Covering all the teams at a tournament

My experience is if you take good pictures and can get 1 person from each team to the site they let everyone else know on the team. I have many different ways to get one person to the site... you figure out a marketing plan for yourself.

Also sports such as softball, baseball, and soccer are the easiest for parents with decent cameras to cover. Events with low light or more limited access sell much better!

If you have a good idea which sides will progress to the second day of play, shoot the ones that will probably not advance early, i recently covered a 32 team soccer tournament and used this approach which worked well.

eigga wrote in post #5549848
My experience is if you take good pictures and can get 1 person from each team to the site they let everyone else know on the team. I have many different ways to get one person to the site... you figure out a marketing plan for yourself.

I agree, many times I have just handed a few business cards to one player or coach and it has attracted many from that team to the site, I have also found that if you sell a print and organise to give it to them at a game, others see it and realise how good they look and want one.

My biggest tournament was a 150 team soccer tournament on about a dozen fields. The logic I used for that was probably applicable to anything I guess. First decide if its feasible to cover every team... if not, then you need to determine what you are going to cover and stick with it. Sounds like in your case you should be able to cover it all, so that step is eliminated.

Next, I work with two priorities...
1. Get some images of every team you intend to shoot, as early in the event as possible. This gives the parents something to see when they come to your booth or tent.
2. Minimize photography movement... movement is wasted time.

One photographer should be able to shoot two games that are going on simultaneously. In 2.5-3 innings you should be able to get some images of every player on both teams in both offense and defense, and then you can move to another field and do the same, and have time to get back to the table and drop off the cards before starting the cycle again. Honestly, if you shoot much longer than that in one game you are going to end up just getting so many images of some players that the parents will not be able to pick which they want.

By using this approach, you'll have some images on display of all the teams relatively soon into the event. Then you can concentrate on "clean up" and special requests.

eigga wrote in post #5549848
Also sports such as softball, baseball, and soccer are the easiest for parents with decent cameras to cover. Events with low light or more limited access sell much better!

This is one of the justifications for spending money on equipment. If you are using equipment that gets you images they can't get, then you will sell more. For example, I can take the 400 2.8 with a teleconverter to a softball game and shoot some great shots of the batter and catcher from the outfield. There is no way the parent is going to get those, no matter how bright the day is. Likewise, with soccer that 400 2.8 is going to get me into the action and produce some beautiful bokeh that will blow away the average parent with a DLSR they got at a big box store the weekend prior. Also, being able to print on the spot will also appeal to them. I think that just the presence of some big white glass at the event is going to get the attention of some of the parents, which will get them to your table, and will get you some customers.

Another factor in the outdoors vs. indoors event is placement of your table. In many cases with an indoors event, it is possible to put yourself in a place where it is impossible for anyone to get into and out of the event without passing by your setup. With outdoor events, particularly soccer, this is not the case. Parents can park beside the field, and come in... watch the game... and leave... and never even know you were there. The big white glass helps with this, as well as having someone passing out flyers, putting up signs, etc. At one big soccer event, we setup between the concession area and the port-a-potties. That turned out to be a great spot.

CanonXtiDude wrote in post #5547749
I am still learning this business so I have a few questions. Do you have a deal setup with the league or organizer of the tournament before you show up?

Goodness yes...not doing that is a recipe for a nasty confrontation that you will surely lose with the photographer who just busted his @ss getting the gig. If I seen you show up with pro gear and handing out biz cards I would have you removed very quickly.

Taking the photos and selling them is only part of the work involved in professional photogaphy, bidding on jobs, writing proposals, cold calling and all that fun stuff takes up a great deal of time.

Have you figured out how much you need to sell your prints for to make a decent profit? Including all expenses. That is an important step. The reason I say this is because I can guarantee the other guy who is trying to get the same gig has done that.

I don't mean to sound negative on you here but I can tell you have not thought about this much if you had to ask that question. My suggestion would be to go write a business plan, get some letters of intent from potential clients, contact potential clients and write proposals, go through the process. This business can be lucrative given the right conditions and if you are prepared. I wish you well.

Probably been said, but if you are asked to cover all of every game, get a retainer to cover the costs of other photogs to support you. You can always return the retained based on sales (IE provide a % of sales to the event organizer in return). Share the risk.

Sometimes you just can't. I shot a state track meet this past weekend and was not able to get a single Discus picture. Theres so many events going on at the same time (shotput, discus, pole vault, high jump, triple jump, long jump, running events) that its impossible to do everything. The Discus fields were outside of the stadium and I would have missed a lot more had I left just to shoot that. I had to pick and choose on what I thought would earn me the most $$