Contract for an MMA fight.

<p>I just have a few questions about contracts. Since I am pretty new to the whole thing. I was wondering if someone can point me to a generic contract that I can modify for my own events. The second question is, we have already discussed the fee and what images/rights they are going to have when I give them the images. I told them that I charge a nominal fee to them and hand out cards at the ring for the fighters to purchase prints. So the question is how would I go about wording that. The next question I have is how would I go about getting the images published in local/national papers/sites and stuff.<br>

I know there is no real short cut or fast track other than putting in the leg work which I have been doing for over a year and I finally have gotten a paid job.<br>

Any help would be greatly appreciated.<br>

Thanks,<br>

Mike</p><div></div>

<p>I have shot two UFC events over the past 2 yrs and you are BLESSED to get credentials to be able to get ringside for a serious MMA event. I am a featured photographer yet considered a "unpaid yet compensated" CONTRIBUTOR to my website but I get ringside to MMA,pro boxing( Vegas, LA and not the local gym) and even more elusive UFC events plus perks such as 2 great seats for my efforts and RINGSIDE , in front of the high rollers paying $600-750 PER SEAT. Part of my "payment" for my shooting is those 2 tickets, my placement ringside at the hottest ticket this side of the Superbowl and all images once posted FIRST to my website that got me the credentials was the images that must be submitted with 6 hrs of the event. But after 48hrs, I am allowed to sell the images I took were MY PROPERTY to sell for to whoever and whatever for whatever price I quoted the fighters management/websites that contacted me by seeing my work on the internet. I have sold to various magazines and come fighters for basically the standard rate for publication but i set the price regardless of a contact once the price is made via paypal or western union. You are not going to make big money off one fighter or even a slew of fighters since minor MMA events are a dime a dozen. My advice to you is to enjoy the action and if you get $50 for photo, consider yourself lucky. I have made more money shooting and selling high football photos and unless you have a major fight website presenting you images, nobody knows your name or seen your images even if you handed out a 1000 business cards at a 500 person event. If you are new the game, welcome.... but as right now, I really don't think have to worry about contracts unless you being flooded with purchase requests. Right now I suggest submitting your work to various websites FOR FREE and local news agencies to start to get serious fights credentials ,if for nothing more than getting ringside at more than the 350 people events that saw the local *MMA* event at the fairgrounds or local high school. I never knew a sportsphotographer that ever really dealt with a contract other than one dealing with a major sport publication akas SI or a electronic games maker or Cable TV special. In the dealing I have know of, it basically CASH AND CARRY. And here is a hint....most fighters,boxing or MMA are tight budget and most managers and promoters are notorious tightwads...as are most newspapers. get what you can and most important of all, get it to then FAST. We shoot sports and not weddings or corporate events and in sports, each day you waste getting the images to your customer is another day for the price offered to be lowered. Shoot fast and sell faster.</p>

<p>Hello Mike and Armando<br>

Nice photo. I am starting to do something similar but with bodybuilding rather than MMA. I am just currious as to what you are using for equipment to capture these fights. I assume you have a fairly fast lens and don't need much zoom? Are you able to shoot with a flash and tripod and do you find you need either?<br>

Thanks</p>

 

<p>Hello Mike and Armando<br>

Nice photo. I am starting to do something similar but with bodybuilding rather than MMA. I am just currious as to what you are using for equipment to capture these fights. I assume you have a fairly fast lens and don't need much zoom? Are you able to shoot with a flash and tripod and do you find you need either?<br>

Thanks</p>

 

<p>I use mainly 2 lenses for these fights and they are fast. Since I shoot with an Olympus I have a 14-35mm f2.0 and a 35-100mm f2.0. The 35-100 can be overkill at some shows but I like it. I do not use flash as it might get into the fighters eyes for a quick second and just not so professional. I also do not use a tripod. I set to ISO 800 and dont really have an issue. But I am a beginner here. Armando might be a better person to ask.<br>

Mike</p>

<p>I use a D2h body with D200 backup camera and a 17-55mm F2.8 Nikkor and 85mm f1.8. I used to take a 80-200mm f2.8 but it was too heavy and too long and found the 85mm much quicker to focus. For boxing, I use the 17-55mm 90% of the time since the action moves all over the ring and sometimes they are on the ropes on top of you or across the ring and you need to zoom in and out constantly. For MMA, I tended to use the 85mm more since the big aperture will help make the wire/cage dissappear but you have to tend to shoot more when they are at the farther end of the cage but the action is slower than boxing and you have time to compose a shot.<br>

