You don't have to wait for a newspaper photographer to show up to your game any more in hopes of seeing and buying amazing images of the athlete in your family.
That's how it used to be.
And for many schools and clubs, it's still the case. I've spoken with high school varsity coaches, parents, and players who say the news only shows up when another large school is playing, but otherwise they feel ignored.
Then there are the countless soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball and other club sports. The news is probably not coming to your game.
Yet, I believe for all the dedication and time your family's committed, you deserve to have a professional sports photographer come to a game or competition.
I get a lot of questions about how the Creative Sports Photography game coverage service works, and let's get you some of those answers so you can get to booking CSP for your next event.
What's the first step?
The very first thing you should do is check out the CSP calendar to find out if I have any day or time that aligns with your schedule.
You can do that by clicking here.
CSP is limited to one game per week during the season due to staffing, vacations, and the creative athlete portrait work.
That's why if you find a day and time that works, book it. Quick.
Once you have reserved a time, then I'll reach out by email for phone with some additional information, which brings us to step two.
How much does it cost for you to photograph a game or competition?
Once you've secured a time on the calendar, I'll send you an invoice through which you can make online payment.
That online payment (due two weeks before the event) secures your date and time, which means I won't double book. It's yours.
The per game/competition rate for up to two hours of coverage is $175. Here's what that pays for:
Travel time within one hour of Lancaster, Pa. (that includes eastern York County, York City, Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Lebanon County, some of Berks).
The time it takes to photograph the game/event
Culling and editing the images to about 75 total
Storing them in an online gallery for you
Other tangible costs like insurance
How soon after a game or competition will the images be ready for purchase?
I do everything in my power to turn around those images within one week of the game or competition.
Sometimes it takes longer if the volume of clients has spiked.
But with the help of my assistant, together we do all we can to turn the images around quickly.
How will we know when they're ready? How long are they available to purchase?
There are a couple of ways to know when the images are ready, and the easiest one, the one that provides fans the first alert, is by subscribing here.
My email subscriber team is the first to know about events, gallery postings, special athlete portrait rates, and so on. That's how I roll, and I don't want you to miss out on that.
And, so you know, I don't email all that often. I save those for when there's actually something important to share with you that you may want to know. Funny how that works!
When the images are published, everyone will have 10 days to purchase.
Okay, so, how much do the images cost? What do we get for that cost?
Individual images are available for high resolution, watermark-free, digital download, and they cost just $12 an image (as of 2022; prices could change at a future date).
There are also digital packages. A set of five downloads is $50.
Or, many teams and parents will pay for the whole gallery. That way everyone can share. The cost for a whole gallery, $275, brings the individual price per image down to about $3.60 (probably need to say this again - as of 2022. Prices could change at a future date).
What you receive will allow you to use those images on your personal social media channels and, if you can kindly tag CSP, your team's social networks.
Prints? Yeah, we have them too. A 5x7 pro print costs $18 and an 8x10 pro print costs $24.
And what does "pro" print mean? It means it's a better quality print than your average Target or CVS.
Plus, CSP offers special gifts from our game coverage, including a 7x7 soft cover 24-page book ($220) or a 10x8 landscape soft cover ($250). These are great as gifts for a game you want to remember.
What else should we know?
The last thing I want to mention is about visual storytelling.
It's more than a term. For me, it's what I strive to do when photographing a game or competition.
Capturing action is always the top priority, but close to the top are those moments and details that help tell the full story about what happened, who did well, who might not have, what was it like to be there.
I like to throw in those creative images as part of your package. Why? Because I think it adds a little something extra.
If you're ready to book, check out the calendar to see what I have available. You can email me too at dave@creativesportsphotography.com.
And think about signing up to be a subscriber. As I said above in this post, CSP email team members are the first to know the important stuff like open athlete portrait session dates or when a game gallery is ready.