I took lots of shots at a Half Marathon today, can I sell them?

tarmac_chaser

tarmac_chaser

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Carl
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I took over 1200 shots today at a local Half Marathon. The shots have come out well, and while I realise the official photography was being covered by the local paper is there anywhere I can advertise my photos for sale?

I was only thinking of £1-£1.50 per shot in high resolution as I'd put anything raised towards better gear.

Are there any cheap hosting websites where I could set up a web page, on a more professional scale than Flickr?

When I did this event last year they wanted £8.95 for a mediocre shot, just thought I could give people the oppurtunity for the option of another shot they may prefer.
 
Nothing to stop you selling them but to really get the sales you'll need to get the race organiser involved and link to the shots from their website and results page. But if they've already got a tog covering the race they won't do that, if they haven't they'll probably want a share of the profits or a fixed fee for the rights.

You'll also find sales will be better if you offer a search based on the race/bib number - how many people will want to browse 1200 shots looking for themselves?
 
Sounds like a big task but I would go with what pxl8 says.

Good luck and let us know how you get on (y)
 
Thanks guys. I've got some good shots, I've spent most of the day numbering them and watermarking them. I think I'll need to make my own dedicated photo sales website in the future.

I give the local paper a link to my gallery when it's all uploaded, although the quality is hugely reduced so not so attractive
 
I'd charge around £4-5, not £1.50.
 
I'd probably go for around £10 for an a4 or 10x8 or so!

Carl.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I realise the price is cheap but then this is just for the image not a print. I may re-think the price but I still want some incentive to go for mine rather than the official race photographer's.

I've emailed the local paper asking if they have a gap in any of their photos from the day (which is unlikely), and I'll contact the race organiser just to see what they say.

Has anyone got any ideas on companies who do cheap photo hosting websites that let you have your own web address?
 
I really think you need to look into this a bit more if you are looking to make any money from the venture. Firstly you will need to set your prices to the market and selling an image for £1 isn't going to do you or your competition any favours, you must factor in the cost of a print, paypal chargesif that is how they pay, card backed envelopes and postage - all that before your time! If you are offering a soft copy you need to be charging more than a print as you will then lose any potential print revenue. A photo hosting site such as Clikpic or Photium will charge about £180 per year for that amount of images - another cost.

Secondly, the official photographer has probably paid to be there and will not take kindly to someone else trying to sell images after the event. How exactly do you intend to market the images? The organisers will not give you details due to Data Protection and even if they could, how would you reach the competitors to tell them about your offer?

If you are going to try and sell some images I would advise you to be better prepared and have everything in place prior to the event - even if it is a smaller affair, at least you will be able to cut your teeth on it and learn from any mistakes you make.

Just my tuppence worth.
 
I'm slightly annoyed. I'm the official photographer for a motorsport event, this gave me trackside access. I didn't have to pay to get in, but I supply the event organisers with a full set of images which they can use to promote and advertise their series (providing they acknowledge me as photographer). They allow me to sell a CD of images to the entrants for their own use. Works well enough. This is budget club level motorsport at its best, a newly setup series and so there isn't much of a budget for anyone.

Now someone else turned up, was shooting from the spectator area and is flogging a cd undercutting me. They're not the best (neither are mine but I regarded mine as superior) but he's stealing sales from me.

I think his best idea is to take photographs in the paddock - the candid snapshots and things like that - I can't do that, I'm out on course for the majority of the day only getting back in for the short lunch break, which was long enough to take 1 or 2 pictures of each car and enough time to grab a burger and a cup of tea from the catering van, before having to head out again.
 
andrewc said:
They're not the best (neither are mine but I regarded mine as superior) but he's stealing sales from me.
Click to expand...

Market forces?
 
andrewc said:
Now someone else turned up, was shooting from the spectator area and is flogging a cd undercutting me. They're not the best (neither are mine but I regarded mine as superior) but he's stealing sales from me.
Click to expand...

Is the guy selling them from the stands registered as a business, if you sell something for a profit you're a business, you have 3 months from your 1st commercial sale to register with the tax authorities that you're self employed, you can be self employed and employed at the same time so can have a full time job as well.

ask the guy who's undercutting you if he's registered self employed, if he isn't he'll soon lose interest if he thinks the taxman will be after him
 
Hacker those are fair points. But I decided to do some shots for a number of reasons. One of them being that I wasn't happy with the quality of images when I competed in the event myself and would've loved some alternative photos to choose from. The official photographer has access to the finish line in the arena and the runners personal details for sales.

I'm not intending to make any big bucks from doing this, far from it. If I sold just the one picture I'd be happy. As you say marketing would be difficult and this would be the vital part to making it work. As a lot of the events are officially covered by local newspapers I can't see that changing.

I'd like to build up my portfolio and improve my skills, and maybe have a couple of sales along the way. I accept that the more expensive lenses will have to be paid for out of my regular job.

A friend of mine was freelance for a couple of years before being taken on by a newspaper. I wouldn't mind doing the same thing at some point in the future
 
In the South West there are few companies covering races (I'm one of them), the local paper doing the coverage is something new and the tog that covered the race last year seems to have dropped a number of events this year for some reason. Last years shots can't really be compared to this years so the quality is an unknown.

Race photos sell via a link from the organisers website and the runner's info pack and that's a stream you won't have access to. The paper can also promote shots in their sports pages, editorial for free.

Ignoring the issues of competing for sales with the paper who have, in one way or another, paid for the rights you face a massive marketing challenge even getting people to find your site and view the photos. Once there, unless they can search for their photo they'll get bored and soon leave. That's the reality you need to face.
 
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