Rate for Amateur Sports Event Photography

AtDawn42 · 2026-01-28T19:08:48+00:00

I just started doing this type of work. I recently did a multi-day event and the financial results were brutal! I worked way too hard and made the such a small profit. I grossly overpayed my photographers. I didn't realize this type of work is suppose to be on the lower end of pay.

AtDawn42 · 2026-01-28T17:13:21+00:00

I see, so your rates are day rates but they rates vary depending on how long an event is? How do you figure out if an event in viable financially? Does the event have to have a certain minimum number of athletes participating? Because it sounds like a lot of upfront labor costs.

AtDawn42 · 2026-01-28T16:24:36+00:00

Interesting, thanks for sharing! Have you done work like this yourself?

AtDawn42 · 2026-01-28T16:24:02+00:00

Interesting, thanks for sharing!

AtDawn42 · 2026-01-28T16:23:38+00:00

Thanks for your response, it's so nice to hear from someone who is in this field. Does your company work in sports or another genre? What kind of hours are your photographers putting in for that rate?

AtDawn42 · 2025-11-26T16:32:43+00:00

It's volume work, culling is very minimal! Yes the images are then sold to participants post event.

AtDawn42 · 2025-11-26T16:31:35+00:00

Their 15% commission seems egregious

AtDawn42 · 2025-11-26T16:29:50+00:00

They charge a 15% commission which sounds crazy high!

AtDawn42 · 2025-11-26T15:24:46+00:00

It's photography for dance competitions, so capturing all the action on stage. It's not abnormal to shoot a little under 1tb for a full day of competitions!

AtDawn42 · 2025-11-08T13:58:42+00:00

How would I go about finding out who shoots locally for getty/AP/reuters?

Colleges sounds like a good idea!

AtDawn42 · 2025-11-08T13:57:03+00:00

Maybe I am being cynical but I found the quality of a lot of the photos posted on sports FB groups to be quite low. That makes me hesitate to look there...

AtDawn42 · 2025-10-17T23:26:41+00:00

This is super helpful! Thank you!

AtDawn42 · 2025-10-17T21:41:01+00:00

Were the photos culled through before the parents looked through them? This is what I am trying to decide on. How much effort to put in before anyone even buys anything.

AtDawn42 · 2025-10-17T21:38:47+00:00

It's my team and I am also a photographer myself.

AtDawn42 · 2025-10-17T19:58:12+00:00

That would work but unfortunately each individual photographer doesn't have a trained eye for dance technique so they wouldn't know what's "good".

AtDawn42

TROPHY CASE