Getting started in a photography business/ youth sports.

[adampad]

I am trying to start a small business by shooting youth sports such as little league and soccer, ect. I am not wanting to shoot the team photos or other posed shots just action shots to sell to the parents. Do I need the leagues approval if the games are in a public park? Can I hand out business cards? Can I sell the photos online? Do the online gallerys need to be password protected? Any comments are greatly appreciated.

 

[Darton]

My wife and I took photos this year for little league football (team photos). We also took action shots. In the player sign up packet there was a photo release form, I'm pretty sure you're gonna need one of them. Also it is VERY helpful to get the league's consent. All you gotta do is ask most people don't have an issue with you taking shots. Also as far as I know it's ok to hand out your card and tell parents what you're doing. Alot of parents will tell you to take thier childs picture and point them out. By telling parents what you're doing you WILL get alot more business. That's about all I know. I'm sure others will chime in and correct me.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

I've never tried this, but a few people on here have tried this or something similar.

I think the biggest thing will be getting permission or approval beforehand. Most parents probably won't mind and some (hopefully many) will buy photos from you...but you may run into parents who don't want you to shoot their children. If it's a public park, they probably won't have the legal right to tell you not to shoot...but you certainly don't want to make anyone uncomfortable or angry.

As for how to go about selling them or allowing parents to view them...I'm not sure. What works for one person, may not work for another. I think that a website with a password would be a good idea, especially if they could order prints directly off of the web site. A set up like that is possible but it probably won't be cheap or easy to set up.

I think you may be missing out by not wanting to do team shots or posed shots. Those would probably sell pretty well. You could even go as far as making up 'cards' for the kids...those would probably sell well.

Make sure that the league doesn't already have a contract with a photographer, because you might be stepping on someones toes.

 

[Scoody]

I kind of accidently did this year. My wife's niece was playing and we were asked to take action photos of her. When we were there with our cameras, other parents asked us to take photos of thier girls. The next game we took our laptop to show our clients thier proofs other parents saw our work. Before you know it we were swamped. The leauge had gotten a photographer early in the season for team and individual shots but he did not show up. We were asked to do team photos and individuals. It worked out very well for us. I did some quick templates and those worked out great.

 

[gsgary]

I don't know how it work over there, when we are asked to shoot football,rugby,cricket tournaments we turn up for free and set up a veiwing and printing station and sell the prints on site using a dye sub printer, have you got any examples of your work to see where your at

 

[MissCream]

This thread is from 2007

 

[gsgary]

This thread is from 2007

It's only 4 years old, what up with you

 

[Raian-san]

This thread is from 2007

It's only 4 years old, what up with you

Haha when I was reading the OP post, I saw that he only have 1 post and he joined in 2007. Was about to say damn took you 4 years to post? Then I notice it was back in 07. :lmao: