Season Recap

As this was the inaugural season for PhotoFX Pros, I thought I'd just do a quick recap and jot down some thoughts. Although we're still busy with the Dillsburg Youth Baseball All Star season, things have generally slowed down enough that I can take some time to update the blog.

Let me first thank all the organizations, teams, coaches, players and parents. The cooperation, appreciation and assistance we've received has been awesome. Although a number of companies have been shooting and selling game photos for some time now, it is something that is still relatively new to our little corner of the world. Not new in the sense of someone shooting game photos. Ever since the digital camera explosion, proud parents have been taking pictures of their children's teams. These are usually posted to the team's web site or given away to the other parents. However, having a professional photography company shoot games throughout the season, upload them to a photo gallery and offer them for sale I think is what was new to most people.

Things started rather slowly but primarily because we jumped into this so quickly that we didn't have any time for pre season marketing. As lacrosse and soccer seasons progressed, again no marketing mainly because we were scrambling around trying to shoot as many games as we could while trying to still have time with our own families and children. All things considered, I think that we did cover quite a few games and matches with each one averaging about 300 images per event. That's 12.5 rolls of 24 exposure film! Imagine the cost of having to buy and process 12.5 rolls of film for each game? I doubt that there'd be a PhotoFX Pros if digital hadn't happened. That's not to say that digital photography is not without its costs. You no longer have to buy and process film but the equipment is significantly more expensive, and with so many images, it takes time to quickly edit through 300 photos and decide which will be uploaded to the galleries. So, bottom line: it's been tiring, it's been hectic, but it's all been well worth. I love what I do because I love sports and I love photography. Most of all I really enjoy watching children play sports without all the egos, money and politics involved.

So, what's next? Well we've been working on getting our web site updated. Cleaner, streamlined design, more content, and . . . a blog! We'll also be sitting down to expand our service and product offerings like designing those custom posters and magazine covers we've been wanting to do for months now. Additionally, we'll begin actively promoting our "sportraits" which puts a new, and exciting twist on the old style portrait. Plus we'll be looking for more opportunities for contract work, more special events, and corporate events as well. And finally, although our primary focus is still Dillsburg and the Northern York area, we'll be looking for work in other communities. After all, those big lenses and fancy cameras you see us with do not come cheap but they certainly do look cool don't they? Oh, I forgot to mention that we're also current speaking with several photographers, one in Pennsylvania and one in Maryland about extending the reach of PhotoFX Pros into other regions and possibly into other areas such as weddings and more freelance work. Very exciting stuff!

Anyway, we've had a great time so far. We've taken lots of pictures, seen some amazing displays of athleticism and teamwork and sold a few photos along the way. That's certainly enough for me to keep doing this for a while.