. Often, photos loaded onto websites are copied and shared without the profit coming your way.
- Providing photos within minutes of when they’re taken – when the excitement is greatest – is a better business model. And with the new FUJIFILM Frontier-S DX100 cost-effective on-site FUJIFILM Frontier quality prints have never been easier.
- But a business model is only good if follow these simple steps. Flying an airplane, scuba diving and other risk provoking hobbies and professions have what I call “The mantra of planning progressive fear provoking exercises”. In scuba, (other sports are similar) , it’s “Plan your dive, dive your plan”. Thats why we must access the possibilities and flaws in our thinking before we venture off. Five easy rules to follow put into simple steps:
The Goals Must Be — Goal setting is simply the map-building of achievement. The best in our society use goals. Top-level athletes, icons of business and those at the top had goals and the winners are those who achieved them. Granted many were lucky, had God given talents or bought the right lottery ticket.
The bulk of us sweated, slaved, sacrificed, worked for it. Creating a goal offers a long-term vision or target and in the short term tremendous motivation and excitement.
1— And the first step is to create a overall target for what this goal is all about. What you want to do with your life, your business, your family, your relationships and identify the big picture at the end of the rainbow.
2— The second part is to break this down into several smaller goals to must achieve to reach the overall picture. You will also grow as you use these smaller goals as building blocks for the future, and raise your personal goals as you recognize your own strengths.
3— Finally, once you have your plan, you start working on it to achieve these goals using some veery basic toolBut we have to set goals that are:
Within Reason, Obtainable, Believable, Affordable, Clear, Specific, Taking into Consideration, Addressing Roadblocks, Possible Problems or Failures.
DO A BEN
FRANKLIN “GOALS” —
- The best way to
see clearly on the subject is to assess one of the oldest planners in the
world. Ben Franklin created, used, employed the technique shown below. Paper
and pen, page folded in half. The left side Pro and the right side Con
asking yourself the following questions: Folding the sheet in half from left to
right hides each side when asking yourself the questions to obtain less
effected and honest answers.
LEFT SIDE —
What motivates me?
About this program.
Is it within reasonable for my operation?
Is it obtainable? Do I have the resources
Is it believably affordable?
Am I clear and specific about what has to be done?
What roadblocks could be in the way?
What could be possible problems or Failures?
Other Positives to these problems.
RIGHT SIDE —
Am is really motivated?
Is it within reasonable for my operation? Do we have the room, size, employees?
Is it obtainable? Do I have the resources like good credit, a good banker, on
hand funds?
Is it believably affordable? Recheck resources!
Am I clear and specific about what has to be done? Be honest!
What roadblocks could be in the way? List all the possibilities.
What could be possible problems or Failures?
Call Sir Murphy-Lawes. Consult what -ifs….
BIG TICKET = BIG VENUE = BIG PROFIT —
-Company Holiday Parties, Company Charity events and tournaments are one of the best resources for the event photographer and the spinoffs can be phenomenal. I always manage to get a few business cards and inquires from these events.
These leads resulted in other charitable events and once even a huge birthday party complete with live animals. Make sure you have enough business cards on hand for your venue and one of the oldest and best methods is a rubber stamp with indelible ink made for the photo industry and have your name on the back. Alternatives would imprinting the border or using those clear Avery labels.
The mechanics of the negotiation is easy. You need a guarantee from the company if they are paying the bill for a specified amount. Usually for a moderate sized company they will purchase a quantity of photos: give one price for (for example) up to 300 units and more discount for more volume at 100 pic increments.
The alternatives are participants pay as they arrive, establish the signage and at one event the welcome shots were also transmitted to the big screen in the hall. A ton of pictures were sold that night. A very profitable evening. More coming.
With the Frontier-S DX100, square 6x6 and 8x8 squares and panoramas are also a possibility. Having the ability to offer these sizes can also be a competitive advantage for you over photographers who use on-site dye sublimation printing, and another advantage is on the spot printing and mounting as you will see further on.
THE GOLF SCENARIO —
- One proven scenario is to
set up your photography station at an early hole, taking a shot of each
group of four players. I have a different approach but it really depends
on the setup. These guys and gals are very anxious to get out and
play so you have to be set up early and ready to go.
- Players can pick up their photos at the end of the tournament – for instance in the clubhouse, where the printer(s) can be located, since there will be a good power source there. I try and set up at the cart starter parade at golf tournaments as they are heading out to the various holes they are assigned to. The following pics covered over thirty foursomes and I think we nailed everybody using Eye-Wi-fi gear to a fixed unit.
You have two other alternatives for making money. Many of the most hilarious and active shots are the "putting competitions” usually paralleling wait times, as the language, demeanor, tricks, concentration defeating tactics may be used. There are more small contests like best drive, and hole in one, win a car usually provide good drive photos as they know fifty other guys are watching them, a best pose situation. Want to make big bucks, take “straight” shots in HDR an see what happens when it is enhanced with the tournament name and date.
To develop tournament opportunities, contact the golf pro at the golf course. S/he is typically responsible for lining up services such as tournament photography. These vents are booked well in advance and they expect in many cases a finders fee or donation.
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