Highly upset!!

[masdog]

Okay, after all that here is the deal: I live in a tiny town in SC. There is no "market" because there is no product. No one does what I do in my town. In order to get into the state championship game on the sidelines, I had to ask a Newspaper editor who I had never met, one day before the game to vouch for me. The only option I had is to offer "free" product. Same deal with the state all star game. However, there i met some guys who may turn out to move me along to getting paid for my pics put in the newspapers. I offered to set up a deal with the school, they blew me off. I have given high res files to 2 people. One is a close family friend, and is on many of the pictures, the other was a church group who printed them and gave them out at the banquet.

Bottom line, you gotta have a market for your product to sell it. Now, I am expected at the games. The parents, and players look for me. the check my site after every game to see the pics. I have created a market to sell prints, but as of yet, I cannot print them. So why on earth would I just stop putting the pics out there? I am watermarking my stuff now, and I will leave the pics up for a period of time, then remove all but thumbnails linked to an order form for prints.

I love photography, esp sports photography, I will never be able to make a living at it, but I can support my habit with it.

Scott, I might get bitch-slapped by some other members for this, but I know exactly what kind of situation you're in. In my area, it doesn't seem like there is much of a market for my sports photography. There might not be...or I might not have marketed myself enough yet to get lucrative yearbook and newspaper freelance deals. I'm sure that will come as I advertise (but that is a different topic for a different thread...but as a yearbook photographer in high school, I can tell you that some schools do pay good money for yearbook shots).

Anyway, the point I'm gonna make is this - you really didn't do it for free. You didn't get paid, but you did get something out of it. You got credentials. Now some may say that you're not getting a lot out of it since you didn't get greenbacks. As a beginner with aspirations, that is a lot. It gives you a taste of what you can eventually work towards on a daily or weekly basis.

Now, you probably do have a market for your pictures. The school and its organizations, like they Boosters, the yearbook, and Athletic Department, all have a use for them as well as the local newspaper. Parents probably would be interested in purchasing them as well.

To get their attention, sometimes you need to grease a few wheels. No, don't go bribing school officials. But I've heard that photographers who offer a percentage of their procedes to the school as a donation to the Athletic Program end up with a school that is willing to allow them to sell images.

[srobb]

Scott, check out the link in Janie's post. This is the site which I had mentioned that Old Timer uses. They do everything as far as taking orders for prints and sending them to your customers. I think this would be just the thing for you and what you are wanting to do now. If you have people wanting copies of your work, then you have established your market. You just now have to find the best way to get your work to them.