I Want to Become a Professional Sports Photographer

[Seefutlung]

Ginoo, I second Imagemaker's testimony, while it's never as glamorous as one dreams ... it beats working in a cubicle for a huge corporation. . I was a photojournalist and I worked for major market newspapers for 15 years. I've only shot one Olympics, the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. This is a shot I found in my garage. The photo is of the Chinese Women's Basketball team from the '84 Olympics ... (this was a reject as the paper owned everything I shot).

There are photogs who only shoot sports ... maybe a handful or two I suspect in the world. Most other "sports" photographers shoot general assignment stuff for media organizations (newspapers, magazines, wire services) and sports is part of general assignment/metro news.

I shot big sports stuff from playoffs to championship games at all levels, professional, college, high school and non-big sports stuff where I was the only professional at the game. In the competitive environment of today's media, becoming a full time news photographer for a major market news corporation is like making it to the Olympics ... becoming a full time sports only photog is like winning a Gold medal. You will probably have to work as hard as a gold medal Olympian to attain that goal.

As a photojournalist I traveled the world shooting news events from the Arctic Circle to the deserts of North Africa to the rain forests of Asia. I've traveled to five continents on assignment and on someone eles's nickel. After 15 years and in my 30's I changed careers so I can have a real life, make some real money and have a real family.

IMO your best shot to attain what you desire is as a photojournalist and possibly working your way into a sports only position. In order to even start you will need a degree in Communications/journalism or spend a decade working for next to nothing and shooting for a small paper ... then a medium sized paper ... et cetera. It was mentioned to get a BFA ... forget it, it is more important that you know how to report than for you to know how to take a technically perfect photograph. Another course is to freelance for sports magazines (print and digital), which will require you to hustle all the freakin' time. When you start out and for most of your career, unless you get incredibly lucky, you'll probably need another job in order to make enough money to stay alive.

Gary

PS- You do come off as cocky ... but I sorta overlooked that due to your youth.
G

 

[o hey tyler]

Ok... Sorry if I came out "cocky," I didn't mean to.

Could have fooled me.

I'm not going to point and fingers but you guys simply questioned my credentials and I showed you them upfront.

If you hadn't posted that you "worked with" relatively big named bands, no one would have questioned anything. I still, do not consider what you did to be "working with" any of those bands. If you were in a studio, with lights, and a concept, shooting the talent for promotional purposes and working with them on a personal level... Yeah, that's working with the band. You were sniping them in a crowd full of people with a 70-200.

I knew this would happen, hence why I put that second sentence up on the first post.

It's actually the first sentence in your post, if you want to get technical. And no, the reason that this all happened was BECAUSE you put that sentence in your post. You came off as a spoiled brat from Silicon Valley with parents that bought you a D3 and 70-200, if that's the way you'd like to present yourself, so be it. I, and several other forum members see right through that.

Oh yeah, post count doesn't mean **** to me, and I'm sorry if it does to you. Age shouldn't matter either. Never said I was a big deal. Simply stated my credentials and got bull**** responses.

Age doesn't mean anything to me either, but telling half truths says a lot about a person.

 

[ginoo]

seefutlung, thats amazing. see, thats what i want to do... travel the world, experience life... travelling and photography are my two passions. i was thinking about photojournalism but i suck at writing... i've never been good at it.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Ginoo, pull your head out of your @$$ for one second so you can find the exit.

Buh bye now.

 

[ginoo]

i love these forums ...

 

[TheKenTurner]

dude please just go you're really annoying... you don't know my life so stop assuming

Hey! I like Tyler! You go away!

I'm 16, I've had some troubles with this forum too! I even remember starting off one thread with "hey TPF Trolls!" but you know what? Instead of being an at money money (@$$) about it, I let them teach me! Now I'm (I think) more respected on this forum! Now I'm always critiquing photos, and getting criticism myself, and I love it! You can't just come onto a forum with a closed mind. You have to be ready to learn, listen to others, and most importantly, RESPECT OTHERS!

-Ken Turner

 

[o hey tyler]

Hey! I like Tyler! You go away!

Aw, Ken! I like you too, bud.

Does that make this a bro-moment? Or a Broment, if you will?

 

[TheKenTurner]

Aw, Ken! I like you too, bud.

Does that make this a bro-moment? Or a Broment, if you will?

Teehee, you called me "bud" :$

I guess so... I hope the mods keep this thread, so we can keep this moment forever

-Ken Turner

 

[ginoo]

i'm learning a lot actually, thanks to imagemaker and seefutlung... the rest of the posters in this thread are not teaching me anything.

i'll ask all of you again, who are not making relevant posts, to stop posting on my thread thanks ...

 

[o hey tyler]

i'll ask all of you again, who are not making relevant posts, to stop posting on my thread thanks ...

Your thread isn't owned by you, unless you are running the server racks that host this forum out in Silicon Valley. Which is highly unlikely.

So, yeah. Totally not going to stop on your behalf, but instead because I am tired at 2:00am EST and going to bed.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

i'm learning a lot actually, thanks to imagemaker and seefutlung...

i'll ask all of you again, who are not making relevant posts, to stop posting on my thread thanks ...

Oh it's "your" thread eh? Let me see that Deed

 

[TheKenTurner]

Your thread isn't owned by you, unless you are running the server racks that host this forum out in Silicon Valley. Which is highly unlikely.

Didn't he say he's from Silicon Valley?

-Ken Turner

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

 

[ginoo]

Your thread isn't owned by you, unless you are running the server racks that host this forum out in Silicon Valley. Which is highly unlikely.

Didn't he say he's from Silicon Valley?

-Ken Turner

-Gino Troian

 

[o hey tyler]

Didn't he say he's from Silicon Valley?

-Ken Turner

Yes he did, bro. That's why I made the reference. However, living in Silicon Valley does not mean that you automatically inherit a large, supercooled server center with offsite backup locations connected via Fiber Optic cable where TPF is hosted. (I actually kind of doubt that TPF is hosted in a facility like that, but I could be wrong)