4/5 years to turn me into a decent photographer

Woddle

Hi everyone, I pop in here now and again mainly for the random thread. My situation is that I'm a stay at home dad of 2 and have a third on the way. Our plan is that I'll go back to work part time in about 5 years time. I'm a qualified electrician but do not plan on getting back into this.
I currently take alot of sports shots in paticular athletics and have had a few pictures published mainly on the rundirect online mag, which I do not get paid for, I'm happy enough to just get exposure for now and when I look at some of the quality on here I don't know how I could justify charging a fee
I have a canon 400d and the sigma 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 lens, I am willing to upgrade but not until I get serious, so with 4/5 years to put into this can anyone recommend a path for me to follow, do I try and do a course and if so where and how serious should the course be( a night a week somewhere or is there a evening class that lasts a few years) or do I try and become someones apprentice or some other path. I would ideally love to be able to make a few bob from sports photography but weddings and other celebrations would be an option. I'm not looking to make huge money just a little sth that I can call an income.
Here's my flickr if anyone is interested.
Thanks
Dave
My Flickr

Paulw

Why could you not justify charging for your images? Confidence? Why should you give away your images for free?

Looks like you've a bit of a niche market there, with the runners. Why not tap in to it? You may not make a lot of money from it, but it may just pay for gear and insurance.

If you act like a professional, you'll be treated like a professional.

Ideally, you do want a good narrow DOF for sports images. An f/2.8 lens would be better suited.

There are no courses on sports photography. For wedding, portraits, there are a number of courses out there, including some run by DigitalBeginners. Well worth checking out.

Best of luck.

AnCatDubh

Paulw wrote: »

Why could you not justify charging for your images? Confidence? Why should you give away your images for free?

Looks like you've a bit of a niche market there, with the runners. Why not tap in to it? You may not make a lot of money from it, but it may just pay for gear and insurance.

If you act like a professional, you'll be treated like a professional.

Ideally, you do want a good narrow DOF for sports images. An f/2.8 lens would be better suited.

There are no courses on sports photography. For wedding, portraits, there are a number of courses out there, including some run by DigitalBeginners. Well worth checking out.

Best of luck.

I agree with Paul 100%

You should be seeking to 'exploit' what you currently have - access and obvious interest in the running events. This was my immediate thought when I ran through your flickr sets, and you can begin to do this NOW. Event photography is a niche market but the likes of Borderfox does it and does it very well. Start an online presence and figure out how to sell prints online. You could do onsite sales too with the correct printing equipment. Borderfox has previously posted about his printing setup. Make it known that images that you take at any event are available for purchase through your website. I see know reason why you wouldn't start this way. Sure things will improve as time goes by, but there is nothing stopping you from turning a trick on what it is that you presently do and enjoy doing.

EDIT: Don't forget insurance if you are setting out to do this. It will probably cost about €400-€500 from what has previously been reported but it will be peace of mind and money well spent.

Loobz

AnCatDubh wrote: »

You could do onsite sales too with the correct printing equipment. Borderfox has previously posted about his printing setup.
EDIT: Don't forget insurance if you are setting out to do this. It will probably cost about €400-€500 from what has previously been reported but it will be peace of mind and money well spent.

Sounds interesting but I cant find the previous post about his setup. Oh, and insurace for what? Thanks

Paulw

Loobz wrote: »

Oh, and insurace for what? Thanks

Camera gear insurance, and especially Public Liability insurance.

You need PL, in case a player/runner/spectator gets injured on your gear. A player getting injured could cost you thousands or tens of thousands, or more, depending on the level of the sport, and the injury.

Loobz

Paulw wrote: »

Camera gear insurance, and especially Public Liability insurance.

You need PL, in case a player/runner/spectator gets injured on your gear. A player getting injured could cost you thousands or tens of thousands, or more, depending on the level of the sport, and the injury.

Oh yeah, thats a good point actually.
Pity, I cant find Borderfoxs setup in previous threads. Can you remember where it was? Thanks

Tallon

Loobz wrote: »

Oh yeah, thats a good point actually.
Pity, I cant find Borderfoxs setup in previous threads. Can you remember where it was? Thanks

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60769240&postcount=4

AnCatDubh

no - it was actually an image & discussion (iirc) around the event on site print capacity. Not the one where we can drool over the camera setup he uses

can't remember where - i'll have a look and see if i can find. might be an idea to start an independent thread as we're kinda hijacking woddle's original post (apologies Dave)

Woddle

Paulw wrote: »

There are no courses on sports photography. For wedding, portraits, there are a number of courses out there, including some run by DigitalBeginners. Well worth checking out.

Best of luck.

I really like the look of this site and I see from a search they come highly recommended so thank you for the link. I suppose my next question would be are these accredited courses or does it matter, is it more about letting your pictures do the talking. Just if I'm a client/customer and I'm looking to hire someone to photo an upcoming athletics meet, do I as a customer not look for photographers with accreditation.
Thanks for all your responses so far.

Borderfox

Some event want to have letter/s from the magazine you will be supplying the pictures to. Printer set-up is an Epson R360. I havent tried Athletics but anything with kids involved in is a good money spinner, sports like running/gymnastics will benifit from really wide apertures. I got great use out of my 135L f2 and the 85L f1.2 at most of the events I do.

If their is one piece of advice I would give anybody wanting to do event photography is to prepare for very long days with lots of hard work.

You better be good at what you do to, because if your not I will eat you up!!!!!

Paulw

Woddle wrote: »

I suppose my next question would be are these accredited courses or does it matter, is it more about letting your pictures do the talking. Just if I'm a client/customer and I'm looking to hire someone to photo an upcoming athletics meet, do I as a customer not look for photographers with accreditation.

Define accredited? You can get accreditation from official bodies such as ASJI (Association of Sports Journalists in Ireland), AIPS (International Sports Press Association), or other bodies (Athletic Association of Ireland). If you're talking about a formal qualification in photography, the vast majority of sports photographers I know don't hold such a qualification.

In the vast majority of cases, your photography should do the talking.

Most clients want someone who can actually do the job, rather than anything else.

Making money from sports photography is not easy. It's long hours, you're out in all the lovely Irish weather, and it's a case of earning bit by bit.

Woddle

Thanks very much everyone. I just had a look through your site paulw and you actually have a picture of me from your Dunshaughlan bunch

Paulw

Dunshaughlin was a long hard evening. I was asked to cover it by one of the organisers (a good friend). It was a lot of shooting. I think I took about 1400 images, and put together galleries of over 400 images. Some I've sold.

I was there from 5:30pm until after 10pm.

But, I did get a decent position for the finish line.

That was my first athletics event and a good learning experience for me.

melekalikimaka

GCD does a part time course in photography that a few are in similar boat to you, it teaches you quite alot and is well structured with great facilities thats almost pays for itself with free printing and studio access, plus tons of excellent geat to borrow at no cost. Also does alot on the business side of things too.4/5 years is tons of time to become a good photographer imo