Hey Guys,
This is a part time gig for me as I teach high school history as my day job. My hobby has turned into a great secondary source of income & I started this business because I was sick & tired of purchasing junk from some of the other local companies & their cookie cutter methods. So this is still a lot of fun for me but I'm making some decent money too.
When I shoot the teams in my daughter's ringette association I have parents pre-order/pre-pay. I have the list of names/jersey numbers with me and I write down what kind of layout (magazine cover, collage, etc) that they want along with the package ... that way I know I have to get more photos of player X vs player Y and I don't waste time taking photos of those who don't order photos. I choose the photos to fill the orders & I've only had one parent in the three years I've been doing this not like the photo that was delivered & that was because there was another player in the photo ... peak action with her daughter controlling the play & someone tried to check her ... oh well, swapped photos to a more "stock" photo look & mom was thrilled. I'm almost always able to get all the photos I need from one game but if I find that I need some additional shots, or some orders come late, I'll get back to the rink to get the shots I need ... with two girls playing, I'm already living at the rinks so it's not as though I'm making special trips. In general, the older kids tend not to order as many photos - they've been there, done that. But some of the families are repeat clients so I still wind up with some orders. The younger the kids, the more orders I get.
The other model that I use where I charge $250/game has not posed a problem in terms of getting enough shots of each player. Normally, there are only 12-15 players on a team and even though some kids do dominate, I've been lucky enough to be able to get shots of all players - soccer, softball, hockey, ringette - without any real issues. For ringette, it's easy to get photos of the players with the ring because it's on their stick ... unlike hockey or soccer where the object can be shot/kicked away as soon as it arrives, ringette actually allows for players to control/possess the ring for 2-10 seconds at a time so it's pretty easy to come away with a number of shots for each player. Even the stuff that we say won't work (no face, no ball = no sale) does sell at times because some parents love seeing the name stitched on the back of the jersey or seeing the little kid kick third base instead of participating in the game (I sponsored a t-ball team a couple of years back & I was shooting the team when one kid decided to kick the base ... got the shot with her back to me & my company name showing on her shirt!! Sold a bunch of those photos).
Prior to shooting the game I let it be known with the coaches & parents that some kids just don't GET the ball/puck/ring and that sometimes I can't get the shot as it was at the opposite end of the field ... so they know that there's no guarantee BUT I'll do whatever I can to try and get the shot and the parents of the teams that I've shot so far have been great with this. I also ask the coaches of the younger teams who some of the weaker players are so I can try my hardest to get a couple of photos of them. One parent inquired as to what I would do if they simply did not like any of the photos. I said if they truly felt that the images did not convey the personality, heart, enthusiasm or skill of their child I would give them back their portion of my fee (this father was satisfied & once he saw the photos he ordered $50 worth of additional photos). Only twice have I had to go back and shoot a second game - once because the player was absent (I also ask for a spreadsheet of the players names, numbers & parent email addresses & the manager & I try to pick a game when we know that all players will be in attendance, especially for soccer teams as vacations tend to get in the way) and because one player was injured during the game. So, yes it is a bit maddening trying to remember if I got enough shots of each kid but I'm only shooting one of the teams so I don't have to worry about all the kids on the ice/field.
For me, getting paid up front is huge as trying to hand out cards and hope that people go to my site ... well, it doesn't really work. The equestrian shows that I've covered have had announcements stating that I was onsite & I had photo samples, signs, even had my iPad with the photos on it for people to see & place orders ... still made $800 in sales at one of the shows, but that's over two days & could have been more if I was able to get more people to see the photos & order while at the event vs hoping someone would bother to check out my website. Marketing/business end of things should take up 90% of your energy & only 10% is the shooting ... getting people to see the photos is the age old issue when shooting sports.
Take care,
Brent