Editorial Sports Photography Is Dead

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If you’re thinking of becoming an editorial sports photographer, don’t.

 

 

Or at least first read this 2015 interview with five veteran sports photographers.

This short article describes what has happened over the past dozen years in editorial sports photography.

Basically, the deal is, editorial sports photography is completely dead as a market for a photographer to make even a modest living. Dead. Kaput. Over. Flatlined. The best action photographers in the world, who freelanced or were staffers at the major sports magazines, are all out of work . . .

– Robert Seale, photographer

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Didn’t See That Coming

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Why didn’t the customer accept your quote? Was it too expensive for them? Did they find a better photographer? What did you forget to do? What did you not foresee?

 

 

• In February this year, a municipality requested a photo quote for an upcoming economic report. I sent a quote and heard nothing for a few days. Was my price too high? What didn’t they like?
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Visualizing A Better Story

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A potential customer asked for “action pictures” of their employees. What do the employees do at this financial company? They sit all day long and tap away at their computers.

Five weeks ago, I photographed at an office which was an entire floor of employees quietly typing inside beige cubicles. I was also recently at a healthcare company’s warehouse-sized call centre that was wall-to-wall cubicles of employees talking on telephones while they typed on computer keyboards.

Even at a tech company’s office, which is well-known for its fun decor and in-office perks, the employees sat quietly at tables tapping away at their laptops. (This tech company office had no landline phones except for the receptionist. When I stood in this office, the only sound I heard was that plastic clicky sound from keyboards.)

So where’s all the action?
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The Need for Speed

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What does it cost someone on a mobile device to view your web site? A large, photo-heavy site can be dozens of megabytes, or more, in size and cellular data isn’t free. How much would you pay to view your web site?

Here’s a web site that shows what it costs someone to view your site on mobile networks around the world. There are a couple of takeaways:
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Toronto Film Festival 2017 Review

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My annual, ridiculously long rant about the recent Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). If you’re not somehow connected to, or involved with, TIFF then it might be better to skip this post. I’m just trying to reach a certain audience. The reason is that each year, TIFF sends out a survey asking for journalists’ thoughts about the film festival but there are no questions for photographers. The film festival seemingly has no regard for photographers because it treats photography as an afterthought.

tl;dr:

1) Someone must have read this blog because this year TIFF finally sent out a directory of publicists. In the past, photographers weren’t allowed to have this list. The directory is important if you have to arrange a photo shoot with a director, actor, producer, etc.

 

2) Someone did not read this blog because TIFF, yet again, failed to email the list of red carpet events even though this information was available almost two weeks prior to the festival. Thank goodness publicists sent out much of this information ahead of time.
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