Can someone with this job show up on time? No they can’t so take my advice and take your team pics with your own camera.
I scheduled pictures for my four year old son’s soccer team. This was easy- the soccer league gave me one photographer to contact. The photographer agreed to come to our practice. That sounded great because last season we had to wait with all the other 15 or so teams to have our pictures taken TWO HOURS before our scheduled game. This was very inconvenient and since the photographers were running behind we had to wait 45 minutes before the first shot was taken.
Can you imagine waiting that amount of time with a group of four year old boys? It was the biggest headache. So I thought setting an appointment at our practice would avoid another situation like last season.
Today I dressed my son in his uniform and sent him to practice early. I didn’t want to inconvenience the photographer by being late. After all, he did agree to come out to our practice.
Guess who calls me 15 minutes after our scheduled appointment? He said he would be there in 10 minutes. Then he calls back and says he doesn’t know where the practice is.
By now, kids have been playing in their “clean” uniforms and parents are looking at their watches knowing they aren’t going to get out of practice on time. My husband asked the parents if they would like to wait on this guy or take team pictures with his digital camera. We unanimously voted for digital pics of our kids to be taken without the professional photographer.
I think a team picture is a great keepsake. Any kid on a team should have one, but do you really need a “professional”? The packages are so overpriced and you aren’t guaranteed a great pose. Last year the team photo had one of the boys with his hand down his pants! Now, my husband can crop the pics on his computer and email them out to the parents and each family saved at least $20.00.
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I am a professional photographer who specializes in senior portraits, product photography and high speed sports. However, I got sick and tired of the photography companies that the leagues provided our children for their sports so I took matters into my own hands.
It’s parents like you who have helped my business thrive in a market of sub-standard, over-priced, unprofessional photographers. I am a professional photographer but I do not shoot leagues with greater than 20 teams. Instead of the ‘assembly-line’ style of photography that pumps out the same crap you got last year and the year before, my company takes a much more specialized approach to team photography and books teams on a individual basis.
Another thing that sets us apart is that we offer to take your team’s pictures at another location, free of charge. This has created some of the most sought after pictures in our area. We may take a soccer team’s pictures in a wheat field (we are based in the midwest) with a more artistic pose instead of the line’em up style everyone has become used to. We may also take your portraits by a waterfall or a lake or a rustic barn. These backdrops are common in family portraits but never used for a team shot. But since that’s all you moms and dads have been offered for the past ump-teen decades you don’t know that there is more to team photography than the same tired pictures of your players standing rigid on a grass field.
In addition to the creative poses, we also offer our exclusive Team Signature prints. These are custom designed for each team and include every player’s name and number as well as the coach’s names.
And following your team pictures we also shoot one of your games and post those images online for you to view/order at your convenience.
So don’t give up hope parents, there are great youth team photographers out there but they are rare. And if you live in the midwest, check us out at http://AdrenalineImages.net
I know this whole thing may sound like a big commercial, and in a way I guess it is. But my point is that you parents have a right to better photography. And I applaud your efforts to get something other than sub-standard photographers showing up late to your practices. But just remember, photographers like me DO have to pay their bills with their photography so don’t write us all off! Some of us are pretty good at what we do! =]
Shawn Spry on October 31st, 2007 at 1:32 am | Link