Olivia Daniels 

Sports Photography 

 

When first thinking of a sports photographer, to me it seems simple when it clearly is not. Sport photographers are photographers who take pictures of sporting events and the athletes participating. They must be able to use their artistic vision to capture important pictures of fast-moving athletes and freeze them in that moment. During an event the photographer will take many snap shots. After the event they will go through every picture and pick the best shots they took, for publication such as newspapers, magazines, the Internet, or others for a profit.  

This field has a lot of tough competition so to be successful you need to know what you’re doing. For starters, you need to be an expert in the field, not just in photography but in the sport your shooting as well. You could be an amazing photographer shooting a sports game, but if you don’t know the sport you will not know what moments to capture. There are certain skills in sports photography that are not needed in other forms of photography. You need to be able to have these certain skills for the absolute perfect shot. You need to have fast reflexes; a keen eye and you need to pay attention to detail. Being in this field does seem quite lucky as you get paid to go see a sports game, but you must make compromises to your daily life. A sports photographer is expected to travel to games all over depending on where your company or team sends you. Along with travelling, you must bring all of your equipment such as cameras and lightning as well set it up and take it down. Setting up in a crowded environment can be challenging and quite stressful to get a good spot. Along with knowing what you’re doing in the sport, it’s important to build a relationship with athletes, companies and teams. Having relationships can help you get new and good opportunities like a good spot at a game to take photos.  

As a sports photographer the salary depends on the team, individual or organization. A photographer who works for a team or campany has great benefits, you get paid time off, health insurance, retirement account, and lots of access to events. If you are a freelance or contract photographer, you may not get all of these benefits, but you have the ability to earn more of actual compensation. The most important thing to get a high salary is your experience. A very well-known and experienced photographer will earn at the most $72, 200 annually, but the average salary for a sports photographer is around $35,000 a year. With hard work and time, a sports photographer can go from little to high pay. 

The most important prerequisites for a sports photographer are experience. To get a good job you need to demonstrate a strong background and show your experience. This job can be quite stressful so it’s important to know how to still get good pictures even in chaotic conditions. There are no set educational requirements, but it could be helpful to have certificate program, associate degree or bachelor’s degree. When hired by a company or team you may receive training on the job in terms of how to get shots in certain environments or in the sport itself, training on new tools or equipment, attend seminars, but usually a team will just ask you for a portfolio of your previous work in the industry.                     

Currently there some available jobs in sports photography but not all of them have a high pay. Examples of jobs that are available are: Vancouver Coastal health which is a job that you are required to take pictures of outdoor activities such as fishing, canoeing or kayaking. Another example is Basketball world Toronto which is a recreational basketball team that needs photos for advertisement of their team to create interest. And a final example is a basic sports photographer who is needed to take photos at sports games and sports events for their company. You can find more jobs and opportunities online. As this is a very competitive field, there may not be as much demand as there are interested candidates. These opportunities are usually aimed more at freelance photographers so a permanent job may be hard to find.  

Sports photographers can advance their jobs by selling their work to highly respected publications and by commanding more pay for their work. Some photographers can be so well known that they can be asked to go to huge sports events such as the Olympics or Super Bowl year after year to take sports photos.   

Beginning a career in photography can be quite a challenge. The equipment and material are very expensive. There is also a lot of competition and risk of getting the perfect sports photo, and the pay may not be very good until you get higher up in the field. For this reason, photographers usually hold other jobs in this field until they get some attention and start getting paid a lot more. To start out a photographer should start by making a portfolio of their best works and building relationships with possible future opportunities in their area. An internship is a great way to do both things. An internship with a sports magazine or newspaper can help introduce you to future employers and help you get a folder of work. 

Overall, the field of sports photography is a challenging yet rewarding career. With determination, time and skills a sports photographer can end up being quite successful. Yes, it is a hard field to get into, but I think it is a very interesting job that interests me quite a bit. 
 

Sites used:                                                                       

• https://study.com/article/Sports_Photographer_Education_Requirements_and_Job_Description.html 
• http://careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/7881/Sports-Photographer.html 

• http://career.iresearchnet.com/career-information/sports-photographer-career/ 
• https://ca.indeed.com/Sports-Photography-jobs 

 

1. The strength of my finished work is that I worked really hard to find good information on the job of sports photography. I also spent lots of time typing a well done essay

2. The weakest of my finished work is done of my photos. I like most of them but some of them could have been done better

3. If I had to do this again I would have worked a little harder on taking my photos. I would take more time and not rush as much when taking photos. Also I would have taken more pictures of other subjects