Becoming A Club Photographer

Leslie

Leslie

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Leslie
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Hi all,

I read this section of the forum regularly as sports and photography are two of my great interests and I'd maybe like to combine the two of them one day by becoming a sports photographer. As it happens an opportunity to become my local football club's photographer 'may' be about to present itself. As far as I'm aware it's a voluntary position where you cover games and provide pics for use on the Club's website and matchday program.

I'm unsure at this time whether there is any recompense involved. It's a Scottish Championship team and lots of their matchday operations are covered by willing volunteers.

Did anyone else start out as a club photographer? Did you get paid by the club? Am I correct in thinking that if I was to get this position that I wouldn't actually own any of the pics that I took? That they all technically belong to the club? Can anyone sell me a Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR2 for 50 quid???

Two of my family members already volunteer on matchdays for the club (not as photographers) so I know that their will be lots politics involved if I was to take this position but I can't help but think it's a good opportunity at this time.

Thanks for reading this far and I welcome any thoughts.
 
All sounds about right..a lot of us ..inc me.. started as club photogrpahers at small clubs.. unpaid... if the club comes under dataco as I half believe it will then your correct.. the only thing you can do wiht the pics is give them to the club.. nothing else.. hence why these positions are usualy taken by fans of the club..

It can be a door opener.. it was for me.. the local papers liked my work and the rest is history as I am now a full time freelance sports photogrpaher ... but its a lot of work and a bit of luck :)
 
It's certainly a fantastic opportunity and one that you will enjoy. I'm a club photographer and travel all around the country. I get paid and although I love the job, for the hours it involves I would never do it for free. The club owns all the photos I take for them but they use them superbly and rely hugely on them for not just for the programme and website but marketing and commercial material.

You need to be careful as although they already have people who volunteer for many of jobs, I can ensure you that jobs that require the investment, time and skill set that a photographer requires will be getting paid by the club on a matchday.
 
I don't think you have anything to lose, if they don't pay you could ask if they would cover your expenses.
 
I don't think you have anything to lose, a great way to gain experiance.what team are you hoping to cover
 
good luck.
the only thing that is contentious is the copyright. if you're paid then the contractor owns the use of the photos (I think). if you volunteer but don't sign anything then I wouldn't think that this would be the case.
 
DizMatt said:
good luck.
the only thing that is contentious is the copyright. if you're paid then the contractor owns the use of the photos (I think). if you volunteer but don't sign anything then I wouldn't think that this would be the case.
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Sorry but the above is completly wrong in football.. as stated that level is licenced and paid or not.. the licence holder owns the copyright.. ie the club.
 
I sit/stand corrected. So basically if you shoot on their private property with their permission, do the publishing rights automatically go to them?
 
DizMatt said:
I sit/stand corrected. So basically if you shoot on their private property with their permission, do the publishing rights automatically go to them?
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Its got nothing to do with property or permission Matt.. every single pro football game in england and scotland is covered by a licence system.. you can only photogrpah wiht a licence.. or under someone elses licence... the person who owns the licence owns the pictures and only they can dictate what happens to them.. and even they have to abide by strict licence rules.. Location. players, teams, clubs or payment dont come into it.

I dont agree wiht the above.. just answering :)
 
Slightly different up here in Scotland where we don't have licences and accreditation is at the discretion of the clubs. I shoot for Clyde (not as often as I would like this season) providing images for the website and programme, however, I retain copyright and supply photos to local media outlets. It's good experience so go for it.
 
Ok so a bit of an old thread resurrection here!

For a few different reasons I didn't get a chance to shoot for my club last year. However, that should change tonight.

There is a development league game tonight which I am going to shoot. Hopefully I won't completely mess it up!

I assume if the club do use any of my shots on their website I can put a link here?
 
Leslie said:
I assume if the club do use any of my shots on their website I can put a link here?
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that depends on the teamss involved and more importantly the ground/venue
 
KIPAX said:
Its got nothing to do with property or permission Matt.. every single pro football game in england and scotland is covered by a licence system.. you can only photogrpah wiht a licence.. or under someone elses licence... the person who owns the licence owns the pictures and only they can dictate what happens to them.. and even they have to abide by strict licence rules.. Location. players, teams, clubs or payment dont come into it.
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Sorry to jump on an old thread as well but this is very interesting. I've been covering a local team this season, mostly home games although I can tag along on the coach whenever I want. I've been doing it for free as this is my first season and I wanted to try it and see what it was like. The deal I have with them is I provide them with 6 images for their programs and the rest I can do with as I please, they let me deal with the media (not that they're interested), said I can sell to players and I upload watermarked photos onto the club's website. So even though they are only an 8th tier team they still own all the photos anyway? In which case should I be doing what I'm doing or is it ok as the club have agreed to those terms?
 
As per my quote.. PRO football teams.. so premiership, championship, leagues 1 and 2 all come under licence systems... conference have a licence but without the same restrictions... lower than that not much in licences.. used to be but not anymore AFAIK
 
Ah right, that's pretty much what I thought before but I got thrown when you said pro. The players at the club do get paid when they play, hence in my mind that makes them pros even if they're not paid full time.

That's good news, means I haven't done anything wrong :whistle:, cheers for the clarification (y).
 
Ok so that was tough!

500 shots taken and having looked through them I think only 9 of them are any good!

Toughest challenge for me was acquiring and keeping focus. Any tips for how to do that better? Due to a hand disability I don't think back button focus is an option (but i'm yet to fully explore that)

In general, I loved it. Can't wait to try it again!
 
I don't use back button focus either due to my thumb being broken too many times. I struggle with it.

What settings did you use? Did you have AI Servo on?
 
Was it the Falkirk v Partick development league game? and did the club use your pics? - I noticed there are ten pics from the game on their website. Decent floodlights at the Falkirk Stadium I shot Dundee there a couple of weeks ago
 
kelack said:
I don't use back button focus either due to my thumb being broken too many times. I struggle with it.

What settings did you use? Did you have AI Servo on?
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I started off using continuous focus but didn't feel like a was getting anything. About halfway through the first half I switched to single point and it felt a bit better. I think most of the shots that I thought were any good were when using single point focus.


davidy233 said:
Was it the Falkirk v Partick development league game? and did the club use your pics? - I noticed there are ten pics from the game on their website. Decent floodlights at the Falkirk Stadium I shot Dundee there a couple of weeks ago
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Yes, it was Falkirk v Partick in the development league. None of the shots on the website were mine although I have an almost identical shot to the one of Botti Biabi shooting. The floodlights are decent here and they've been maintained/cleaned since the Dundee game. Actually thinking back to that game I think I probably saw you at it. (My son drags me to every possible Falkirk game including the development league games! Not that I'm complaining!)
 
So I did another game last week. It was an away game so the floodlights were not as good as at The Falkirk Stadium but I actually managed to get a few more decent shots. Focusing seemed to be bit better but I still need to zoom out sooner! Too many close shots with feet and/or heads cropped off!

Learning more every time though so it's all good.
 
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