As some of you may or may not know, i'm a photographer. I've been doing it for nearly 10 years (which enables me to conveniently say 'half my life'), i enjoy it, and frankly i'm good enough at it to turn it into a lucrative business. Specifically sports photography. But i'm not here to toot my own horn.

I obviously also love cycling. A few summers ago i started a business with a pretty common business model. Via an agreement with the league i would photograph individuals "in action" during little league games. I would market my service to parents before and after the game directing them to my website that has a streamlined ordering system where you can order standard prints as well as many other items (buttons, coffee mugs...you name it).

I've thus far been very successful (much more than i anticipated) and i'd like to continue doing this but i'd also like to incorporate my other love (cycling). Photographing adults for sales has come up before when i discuss it with other photographers and the general consensus is that there simply isn't as much money in it. This is understandable as parents of little league kids are going to be much more interested in owning photos of their kids than an individual might be of owning a photo of him/herself as an adult.

None the less, if i won a race (perhaps my first race) i'd love to have a photo of me crossing the finish line. If i crashed, i'd love to own that picture of that nasty wreck in '08. So i pose the following question to you: Would you or your family be interested in purchasing photographs of you before, during, and after race events?

*EDIT*

Allow me to add that the way i have done this whole thing thus far does not require any commitment on your end. I simply show up and photograph what's there. If you like something, you can buy it. This doesn't mean that you can't tell me to pay more attention to one thing or the other, it's just that i am not asking anything of you in any regard prior to you owning a photograph.

Most races have a photog, just give it a shot - ask the promoter about getting some publicity at the registration site, or via the announcer (if it's a crit) and have an easy to remember website.

Although, if you can't hang with Ed Rader you should hang it up now. He's the future of cycling photography

* Indeed. Most markets are tapped nearly anywhere you want to go. The photography industry is flooded with people...talent, and hacks. None the less, i'm trying to figure out if it's worth my time to approach this.

time to change your login to peter parker, or jimmy olsen.

I fight a little crime here and there.

In general I wouldn't, but if the picture is really good I might.

Same here. I have friends/teammates/teammate's spouses to do that for me. If someone happened to get a killer action shot of me (leaning hard through a corner, sprinting, gritting my teeth, etc.), I'd pay for it, but not just some pic of me sitting up in the pack.

Again, i'm not here to brag about myself, but i'm not going to try and sell you photos of you "sitting up in the back"

OK Jimmy, show us the goods. Are you Ed Rader worthy?

I've got to photograph some cycling events first, but i think i can hold my own

That last photo just frightens me. The others, pretty good. Not sure if its edrader good, but good.

Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you knew what kind of photo would make us go "I gotta have that"

My wife (girlfriend, then) is a halfway decent photographer, and got the money shot while I was driving a car around a race track. Another car had caught on fire underneath and she got a shot of it screaming down the main straight before the driver realized the car was on fire! Despite using my so-so camera, she still got a shot that had guys with their digital SLRs offering her money to email them the shot.

Until i have photos to compare to you're comparing apples to oranges. His stuff is good...

It's not just good, his stuff makes Graham Watson look like a tourist with a cell phone cam

Ed's skills aside, what do you have to lose? If you're going to race anyway, just take pics of the rest of the fields after you're done with your race. That'll work out nicely, as CATV races tend to be arse early in the morning.

I'm not trying to take anything away from him at all. I have however been around some pretty damn good photographers in recent years

www.sportsshooter.com
check it out.

You're right though, i think i'm just going to start showing up at first. As i said, i've honestly not ever shot a cycling event, but i'd argue that getting good sports photography is about 45-50% knowing the sport. Throw in 10% luck...and you can figure out the rest.

I have bought pictures of myself from a race, but usually the ones my wife takes are pretty good. I have also sold pictures I've taken at races, including the tour of california. But most of the pictures I sell are gymnastics.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the Tour of California, of Aaron Olson at the Solvang Time Trial. When I showed it to him, he asked for a copy


And a pretty good one of Mr. Porn 'stache


A rider from Rock Racing suffering to try to catch the break on the second KOM of stage 6:


Zirbel attacking the break at the Pasadena finishing circuit:


And the break reeling him back in with 1 lap to go:


But I also shoot the amateur races that I go to. My wife was in this race (this isn't her):


And I had some friends in this race:


And a pretty good shot of me that my wife took:

I wasn't being too serious. Your action shots are nice. I agree with others -- what do you really have to lose other than a little time? Particularly if you are planning on being at the race anyway.

