Shot our first tournament

[brian_hammond1]

<p>This past weekend was our first paying job, it was a soccer tournament with 35 teams. We shot all day Saturday and printed Saturday night, then sold at the field on Sunday. I have posted questions before about pre-printing and website selling and which is better, we decided to go with the original business owners idea of pre-printing. We sold about $1000 of 4x6 action shots, which was a huge profit for 1 weekend, yet we did bring some unsold pics home, but at about .10 - .12 each the profit covered that. We are now looking to combine the two ideas with printing some of the pics on Sat. night and selling others on a website. I noticed the older kids(15-18) did not bother with their pics, but the younger crowd, especially the girls were all over their action shots. Overall the weekend was great, we learned a lot about action photography and selling patterns. Any other input would be much appreciated.<br>

Thanks, Brian.</p>

[jamesgysen]

<p>Brian - Firstly, congratulations for making this big step.<br>

I have watched a local pro run a similar operation at my soccer club End-year Tuournament these past two years however with a slightly different twist. He has two shooters throughout the day with (what appear to be) wireless transmitters sending photos to a small trailer where they are processed and then displayed on two terminals. An assistant (wife I believe) handles the trailer which they park right at the field access path so everyone passes by and can view/search shots. I watch ALOT of the parents there ordering prints/viewing. I can't speak to the specific technical aspects of his gear but it does put a tidy spin on immediate customer service and hitting your target audience. </p>

<p>Depending on how you grow your company, this could be something to look into although I think start-up costs would be a touch high. Given the capitol, I would consider taking it one step further by having a high end photo printer right in the trailer to provide some aspect of immediate sales. You could always post on a website after the matches. </p>

[jamesgysen]

<p>duplicate post - deleted</p>

[shoppix]

<p>Good job Brian. congrats as well!<br>

May I ask how much you were charging for the 4x6's? How many prints did you go back to the field with on Sunday. I imagine you did not print every decent image you captured. <br>

Printing on site would likely get more sales, but there would be more investment in computers and printer(s). </p>

[kb3lms]

<p>Sounds great, good luck with it! One word of advice that you have already started to pick up on: don't bother too much with the older kids, especially boys. I have coached youth soccer at all levels (U6 to U19) for 14 years and without a doubt the older kids are never interested in pictures. The parents seem to pass on it, too. I would imagine other sports are similar. Display pictures for the older crowd but don't print them ahead of time. But for younger kids, especially U11 to U13 girls, go for it! How much are you charging per print?</p>

[jerry_milroy]

<p>Sounds like you did well Brian: what equipment did you shot with?</p>

[brian_hammond1]

<p>Thanks to all for the responses. This being our first job, we adopted the previous owners business model, we shot with 3 shooters using Nikon D1H, printed about 1000 of the 2000 images taken and sold 4x6's matted in a 5x7 cardboard frame for $5 each. We did come back with some unsold prints but the profit on the sales covered them. We are looking to modernize the system with online previews and direct printing on the field. Overall it was a blast and we are gald we added this to our existing business.<br>

Cheers, Brian</p>