Sports Photog's question.

dmwierz wrote in post #5238274
The market is pretty widespread. You'd be surprised how much $$ parents are willing to spend on their kids, if you choose wisely.

Do a Google search on your geographic area and "Youth sports photography". Be prepared to be amazed at first the number of companies out there, and secondly, at the overall poor quality of what is being sold.

For the most part, the younger the kids are, the more money their parents are willing to spend, but this isn't always true. Also, the more affluent areas are more receptive, but again, this is not always the case. People love their kids, and they are hungry for quality photos of their kids, and this is independent of social or even economic situations.

I've been doin pro sports much longer than youth, it took a group of parents I know to get me to try and land local youth gigs. Dennis is right, the money can be very good depending on your market. There's at least 10 companies in this small surrounding area that have poor quality IMO, matter of fact I'll be havin my pic taken by one of them soon for a team I coach. Two years ago pro baseball was first and youth was secondary when my scheduling came up - now youth summer leagues is first because the money is good.

Of all the pro shooters I know that make a living out of photography ALL of them shoot youth & high school as well as pro baseball/hockey/footba​ll/etc. Making money as a pro sport freelancer sucks! You cannot make a great living off it (as already stated this is aside from guys who are working on salary for someone and freelances on the side). MANY pro shooters shoot from youth all the way up through the highest level. You can find me at a 5-6 year old game one day and a high level All-Star Game the next, and same goes for many others - Dennis is 100% right.

i see, i had always thought that top level places will have better lighting, in consideration for the media.

I'm still new to the business part of photography.

Dennis, mind elaborating what you mean by, if you choose wisely, how do one go about choosing?

dmwierz wrote in post #5238254
The dungeons to which you refer ARE the places where High School sports are contested, and these are the very places I am speaking of. The difference between a "top level" High School and other schools really isn't that much. I go where the action is and where parents buy the most photos, and these facilities can range from good to very, very poor from a photography standpoint.

I fear you don't understand this market very well, or what the life of a professional sports photographer is all about.

You need to know what sells in your area, and which age groups are buying. In some places, soccer sells great but softball doesn't. In others, football Rocks at the Casbah, but baseball doesn't move at all.

Also, know your market relative to age groups. The youngest athletes almost always sell well. High School sells OK, but most of the HS work I do is through other, larger organizations who market themselves as prep sports companies. Senior portraits are another potentially lucrative market.

There is not many around here from my research. Other than papers I never see photo's on site. I found 2 in Savannah, Ga and they told me they actually have to come my way to cover event's I also agree on age.. the younger the better.... for cost.. I am just working on my quality.. I will be posting a few photo's soon cause I did another shoot yesdidit.

Thnx for you guys input...

I am just amazed how he just threw his photo's up there.. and he says all the papers in his area and even my area buy from him...