Good news bad news

Apologies in advance for the length.

Last fall I started taking pictures of my son on the high school JV soccer team and was approached by the team manager to continue to take pictures all season for the team and contribute them to the end of season slideshow DVD that is created by another local photo business. Since I enjoy sports photography so much I wholeheartedly agreed. One of the boys on the soccer team also is on the swim team and his mother, liking the job I did for the soccer pictures, approached me about taking swimming pictures for them with the agreement that they would buy prints from me and would encourage other parents to purchase pictures as well.

So now the entrepreneurial juices start to flow and I go ahead and get a domain name, set up an account with Exposure Manager and start to read extensively to increase my knowledge about sports shooting and marketing.

So now I get to the swim meet and am denied pool deck access (and rightly so) by the school athletic director. However, he does inform me that if I can get proper credentials, that he will allow me full access to the pool and other sports as well.

So, to make a longer story short, I make some contacts and will be getting some credentials this Thursday from the local weekly paper. Good news, but with a bad news twist. I was asked by the paper publisher if I had intentions of selling the pictures, and I answered honestly that, yes, I did want to sell them. The publisher had no problem with that, but said the athletic director might. So I run right over to the school and talk with him and, sure enough, he doesn't want me to sell the sports pictures. Since he is the final authority, I verbally agree that I would abide by his wishes. I did ask him if they had a contract with someone else to take pictures and he did mention someone, but I think the person he mentioned only does T&I and portrait photography, not action shots.

So, I may have to rethink my market a little and approach some of the other local youth sports leagues and see what I can do there. One big plus is that now I at least will be shooting for a local paper and have credentials that might open up some other opportunities.

Does anyone have any ideas on maybe how to approach the athletic director to maybe convince him to change his mind on selling the pictures? The impression I got from talking with him was that he kind of made the decision "off the cuff" and didn't put a lot of thought behind it. I will try to do some research to see if the school does do formal contracts or just how they work with outside photographers. I think my plan for now is just to take it slow and don't push anything and try to do the best job I can for the paper and maybe talk to the local middle school & other groups.

Thanks a lot and sorry for the "long-windedness".

Build up a portfolio of shots from the venues he has jurisdiction over and once you're confident that you can produce consistent results, make an appointment to sit down with him outside of a sporting event. Show him your work, and ask whether or not the contract with their current photographer includes action photos or a restriction on other photographers shooting action photos.

I don't really see how the AD can prevent you from selling photos. You are at a public event where your son is participating and you are taking photos. If other parents see your work and feel they want to pay you for some of your prints, then there is nothing to stop them. The AD can prevent you from getting sideline/Pool deck access, but he cannot prevent you from taking photos of the event.

The AD at my local high school was a little wary of endorsing me as an official photographer a couple of years ago when I started shooting my daughter's games. He said that the school had a contract with another photographer. But that contract did not cover action shots, it covered only T&I and yearbook photos. After seeing me at just about all the schools games (I now cover football, boys & girls soccer, boys & girls ice hockey, boys & girls basketball, indoor track, softball, & baseball) the AD now gives me an "All Access" pass to get into all the events and I get sideline priveledges at all games. I have been hired by the football, basketball, and hockey booster organizations as the official action photographer for these teams.

So, I guess my message to you is to keep shooting from wherever you can, and to get your work out there for all to see. The more the AD sees you around, and the more he hears of parents that are glad to see you there, the more he is likely to give you the access you want.

I would also urge you to get involved with any athletic associations and/or booster clubs your son's school has. This is a great way to get to know the people who run these organizations. Many of them are looking for someone to create action shots/posters for the seniors as a gift after their last season on the team. If they are not doing this now, I would try suggesting it during one of the meetings. This has worked wonderfully for me. Good luck and keep shooting.

mgrover wrote in post #7292037
I don't really see how the AD can prevent you from selling photos. You are at a public event where your son is participating and you are taking photos. If other parents see your work and feel they want to pay you for some of your prints, then there is nothing to stop them. The AD can prevent you from getting sideline/Pool deck access, but he cannot prevent you from taking photos of the event

The AD may not be able to legally stop them from selling the photos, but they can stop them from entering the building. That AD would then talk to every other AD in the region about that jerk of a photographer that tried to get around his authority and the OP wouldn't be able to shoot anything in the area for a very long time. So it wouldn't be a good idea to make the AD mad.

DDCSD wrote in post #7298179
The AD may not be able to legally stop them from selling the photos, but they can stop them from entering the building. That AD would then talk to every other AD in the region about that jerk of a photographer that tried to get around his authority and the OP wouldn't be able to shoot anything in the area for a very long time. So it wouldn't be a good idea to make the AD mad.

All great points so far. I've been thinking and I think my plan is going to "go with the flow" right now and not burn any bridges right up front because that could surely screw me as noted above. I have no problem playing the patience game as odds are that whatever parent is now shooting the swim team will most likely be gone in a year or 2 and I'm in no huge hurry as this is just a side gig anyway. I also plan on talking with the guy that has the T&I shots to see if he also does the action shots. If not, then I'll approach the AD again in the fall and see what can be done then. As it is, I'm grateful just to have received press credentials so easily at this point which gives me primo shooting locations at all events which will definitely help in building a portfolio.

Is it a possibility that the portrait photographer assigned to do the photos for this event is contracted by the board or holds a contract to do all school/sports related events ? There's something to think about, then you're pretty much locked out.

It depends on how old the kids are, where they are at, who runs the event, but generally I'd stay away from shooting kids in any situation unless you have the direct releases from the parents...It's just a bad field to be playing in, the last thing you want is to have angry parents banging on your door asking why you're selling pictures of their kids in swimsuits