A career as a winter sports photographer

[lefevonline]

Hey there guys. Im into my 2nd year of studying photography and i was wondering how it is possible to become a photographer for a winter sports magazine. Lets say photographing at professional events for snowboarding and skiing. The reason being is that i love the winter and i love to snowboard. How would i go about perusing my dream? At the moment my major is creative advertising/commercial photography which has nothing to do with outside winter action sports. The thing is that i only got into snowboarding when i was on my summer break, i went over to America and worked at a resort in California during the winter. How do i go about rectifying my current situation and becoming a winter sports photographer rather than a commercial one?

 

[JIP]

Well let me say something it aint gonn be easy. There is tons of competetion from amatuers and professionals alike. You are not the only one who would see this as a fun career to pursue so you really need to work at it. First and foremost you need to become an excellent photographer and then you need to start getting experience. One suggestion might be to go to your school and see if they have any internships available you could mabye start in newspaper photography. Another avenue might be to pound the pavement go to evry event you can possibly go to if you see someone official shooting there talk to them try to get involved with the people doing what you want to do. I can't say something like this is going to be easy but if you REALLY work at it it might be possible.

 

[craig]

Tough racket for sure. I lived in Jackson, WY for years. Huge winter sports scene. I was into the sports part but stayed away from the sports photography part. One friend of mine shoots for the US Ski Team. His business is not doing so well. It is just way too much work to make it profitable. Another friend shoots for various outdoor mags. He does a little better but there are only so many publications that use ski/snowboard photos. I think your best bet is to shoot for a winter and try and sell the photos to magazines. Also keep it is only one aspect of your photo career.

Love & Bass

 

[Rachelsne]

It sounds like your not AMerican from your post.

If you are English and looking to come to America it can get very expensive, unless you have a company sponsor you, What ever you do if you are looking to work in a foreign country make sure you either get a lawyer to deal with immigration paperwork or read a lot of books

Even though the winter sports season is short and most people can come to the US for three months at a time on holiday, it would be illegal to work, as you would be coming on a holiday visa.

If you enjoy it and your good at it, get as much exposure as you can, enjoy it, and maybe you will be lucky and get a great job!