To UMD -- very nice shots. I like the zabriskie photo. Nice shot of the 'stache.

I agree with the "too many photographers" statement.

A guy that started riding and racing with my team about 10 years ago talked to me at length about his career. He hated what he was doing (working with spreadsheets, entry level, felt dead end to him). I gave him tips on trying to make each day a different and motivating day, but that ultimately, he'd have to change his career. I told him he ought to pursue what he loves doing. He somehow decided he loved photography (never mentioned it to me in our talks). He took a number of excellent pictures, including a LOT of money shots - the cover of the Giro catalog where Lance is dripping sweat and you can see his necklace (I think a bunch of helmet boxes had it too), a very often used picture of Hamilton with the collarbone bandage on a climb, cover of a magazine or two in the UK (he's US based), etc etc etc. He did this all without a journalist pass thing, i.e. he stood on the side of the road with all the other screaming fans and took his pics.

He got out of it because there wasn't enough money. And he was getting pics in some very good places. He does studio work now.

There are a bunch of photographers in my area that take pics and post them but they readily admit that they do not make money off the pictures. They may get work for something else (wedding etc) but the bike pics are not lucrative. They're all cyclists first, photographers second, at least when it comes to cycling photography.

A company named Inner Mountain Sports took pics of racers way back when, they'd send a proof in the mail, but I could barely afford to eat, forget about paying a meal's worth of money for a picture.

Finally, the best shot of me racing EVER (the race was super significant to me, last race of the Bethel Spring Series, I was essentially tied with two other guys going into the last race, and I had to beat this one guy that I pretty much never beat in a field sprint) was taken by a racer's wife on her cell phone.



I blew it up to post it and didn't know blogger doesn't mind big pictures and all that but that is a picture. That one I'd pay for.

cdr

Well, you're opening a whole other can of worms honestly. The saturation of the market of photographers is an issue in and of itself but only because wanabe Peter Read Millers think they should just give away photographs for free because it's "Just a hobby".

I'm confident there is money to made so long as there is an interest in owning photographs. Any lack of money has little to do with the amount of photographers so long as your own talent and marketing is sufficient. I'm confident in both regards.

Again, that is not to say the general treatment of photography from non-photographers isn't disturbing, and that includes every yuppy with a $5,000 hole burnt into their pocket and the cyclists who come to BF.net and post photos taken by a photographer trying to earn a living.

But uhh, it's not like i'm jaded or anything

*EDIT*
And your last point about the photo is an important one. I've worked as a photojournalist for about 5 years now, most notably for the Daily Iowan, which although it is a student run paper (primarily) the photographic aspect of it is the same as any (IE, 20,000 daily circulation and nightly deadlines). This line of work (which i enjoy greatly) has really taught me how not to miss a moment. I'm sure you value the hell out of that photo, but i know you'd be willing to pay more for a high resolution snap sharp 30x20 poster of it

Woah! Two HUGE throws for the line there CDR!

I've bought a few pics of my race car in the past, but I haven't seen any taken at a bike race or a motorcycle event that make me want to pull cash (or credit card over the web) out of my pocket. I have seen a few of my kids that I'd have paid to have a copy of, though. A friend of mine who works at a local newspaper tells me that if he puts pics of kids in the sports page it sells papers, adults don't sell. Good luck with it and I hope you find a good niche for your work.

I'm in the same boat as you, Timmy. I race but also take photographs. But rather than trying to make a living doing it, I just snap photos while I'm at events and let the photos sell themselves instead of really trying to push the business. I'm really just doing it as a way to cover expenses for the day. Ride for an hour, snap photos for an hour, spend an hour at home doing some processing, charge $30 plus shipping per shot. Sell one and you pay for fuel, sell two and you cover gas. Sell three and you make some headway towards paying for your license. 8)

As mentioned above, there are already photo nerds at every event that usually have the ``exclusive rights'' tied up, just make sure you don't step on their toes or they'll come swinging at you with their manual focus Canon FD and 50/1.8 from 30 years ago.

??

Timmy - I wouldn't buy a pic unless it was some knee-out, kick-ass descending thing. Which would mean I'd have to do a knee-out, kick-ass descent.

In other words, no.

It is easier and tougher to make money shooting amateur sports in the modern day. I found that many many people are satisfied just seeing there picture and right clicking on it directly from YOUR website that you will need to have in order to sell the shot. If you already have the gear and you just want to have fun then go for it. You may even get lucky and break even. At the least you can use the images you took for a portfolio and use it as a stepping stone for your next job.

Yup, FYI, you're going to need to water-mark all your photos.