Sportsshooter.com

Hi guys,

I know a few of you here are members of sportsshooter.com. After reading the terms etc over on their site it would appear to me that its a pretty tough thing to get accepted by them as a member.

Im curious to know how long it took some of you guys to 'get accepted' by sportshooter. Its definatley something to aspire to and would love to achive one day........a loooonnng way in the future

Ummm.... why?

Maybe I should have worded it better...the images posted over there are something to aspire too....better ?

SportsShooter.com puts up very good workshops. It's also a great way to network with other professional photographers. I've had to pass many jobs to other photographers because of conflicts on my schedule. On the flip side, I've also had the opportunity to be contracted because of conflicts in another photographer's schedule.

As a resource, they are just as good as other photography specialty forums. The get an edge on their emphasis on helping develop the working photographer.

marcatkins wrote:
Maybe I should have worded it better...the images posted over there are something to aspire too....better ?

To be honest I've seen the whole range of photo quality from sportshooter.com members; very good through to indifferent and pretty bad.

When I first got into Sports Photography, I thought Sportshooter.com was something aspire to as well. I looked into that group, started to follow their guidelines, and build a portfolio. And then I found other forums with people who are just as experienced in photography that didn't cost any money to be a part of.

Perhaps someday, I too can be a part of sportsshooter.com. But I don't need it right now. Yes, I want to be a professional sports photographer, but I don't belong in a community of professionals until I'm getting paid for my work.

Hey, smassey, how about links to those other, free, sites? I've been pointed to a number of excellent articles on SS.com but have also been "warned" that it may not be all that its cracked up to be ... without anything to compare with it is hard to know.

Dwight,

For starters, you're on one. You can also try Photographyreview.com. They have a good sports forum.

Oh, sorry, I thought you meant PRIMARILY sports. I am aware of several general photography forums. But they don't have the kind of detailed, story board HowTo's that SS seems to have. I haven't spent a lot of time looking at it, mostly just articles that Gavin and others have linked into their material here. But the once I did ask about possibly joining I got the "don't rush into it as it may not be as good as you think" at which point I dropped it. I'm primarily a Live Peroformance person, but some of my events are sports. Anyway, thanks!

I've only found SS.com useful for the messageboard which is an invaluable professional sports photography resource, apart from that it's not that great.

No worries, Dwight. For primarily sports, there is nothing better. I haven't been able to find a site that has the same type of resources available as SS. But in terms of getting your work reviewed or getting critiques and pointers, I believe that any forum will work for that.

SS.com is a valuable resource if you are serious about sports photography as a business. You can access much of the site without being a member which is pretty cool and can help a lot. The message board is readable without being a member, but being able to post questions is very valuable if you are a member. Also the ability to get to resources such as the guide, which has contact info for different venues and series is very helpful when looking to get info on an event or contact the right person for credentials, or just to find out of the place will have high speed internet connectivity and how much it might cost to get access to it. The sponsors also offer special pricing on products to members (I saved about $500 on a MkII vs. the best reputable online prices I could find at the time) and first rate and often expedited service to members as well since most are working and usually depending on product to make money.

Its a great resource if you are going to use it for all its got, ie. you are a working photographer that needs the kind of info and service it provides. If you arent, you can still get a ton of great info from the site articles and reading the message board until you are ready.

BTW, if you really want to be a member, just go for it. Worst thing that happens is you get a free critique from some of the best in the business as to what you need to do to improve the photos for the next time.

Well, I don't think that my anticipated four boxing matches a year really qualifies me, although with all the help here with links to SS.com articles I hope things will pick up over the next few years. I guess until I'm shooting an average of one sports event a week as I do now for Live Performances I will just lurk. I appreciate the balanced input of both Pete and VW which gives me a better perspective.

It isn't much use to sports photographers outside of North America other than giving a bit of an ego trip to any outlanders that get in. A lot of the information and special deals are useless to the outlanders anyway. As the orginal question was posed by someone here in the UK, some of the answers are not valid.

outlanders... new term... I will have to file that one. There are a couple of UK based sports shooters here that do outstanding work that display the marque, and it surely hasn't hurt them, and if anything they have represented the marque very well - hence the high bar a lot of us are trying to achieve. Maybe Sportsshooter has nothing to do with it, but anything that helps me bridge my skill gap, I am interested in looking at.