Finding Sports Photog Jobs

[newguyintheshop]

Not that I am looking at leaving my station any time in the near future. But, does anyone know a good place to find sports photog jobs.

We don't have a sports position at our station, but we have a guy that shoots the big events, and he should, because he is really good at it, but I would really like to shoot sports full time some day, and I just wondered if there were any good places to find those jobs.

I have looked at the job listings on B-ROLL, but they are usually generally news. Any info would be great.

[2gigch1]

Pure sports shooting positions are few and getting fewer; local sports has been taking a beating and the NFL's no sidelines decree is certainly a bad turn as well.

Good luck with your search but be not surprised if it is difficult and ultimately fruitless...

[wide angle]

ditto on what 2gig said.

If a sports photographer leaves a station, the new person is usually hired as a news photog that shoots sports "as needed" - which generally means never.

[Raiderfan]

"If a sports photographer leaves a station, the new person is usually hired as a news photog that shoots sports "as needed" - which generally means never."

Or they take a photog who's been at the station for a while and then they get to be the sports photog. It's rarely given to someone coming from outside the station.

[chicshooter]

I think KTVT in Dallas is looking for a sports shooter. Billy Sexton is the chief photographer.

[F4 Fan]

Many moons ago when the Oakland A’s were perennial American League champs, I use to work for a small independent station in San Jose that televised two to three dozen A’s games each year. Nearly all the games we carried were away games. Home games were almost never televised locally, if the sports department needed highlights somebody had to shoot them. Jumbotron and Diamond Vision were still relatively new features to the ball park, and the cable networks hadn’t yet paid obscene amounts of money for the rights to televise anything that we didn’t carry. Heck the Coliseum where the A’s played still had an old fashioned score board with metal numbers that they hung up from the inside.

One day in early May I was assigned to get some highlights from the early innings of an A’s game. There was a booth high above home plate where 3 or 4 cameras could set up. This of course was before the days of luxury boxes. We were still using ¾ inch at that time and to make matters worse I had an old wooden O’Conner tripod that appeared to be something that Cecil B. DeMille would have shot the Ten Commandments with. I was setting up my equipment prior to the game when the shooter from the local ABC affiliate asked if I shot much baseball. I wasn’t sure if I looked that green or just exactly what, but what I told him was the truth, “Not any this year,” I said. His reply spoke volumes, “Yeah this is my first time this year too.” You see cable and in-house video was quickly eliminating the need for stations to send a shooter to actually cover sporting events. Feature stuff, post game, sure we were still there in the locker room, but as for highlights they could almost always be pulled down from a bird somewhere.

By the late 1990’s that little station was one of the few stations in the country to carry three professional sports teams. The A’s, the Golden State Warriors and the San Jose Sharks. Sports was so good to them that they started a high school sports show that 15 years later is still on the air. Kids we’ve profiled have gone on to the professional ranks, the Olympics and even Gatorade commercials. Throw in some Stanford basketball and Raider preseason football and I guess you could say that I’ve shot a lot of sports and yes the station does have a full-time photographer who shoots virtually nothing but sports.

But that is the exception today. Finding a position shooting sports full-time for a news department, I deem it unlikely at best. If you really want to do sports contact the people who staff the in house video systems or crew the games for broadcast. Otherwise you’ll likely be spending Friday nights at poorly lit football fields or basketball courts with a color temperature that’s to low for your camera to register.

Of course in places like Texas there may still be a need for a sports-only person. Hope you like the Cowboys.

[(Sin)ical]

I have never held the title sports photographer, but I have plenty of experience shooting sports. Start at the high school level and really get your skills perfected. Move to a sports market, and step up to the college level. Go for a stadium part-time position, and shoot for in-house. That's experience in all aspects of the event...from set up to tear down. Since the NFL and NBA are removing the local station photographers, your best shot at professional sports shooting is for the venues in-house crew. I love being a part of an in-house crew because it's such a wide range of experience. It was sports shooting that got me the contacts that have propelled me to my career today. Sports is a lot of fun, but don't limit yourself to just one thing. I still cover sports for about 4 months a year, but I shoot something completely different the other 8 months a year. Good luck!

[NashBamaPhotog]

I currently work as a sports photog. I've been browsing these forums for a couple months now, but I decided to make my first post here. If you're looking for some sports experience, here are a couple ideas.

Most major colleges have shows for their coaches, mainly football and basketball. These shows need highlight footage on just about every game. Find out who produces your local college's coach shows and offer to shoot the games for them. A lot of schools use students and sometimes it really shows, so the producer may welcome someone with shooting experience.

Another option is if you're near a pro team or a school large enough for a jumbo-tron. Again, the schools will sometimes use students, but it's worth a shot.

Check with the sports director and see if he/she needs high school football or basketball footage. There are usually a ton of games going on at once, so if you don't have any plans on a Friday evening, it's a great way to get some experience.

Just my $0.02.

[Dude Lebowski]

Check your pm.

[newguyintheshop]

Check your pm.

Got it.

Thanks, for the input.