Event(ing) photography

ColinB147

ColinB147

Messages
224
Name
Colin
Edit My Images
Yes
I am keen to do some events, eg. eventing & trials, and sell my photos; however it seems that most if not all these have an agreement with an "official" tog or two.

With things like eventing where there is dressage, show jumping (at least 1 ring) and cross country, I would imagine the competitors would like as many togs as possible around the place. Yet this doesn't seem to be permissible.

Should I (a) give up trying to make some sales from events or (b) try to get an assignment working for one of these "official" guys. or (c) ???

If (b), I assume I the going rate would be a flat £100 or so and the loss of copyright of all my photos?

I'm sure there are a few official togs on this forum and it would be interesting to get their views...
 
(c) become the official tog for an event yourself. find an event you think you could manage and contact them..
 
my question is how are they going to stop you????????
and before anyone jumps on me, im not condoning anything but if for example like the one i was at last weekend,....... there is no charge for spectators, no signs saying no photography, no signs saying anything about photography apart form advert for two photography businesses how can they stop you, they cant stop you taking photographs of the event, under the right to roam in scotland unless we pay to get into a place then we have the right to take photographs. ( with a few exceptions like security issues etc) so i would imagine ti would be ni on impossible for them to enforce.?
 
I am starting up my own equine event photography business and personally, there is no way I would just turn up and shoot (with a view to selling my photos anyway). A lot of the official togs have exclusivity clauses in their contracts / agreements and to be perfectly honest you would be better of starting on a good footing so you can work WITH them not against them !! If you start in the right way then they are more likely to recommend you if they have a problem and cant make it to an event ! Most official togs workn closelywith A.N.Other photographer in this way so they always have their events covered.
Ive started by contacting my local equine tog companies asking if they need any 2nd togs. Most have been very helpful, ive attended a couple with them as an extra tog, made some pocket money AND most important of all is the experience i've gained !!

Now, being a horsewoman myself, I know what venues don't have official togs already in place and so ive contacted them. A couple have said i can attend (YAY) and one other said they have a tog but he is unreliable so they are willing to give me a try :)
I really think this has got to be the best way in !?!
I am also going to offer my local club a deal if they will have me as their tog - i know they do what they can to raise cash so if i offer a small token / percentage of my earnings per photo (first event only) if they give me a trial to be their sole venue photographer, i think they may snap my hand off !

One thing ive learnt is that the actual photography is about 15% of the whole thing ! The remaining 85% is all about market awareness and getting yourself known for all the GOOD reasons.

If you just try and undercut someone or muscle in on their territory, you wont do yourself ANY favours at all !! By all means attend some events to practice and get your captures perfect (i find a non official look helps keep yo low key when doing this - my little boy and pushchair help - LOL)

Start as you mean to go on i say :)
 
I would agree with what Natalie says, some good advice there. The best thing to do is go to the sites that have equestrian show listings and contact the organisers, I used to use Equine Affairs which was very good and there are others out there. A lot of local clubs will have the smaller eventing type competitions where you can cut your teeth and then you can send your images to a regional magazine which gets your name known if you are good enough, in time you can ask them to 'sponsor' you for a press pass for the major events such as Badminton, Blenheim etc which in turn can give you access to rider/horse sponsors and allow you to move up the ranks a bit.

About 2 years I wrote this:

Getting started in event photography

And last year I penned the following thread (this series of shows is just about to start again):

A day in the life of an event photographer

Hope this helps.
 
Fionab said:
my question is how are they going to stop you????????
and before anyone jumps on me, im not condoning anything but if for example like the one i was at last weekend,....... there is no charge for spectators, no signs saying no photography, no signs saying anything about photography apart form advert for two photography businesses how can they stop you, they cant stop you taking photographs of the event, under the right to roam in scotland unless we pay to get into a place then we have the right to take photographs. ( with a few exceptions like security issues etc) so i would imagine ti would be ni on impossible for them to enforce.?
Click to expand...

What happens is after a while you will be recognised, approached by the event orgaiser, asked if you are selling pics online. The orgaiser will explain the 'offical' togs have paid to be there and you will need to stop taking pics.
 
Hacker, your posts have helped me a lot!! I have saved a word document with lots of advice youve given in your posts thats kpt in my folder to keep referring back to - hope you dont mind :)
 
I found especially in Cornwall the event photography sector is full. I work freelance for one of the professionals down here and it's pretty hard work. I think it's very rude to go along to an event and sell your photos if a professional photographer is there, I know for one if there was somebody doing that at any of the shows we go to, that person would be asked to stop taking photographs. It's just plain rude.

Go along to some of the events near you, but be prepared to:
a. Not get paid £100 a day
b. Work pretty damn hard
c. Have a decent portfolio of shots at hand

We get a % cut of the profits made each day, so far the most I've got is about £60-70. Most event photographers just don't have the ability to pay freelancers £100/day. There are normally at least 2 if not 3 or 4 togs at each show we do, and if we were all paid £100, there would be absolutely no margins for the tog that owns the company to take a wage!

Generally at one day events there is one photographer on the dressage (which has up to 3 rings running at the same time), one on the show jumping, one out on the cross country course (then as the dressage and SJ finish those togs go out onto the XC course too).

Also be prepared to not just do eventing, most event photographers cover a multitude of equestrian disciplines- we cover eventing, hunter trials, pure show jumping, showing and dressage.

I wouldn't go for trying to do an event you can manage yourself, unless you have at least 3 other photographers, back up kit, on site printing, someone to run the on site printing, a decent website that can hold a good few thousand images at a time, and every single weekend free during the months of April to September!!

I'd go for freelancing, but don't expect £100/day. You don't own the copyright on any of those photos anyway, when you work for a tog the copyright normally goes straight to them.
 
This has been a really interesting read. it's not an area i know anything about, but is facinating to read the articles from Hacker, thanks.

I can't quite work out from the posts, do some togs pay the organiser to be the official tog? And is that why they feel it would be rude for someone else start shooting and seling too?
 
Jemma B said:
This has been a really interesting read. it's not an area i know anything about, but is facinating to read the articles from Hacker, thanks.

I can't quite work out from the posts, do some togs pay the organiser to be the official tog? And is that why they feel it would be rude for someone else start shooting and seling too?
Click to expand...


Yes, some togs pay a fee to the organiser to allow the to take pics at the event. This is why they feel hissed off when other pro or semi pro togs turn up and start shooting away.
If the orgaiser dosn't control it they end up with a dozen togs at the same event...equals grief.
 
Thanks to all, a very interesting discussion.

I had seen Hacker's terrific tutorial and was following each step until I ran into this roadblock. Seems the market might be pretty much saturated nowadays, so I think the best bet might be to work for one of the pros, for one event at least, to find out for myself, and as you say, to hopefully progress with contacts etc. from there.

Or perhaps contact a local riding school.

It was meant as a general discussion, I just used eventing as an example. I wonder if motor racing meets are much different?

Thanks again everyone. :thumbs:

Col
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top