The Value of Race Photography

Last week I had a conversation with Mike McMonagle on Instagram:

.. i hate that i purchased them bc i dont think runners should have to pay for their photos; i think the races should pay the photographers and the photos should be provided at no extra cost to the runners.

I initially responded to his post with the following:

But wouldn’t that just mean that the runner anyway pays for the photo? Because if the race pays for the photographer then they just roll that cost into the entry fee?

Mike responds suggesting that it might be a better experience for everyone involved if the RD just pays the photographer upfront, includes the photos in the registration fee and makes them available for racers for free.

I’m not here to claim to have the answer for this. It’s a tricky situation:

• Race directors want to offer the best possible experience for their runners.
• Race directors need great photos of their event to market the event in future years.
• Runners want to race, have a great time and possibly not spend too much money on that experience.
• Photographers want to make a living, which I of course fully support.

So, what should one do?

Aside from creating a memorable racing experience one of the biggest challenges for race directors is trying to control costs. Not just for themselves, events management is expensive and trying to scrape out a few cents of profit is hard work, but also for the runners. No runner wants to see the cost of an event balloon to painful number.

To caveat this, before I share my thoughts: My races are small, my entry fees are cheap. This is all very much a shoe string operation and I view these issues from this perspective. Other race directors have different budgets to realities and will make decisions from their perspective – that is a ok. I am not here preaching the one true way of doing this.

My personal take is that the best experience of runners is to offer them add-on options and let them choose what other “things” they want to pay for. This a la cart offering keeps the basic entry fee low and accessible to the most runners and allows folks who ‘want the shirt’ to get a shirt. Challenge of course with that is that the numbers of shirts I am selling is not just lower, but the potential profits with it. It’s a trade off I’m making to ensure the accessibility of my events.

My approach to trail work donations is a bit similar. My organization dedicates a portion of all entry fees as donation to trail maintenance organizations. But beyond that, I am offering runners to give additional dollars I am passing on the the organizations I annually donate to. This is optional and not a requirement. Again, I’m trying to keep the entry fees accessible.

Now, when it comes to race photos it may be warranty to approach this a bit differently. Creatives need to get paid and their services valued. My initial approach was to forgo photographers as the events couldn’t justify the expenses. Then I realized I needed the photos for marketing and paid for it out of that budget line item, but runners loved the photos and wanted to download them. So I gave them away for free. Which of course, seems like the nicest thing to do for the runners and gives both the event and the photographer the biggest exposure. People love free photos and clearly will download and share them in larger numbers as supposed to paid ones. So, I clearly could just leave it there. Pay the photographer out of the marketing budget, give the photos to the runners for free.

But having taken on the expenses for photographers for a few races I did some research and realized that most big races charge for photo downloads. It values the work of the photographer if I don’t just give it away for free but put a price tag on it for the runners. Those who want to pay for it get great photos. Clearly this diminishes the amount of photos downloaded and shared. It’s an additional expense, and not many runners will fork over the dollars, but maybe that is a way of recouping some of my expenses for the race director, and maybe if this pays for the cost of hiring the photographers I could expand this out and hire more photographers for additional spots around the course?

That’s my current thinking. That’s where I currently stand.

Could I maybe increase the usage of the photos and exposure for the event if I’d make the photos free to use? Yes, probably. And there’s certainly a case to be made for this, as Mike does. But I feel that race photos aren’t part of the essentials piece that I would consider what runners pay for when they sign up for my races. Aid station supplies, safety and first aid, permits, a bib, and course marking. That’s the basics, right? Everything else is extra and it should be treated as such.

Yes, the conversation changes if sponsors want photos, then their sponsor contribution could pay for the work of the photographer. My thinking also might change if sales of photos are too low and I end up with an expense I anyway pay for, but the photos aren’t shared – then what?

So, this is a developing thought, but rather than just hashing this out on Instagram I thought I put it here.