Depending on lighting, I set my cameras to 800-1000 asa and shoot at f2.8( or 1.8 but you need to be sure you are dead nuts in focus since the wide aperture is not very forgiving) at 1/400-1/500 sec....Manual mode. At first I only used INCANDESCENT or Florescent white balance but found too much variation in tone. Some shots were fine but then other times had a warm reddish tone or colder bluishish tone. I shoot JPG FINE LARGE since I have no time to use Photoshop or Nikon View,etc and got to get the shots off to my editors within 6-8hrs and I have to filter thru anywhere from 1000-1500 shots and always resize and crop and sometimes use my softwares basic color correction mode.</p>

<p>THEN I asked a fellow photographer what setting he was using and he had an EXPODISC and took a few sample shots and told me " the colors are coming out great at 3400k.."..I had no idea when he was talking about until I played with the white balance menu and realized there was a color temperture in the white balance menu " PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USING CAMERA"...DUHHH<br>

Since that day, 99% of my shots have perfect white balance and I rarely have to use any enhancement for color value even tho sometimes I do get a slighty over exposed or under exposed shot but thats mainly due the venue dimming down and then then turning up the lights before/during and after a fight. it sometimes takes a few minutes for the lights to come back to full intensity and your white balance is all screwed up for while.</p>

<p>And FLASH is not allowed at all....ever... Except to shoot pics of the ring girls or the winner AFTER the fight....fire off a strobe in the middle of a fight and you will have security throw you into the parking lot..... And in a major event, tripods/monopods are not allowed either unless you have the bad luck to be placed at the Auxiliary photo seats usually placed in the corners of the 2nd level, maybe 100-150-200ft away from the action. I have seen guys carry 400mm F2.8 lenses into venues with knee pads and 3 camera bodies and monopods and monopod folding chairs like for the horse races.</p>

<p>You guys email me and let me know what major metropolitan area you live in and I may be able to direct you to my editor since we are a worldwide internet venue but dont always have coverage in all parts of the US....have some of your best work ready to send less than 100kb for review and MAYBE you can get some real fight venues and perhaps, even a much sought after UFC/MMA/ pro boxing venues.<br>

<a href="mailto:toucan@mindspring.com">toucan@mindspring.com</a></p>

<p> </p><div></div>

<p>Thank you both this is good information. Armando I in Vancouver, BC Canada.<br>

I haven't tried shooting MMA, just bodybuilding. I have found the lighting makes things a little tough sometimes. Usually I need to shoot from the back of the auditoriums which has presented some challenges with the lenses, the last time out I had the ISO set at 1600 and wound up with some pretty noisy images.<br>

They don't move as fast as boxers or MMA but they do need a reasonable fast shutter speed. I think this is a good excuse to invest in some faster lenses.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I do not use flash as it might get into the fighters eyes for a quick second and just not so professional.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I don't know of any state that allows flash for fights. You would get ejected for using it, so it's not your choice. However, I'm not sure how much it bothers fighters, it used to be common in the days of slow film to shoot fights with flash. I shot Frank Shamrock training for his April 11 fight yesterday and he said flash was fine, I was shooting very close since it was training and there was no cage. It never bothered him.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I told them that I charge a nominal fee to them and hand out cards at the ring for the fighters to purchase prints.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Good luck with that, I haven't been asked for prints by fighters in over two years. They want web-sized images, you aren't going to get much for that. Also, I do give out cards but have had exactly one fighter that followed up from the card. It is far better to call the studio or gym later.</p>

<p>Regarding the original question, I have found that most don't really want to do contracts. I am paid to be there and give them web-sized jpegs. I sometimes get additional pay for high-res jpegs later, but I also sell them to magazines and book publishers. I have never had anyone miss a payment. I use contracts with the publishers, I get payment before publication.</p>

<p>Regarding equipment, I shoot with a 1DMk3 and a 24-70/2.8. This is the most popular setup I see at the fights I shoot, although some have a second camera with a 70-200/2.8. I have an 85 on my second camera, although I rarely use it. I use flash for the entry and exit shots with the fighters and have never had anyone object.</p>