Just got a huge gig...

[ColoradoSkier]

Seems that most of the baseball leagues picked photographers back in January. All but one, and I got notice today that I will be their photographer. I am VERY, VERY excited. Now I need to get order forms printed and build an online order form to take credit cards, then plan out the day and find some help. With 2 cameras going, I think we can do a baseball team (9-12 players) in about 20 minutes... Wow, I am so happy right now...

19 teams total, ~245 players. I know only a certain percentage will order add on's beyond the league paid sports composite, but still, this is going to be awesome.

If this works, then maybe I will be able to afford that 7D Jeffro.

[Hayes]

congrats! That's a huge gig.

[SBIUnlimited]

Sweet! Good job. Knock 'em dead.

[Jeffro600]

Congrats! That has some really big potential to be a great money maker...get to know the parents of the team members and show them your capabilities and examples of your work and pay close attention to what "ooooh and ahhh's" them and focus on those. You might even be able to pick up other jobs just through word of mouth(thats were most of mine have come from lately)...pass out A LOT of business cards!

If it turns out to be a big cash cow, screw the 7D...get the 1D MK4!!

Lucky, im jealous! I just LOST a big gig(the West Marine one...frickin idiots)

[ColoradoSkier]

Sorry to hear you lost West Marine. What happened? Do I need to boycott them?

[Jeffro600]

It was a big mess of not having new products available for use, payment and timeline issues. They wanted to just throw everything at me, when they actually got it all and basically said "you coordinate it but were going to need it by such and such date...oh and we want to renegotiate your payment terms..." which was totally unreasonable with the amount of work they needed and the short time they wanted it in. Alot of the products were "water toy" based(tubes, wakeboards, skis, etc) and they wanted on the water, in action shots instead of just static displays. That was fine but they dont even have all the products yet, had no idea really when they would all be in but would give me a window of about 3 days once they had everything in to coordinate, plan, shoot and edit about 30 products worth of things that needed to be done in water. Just not going to happen...especially since shooting commercial photography at any of the local lakes requires special permits and insurances which can take a bit of time to get...not to mention finding multiple people to do the shots with. This was something they should have been planning since last fall...not now that its almost spring(past spring now...this all went down over the last month or two) in hopes to have it all tied up in a matter of days for a Summer catalog.

They wanted me to make some big, elaborate cost\expense report for all the additional gear i needed to rent, permit costs, boat rental fees, etc. Sorry, but im a photographer, not a wedding coordinator. Your paying me to take pictures and deliver finished images to you, not do all the dirty work of trying to coordinate all these events and products. I gave them a VERY fair price and they balked at it...this isnt craigslist or ebay...my prices are what you see and if you dont like them, there are others out there who would gladly charge you more and not do half of what i was willing to. So I told them that while i appreciate the opportunity, thanks but no thanks. They are probably just going to have to run the generic, company brand pictures. I told them if they want me to do static shots of whatever, thats fine and that i can give them a 24 hour turn around on small batches of products...havent heard anything back from them and that was well over a week ago. Not going to pursue it anymore as i already put too much time and effort in bending over backwards trying to please them and all they wanted to do was drag their feet.

So yes...boycott em if ya like... Ive never liked West Marine anyway...most of their crap you can buy elsewhere for much cheaper.

[SBIUnlimited]

West Marine=fail

[ColoradoSkier]

We don't buy much from them anyway. I like Overton's and the local shops. But I'll be happy to voice my displeasure with their photos this year.

[ColoradoSkier]

Close to finalizing the order form. I have checked it three times, and even went back into Excel to double-check my margins to make sure this won't cost me, but still feel like I am missing something. I hate that nagging feeling.

[ColoradoSkier]

Got my samples today - these items from Black River Imaging are pretty cool. Sunday is the day. I am more than a bit nervous, but have a lot of good help. Should be interesting.

[oleblue]

You will be fine, we've seen your pictures.

Outdoors? hope the weather holds for ya.

Congrats.

[ColoradoSkier]

Thank you.

Supposed to be 65F and partly cloudy, should be perfect.

[JeepDiva]

Well? How did it go?

[oleblue]

He's probably real busy processing all the requests. But yea, how did it go?

[ColoradoSkier]

Sorry, been in Orlando all week for a work related conference. Didn't get to the pics at all. The day went really well. Several parents were really pleased with the offering and prices (got several "I expected to pay $XXX for Lifetouch crap" statements). Clearly things were not communicated well internally within the organization, as several parents and coaches were very surprised (and not prepared) for it to not be Lifetouch. 60% placed an order for something, and a large portion of the remainder wanted to know if they could order after they get the league-paid-for sports composite. Clearly they want to see the quality of the pic, and I respect that. I am also not so naive to think they will all order something after the fact, but some after sales would still be good. For several kids I also shot multiple poses, so I will also put them on Smugmug for sales of those poses.

My helpers (family) were great and things went off without a hitch. Going to spend today and tomorrow getting the orders ready for processing. Also going to prep the marketing materials for fall midget football (they should be making photographer decisions soon). This was definitely worth it and I am going to be more aggressive in getting some new business next year.

[JeepDiva]

Awesome! Glad to hear it went well.

[Jeffro600]

Right on!

Glad to hear you've got the fam involved too. They make GREAT assistants!