I photographed the BUCS Downhill MTB Championship in South Wales this weekend, something a bit different from what I usually do.
I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to get work like this and then take photographs for a specific client, in this case a PR company in charge of looking after the brands who were sponsoring the mountain biking event.
Tip 1 is: Google is your friend, work hard to get ranked for search terms relevant to you.
I got the work because of this blog and the fact that I started out in photography and journalism (if I can call it that) by writing and taking photos for Cycling Plus magazine.
So, if you google bike photography wales I come up on page 1 of the search results. It probably helped that the other sites on page 1 look pretty naff, because I’m not a sports photography specialist.
About half my clients find me through google and I always feel I should be doing more to improve my website and online presence, it’s the best way to get work.
I know my sites have got a lot of room for improvement, so specific feedback to do with user experience is very appreciated.
Tip 2: Plan, Plan, Plan
Next step, the client asks for a quote. This can be quite difficult to get right and I’ve definitely made my share of mistakes in this department.
If you really want the work, you need to give a quote that not only gives a good price (I can’t help you with that, you have to work it out yourself), but also details what is that you’re actually going to do.
If I’m working for a couple getting married, a big organisation, or a PR company I’ll always include a plan of exactly what I’m going to do and when, and exactly what it is they’re going to get.
This not only gives them the reassurance that I’ll do a good job, but also means I will do a good job because I know what I’m doing.
Tip 3: Have a relevant portfolio
Then, it is important to provide examples of previous work that are relevant to what the client is after. Further evidence you can get the job done.
Luckily for me, I’ve been doing this long enough to have a portfolio that covers pretty much everything at one point or another, so I can get work that isn’t my bread-and-butter stuff, and this can keep things interesting.
From a business point of view it is better to become very good at a specific thing, but I prefer to mix it up a bit because I find it more fun.
And if you have an area of interest, it’s not that difficult to build a portfolio of photos relevant to the work you’d like to get. Simply start taking photos of that thing, like many people do with mountain biking events, and put your work out there.
Tip 4: Your best photo isn’t necessarily their best photo
Photographers look at photos through photographer’s eyes, and appreciate things like nice composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
Clients also appreciate these things, but often have other things higher up their priority list.
With this MTB event I knew the PR company wanted images that showed their sponsor prominently. After all, a large part of their job is to get brand names into the media.
So they were very happy with the image above which has the red bull, bare foot wine and BUCS championships logos in it.
In January I attended a talk by the founder of XSight wedding photography, one of the world’s top studios, and he was saying the same thing about brides.
The photos the photographer likes are probably going to be the crazy technical ones, the ones a bride loves will probably be totally different. Definitely worth remembering as a wedding photographer who you’re taking the pictures for.
Clients often also value speed of delivery way above quality. Anyone whose worked in the media will know this – they’re looking for news, not art.
The PR company wanted to get images of the MTB event out to the BBC. I made life easier for myself by taking the photo above before the actual event.
Tip 5: Take photos before an event
I think this probably applies to most event photography. Give yourself time to play around, set more elaborate shots up, and get images to your client quicker. Common sense really.
Tip 6: Deliver quickly
This is where I didn’t do so well on this job. The bbc were after a handful of photos for an online gallery, but I missed their deadline.
In fairness, I’d had chest pains and NHS direct ordered me to casualty as it sounded like I was having heart problems. Thankfully it was just a strained muscle, but frustrating nevertheless.
The BBC used my initial photos instead, so it was ok.
If anyone has any other tips or comments I’d love to hear them.
Update: Here are images from the event….
Nice shot from the top of the mountain, can’t wait to see all the other photo’s you took!
Hey this is a great looking site, is wordpress? Forgive me for the foolish question but if so, what theme is? Thanks!
Thanks Joe… think this is prob the best one tho, hah!
Other commmenter, not sure if that’s spam or not, but the theme is atahualpa