is the sport photographer a dying breed ?

[picard]

is the sport photographer a dying breed ?

Newspaper chains are laying off entire sport department and print department. I wonder if the market is saturated with unemployed sport photographers. My friend who is a editor for Hawaii newspaper chain was lay off this month along with several hundreds people

how does this affect sport photography field?

[JeffreyG]

Too broad of a genre for me to say.

I shoot sports on contract for local HS teams. I offer them what they want (posters and banquet slide show) and make a nice profit on the back-end print sales.

From what I see of the local professional sports teams there are still professional photographers in the pits and on the sidelines shooting the games. They must be shooting for someone.

[Biffbradford]

It's a changing world. If you can take a better picture than Mom, then you've got a potential market. Find a niche and work it.

[yogestee]

A very fair question..

I worked for a newspaper from mid 1990 until July 2007.. Whlist shooting film we would shoot all the big games.. For those in Australia, we would drive 100klms or more for an ARL game, to shoot a Saturday/Sunday afternoon game, drive back, process and print..

We were part of a much larger masthead.. When were went of to digital in 1999 we used images from other photographers from the same masthead more and more.. Images were posted on the company's intranet Australia wide.. We would also use images shot by sports agencies affiliated with the newspaper..

We shot fewer out of town sports events but still shot big local games.. The good news is,, we never had any lay offs.. I could always remember there being 10 fulltime photographers and two casuals..

Also,,Australia is one of the few western countries which still employs staff photographers.. A lot can be said about unionisation..

[picard]

my friend, the editor manager, is freaking scared for his job. He was told that if he seek a new job before July 1, 2010; he won't get his severance pay.

he is now effectively on call without pay. He stays at home biting his nails like a squirrel.

[yogestee]

Originally Posted by picard

my friend, the editor manager, is freaking scared for his job. He was told that if he seek a new job before July 1, 2010; he won't get his severance pay.

he is now effectively on call without pay. He stays at home biting his nails like a squirrel.

That's a very bad situation to be in

I'm wondering, is he a fulltimer??

[picard]

Originally Posted by yogestee

That's a very bad situation to be in

I'm wondering, is he a fulltimer??

yeah my buddy is a full time editor manager who worked there for years.

[crcal]

I don't know much about the industry, but I do know that the two newspapers in Hawaii just merged into one. That is probably a bitg reason why so many got laid off in this case.

[gjl711]

Originally Posted by crcal

I don't know much about the industry, but I do know that the two newspapers in Hawaii just merged into one. That is probably a bitg reason why so many got laid off in this case.

I've noticed that there is a large generational gap in those that prefer newspapers and those that prefer getting their news in other ways. As our older members fade away, there are less and less readers replacing them.

[Thalagyrt]

Originally Posted by gjl711

Not sure if it's the vast majority, in fact, even our local paper pays for photos used. It might be less than what a professional can negotiate but generally there is some freelance fee. But I see your point and I think it has to do with intent?

A photo journalist takes a picture with profit in mind. It's their main goal, take a picture that will sell. Someone out taking pictures for themselves, and happens to stumble upon a newsworthy event, never had profit in mind. A newspaper wanting their print their pic is enough satisfaction given that they were expecting nothing to begin with.

CBS4, at least locally, likes to ask right before every commercial break, "Have a picture? Send it to us at pics@cbs4.com and if we like it, we'll display it on our website and give you a credit!"

I wrote up a scathing reply asking them to send me free articles which, if I deemed worthy, would post up on various websites I run, including a high traffic forum, and give them a whole, yes, you read that right, one whole credit! You know, because that credit is perfectly good for paying bills and feeding the family. I know I could completely sustain a happy living on photo, or in their case, article credits alone, couldn't you?

I never sent it, figured it'd be bad for business, but who knows, maybe some day I'll pull it out and shoot it over at them.

[gjl711]

Originally Posted by Thalagyrt

CBS4, at least locally, likes to ask right before every commercial break, "Have a picture? Send it to us at pics@cbs4.com and if we like it, we'll display it on our website and give you a credit!

Yea, I've seen that on our local weather as well. "Send in your weather pics". They pretty much have a few different pics every night. Sign of the times I suppose. As photography gets easier and more available, it's value goes down.

[rks221]

Obviously the editorial markets have been hit, the people I know who are still in the business have stayed by adding commercial and advertising sports photography to the editorial repertoire. This is probably the way to go for people going into sports photography. Learn how to shoot sports editorially, but also learn how to stage action shots as well for commercial and advertising use.

[The Moose]

Originally Posted by yogestee

Also,,Australia is one of the few western countries which still employs staff photographers.. A lot can be said about unionisation..

I love that we still have strong newspapers here. I love that Australia still takes in newspapers so much so that there is no real fear like there is in the US.

[yogestee]

Originally Posted by The Moose

I love that we still have strong newspapers here. I love that Australia still takes in newspapers so much so that there is no real fear like there is in the US.

Glenn,,we still have strong newspapers in Australia.. One reason is they are highly unionised..

Newspaper readership isn't dropping, but circulation is.. Many people read their newspapers on the internet..

I love reading the newspaper.. I go to a cafe each day, grab a coffee and spend time reading.. Funnily enough, I read the Bangkok Post which is a damn fine 'paper.. It's the only foreign newspaper allowed into Laos, a country which for all intents and purposes is cut off from foreign media..

[The Moose]

Originally Posted by yogestee

Glenn,,we still have strong newspapers in Australia.. One reason is they are highly unionised..

Newspaper readership isn't dropping, but circulation is.. Many people read their newspapers on the internet..

I love reading the newspaper.. I go to a cafe each day, grab a coffee and spend time reading.. Funnily enough, I read the Bangkok Post which is a damn fine 'paper.. It's the only foreign newspaper allowed into Laos, a country which for all intents and purposes is cut off from foreign media..

Yeah, I can imagine that circulation's dropping. I don't buy a paper everyday but I do love sitting down and reading one when I do, which I try to do every so often. The thing is, even though I've read most of it already the day before on the internet, I love reading it again in the paper. It does get annoying when you notice how much of the papers are boring ads and mindless stories, but not everyday is a great news day so you have to take it as it is.

When the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal broke (I'm a big Storm supporter), I bought both the Herald Sun and The Age to see how they presented it, despite reading the majority of the articles on both of their websites from the minute the story broke. It was interesting reading it in front of me as a hard copy, it was like it was happening all over again.