# How to become a Sport Photographer?



## haring (Nov 1, 2010)

How does one become a sport photographer?  The easy part is to buy those  $5-10.000 lenses...  Seriously, how do sport photographers sell their  pictures?  How do they get hired by magazines and obtain permission to  photograph sport events?


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## Rekd (Nov 1, 2010)

haring said:


> How does one become a sport photographer?  The easy part is to buy those  $5-10.000 lenses...  Seriously, how do sport photographers sell their  pictures?  How do they get hired by magazines and obtain permission to  photograph sport events?



Buying the white lens comes AFTER you learn how to shoot in most cases. 

Magazines are kind of a catch-22. It's hard to query with no content and its hard to get content without getting the gigs. 

I kind of happened into it. I started out as (and am still primarily) a writer. I started writing blogs about my kids, then got a gig doing it for money. It was only like $7.00 per post, but it was a start.

With that I was able to convince some on-line magazines to buy my stuff (writing AND pictures) and had some success writing at places like Suite101 Media, Creative Weblogging, Sportster Magazine, MX Affiliate magazine, ATV Source Magazine and a few others.

I got lucky one day and found a company that made an electric ATV, Barefoot Motors. I went up to northern Cal to do a test ride, took a few picts, came back and wrote an article about it and sent a couple paragraphs to a few ATV magazine editors. ATV Magazine bought the article for like $600.00 and I was an author, in print. International, BTW. 

Since then I've been published in local papers, local print magazines etc, and about a year and a half ago I got a gig with an on-line portal owned by The New York Times Company, About.com.

Having The New York Times Company on my portfolio has done 2 things: Opened many doors and paid for ALL my camera equipment many times over.

Now I've been able to get media access to just about anything related even remotely to motorsports, including some big events like Nuclear Cowboyz, Mayhem Festival and the Dew Tour.

The Mayhem Festival was a bunch of bands outdoors and they had a Freestyel Motocross Team there (Metal Mulisha, who I've worked with many times). So I got to shoot several bands (Rob Zombie, Korn, Lamb of God, Hatebreed) and now I'm working on a deal to get some of that published with music mags.

This is still part time work for me, doing something I love. It pays pretty good and has excellent  beni's! :mrgreen:

It won't happen overnight, and you probably won't end up where you planned on going when you started, but you will almost certainly enjoy the ride.


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## henkelphoto (Nov 2, 2010)

Rekd brings up a good point. It really, really helps if you not only can photograph but also write. BTW, Rekd, not all of us use the "White" lens


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## Rekd (Nov 2, 2010)

henkelphoto said:


> BTW, Rekd, not all of us use the "White" lens



It's ok. I won't think any less of you.


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## gsgary (Nov 2, 2010)

Practise, Practise and more practise


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## FlashThat (Nov 4, 2010)

Get one of these:Nikon Zoom-Nikkor Telephoto zoom lens - 80 mm - 200 mm - F/2.8 - Nikon F

Make sure your camera is compatible for usage.


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## pauliec (Nov 4, 2010)

Rekd said:


> haring said:
> 
> 
> > How does one become a sport photographer?  The easy part is to buy those  $5-10.000 lenses...  Seriously, how do sport photographers sell their  pictures?  How do they get hired by magazines and obtain permission to  photograph sport events?
> ...



That's a good story, I'm glad it's working out for you. I've freelanced for a few international magazines in the past and it's a lot of fun and pays pretty well. It's always more of a hobby than a job, though.


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## haring (Nov 10, 2010)

Rekd said:


> haring said:
> 
> 
> > How does one become a sport photographer?  The easy part is to buy those  $5-10.000 lenses...  Seriously, how do sport photographers sell their  pictures?  How do they get hired by magazines and obtain permission to  photograph sport events?
> ...



Thanks a LOT!


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## haring (Nov 10, 2010)

Is there any money in it? Of course, it depends on your location, I guess. I live in Miami.


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