ready to take your sport photos to the next Level?

Capturing your child's involvement in sports goes beyond mere documentation; it's about immortalizing the spirit, determination, and joy that sports bring into their lives. Sports portraits freeze moments of triumph, resilience, and determination, as well as provide a professional image of your child, building their confidence and giving them a chance to feel like a star athlete.

Below are some info about my Sport Portrait (Sportraits) sessions and what to expect. Before our session, please fill out the questionnaire below so I can better gauge your expectations, ideas, and goals for our session. Preparation and communication are the keys to a successful senior session, so make sure to share all your ideas and concerns with me on your questionnaire! Below you will find information on how your session with go and some tips for making the best of your session.

Location Selection

Sportrait session can be located indoors or outdoors, depending on the sport and your preference. Below are some location options:

• Indoors in a school gym or area where the sport is played. If there is a particular location you like at your school, we will need to consult with the school’s administration for permission to access those areas prior to the shoot. This includes gyms, swimming pools, wrestling/weight rooms, and other specific indoor sports areas.

• Indoors at a private or commercial business. Areas like indoor turf facilities or ice rinks can be used, but usually require a rental or specific reservation. Additional rental or use fees may apply to the session cost if using these type of rental facilities. I can work with a facility to help you reserve or rent an area at a specific time.

• Outdoors at park, school or club field. Similar to an indoor session, we will need to consult with the school or club’s administration for permission to use the fields. For must public park and school fields, this shouldn’t be a problem as long as the field is not schedule to be used at the time of the session. Typically for a private school or club fields, permission is required.

• Indoors at my home studio. If you looking for a simple studio session, this can be done at my home studio in Corinth, NY. I have various backdrops and lighting features to help you accomplish the look you’d like in a studio setting. For individual sessions only.

Session Timing

Session timing will depend on whether the shoot will be indoors or outdoors. For these sessions, we will be utilizing off camera flash (OCF) lighting, so we want to make sure it isn’t too bright in the location area.

Outdoors

Lighting is ideal for outdoor shoots during the late Golden Hour, or around when the sun sets. This will give us some limited daylight that will work well with OCF lighting. Typically we will not choose a time mid-day with direct sunlight. A mid-day session where it is cloudy or overcast out may work though.

Indoors

Session timing for in an indoor school or facility location will require scheduling with an administrator or owner prior to the session and will be determined by availability and hours of operation. We can come up with a few dates and times together and then reach out to see the availability of the indoor area to fit any of our dates/times. Sometimes you got to take what you can get and we may have to move our schedules around if the school or facility cannot meet at our requested time(s).

Indoors session at my home studio can be done weekday evening or weekends when I have availability. For individual sessions only.

Clothing

You will typically want to wear your sports jersey or uniform that goes along with your team or sport. If you have multiple uniforms/jerseys, please bring with you. If there is no specific jersey/uniform for your sport (ex. skateboarding, golf, BMX, etc.) then bring clothes that would typically wear for those activities. Remember that during outdoor sessions in particular locations, there may not be a place for you to change your clothes. You may have to change in the car or I can possibly bring a portable pop-up changing station with my if requested beforehand.

Prior to your session, let me know what colors are tied to your uniform/jersey/clothing so that I can plan the OCF coloring for the session ahead of time. If you want a specific lighting color you’d like to use, feel free to let me know, otherwise I will go with what works best with or compliments your clothing colors.

Props & Equipment

Your Equipment:

Bring your sports equipment is highly recommended and expected as we can use them the throughout your session. They can add so much to a photo and give it more of a story. Feel free to bring any sporting equipment that you’d like. Before the session, let me know what equipment will be brought so I can plan some poses for you ahead of time.

My Equipment:

I will be using a 3-4 OCF lighting set up with several different modifiers to achieve a specific/desired look for the session. I do offer the use of my Pro Mod Lighting (background boxes with circles that look like stadium lighting) and I’m hoping to purchase some specialized color lighting tubes in the future to add different backdrop looks for each session. I also have white and select color seamless backdrop paper if you’d like to go for a minimalistic approach.

EXAMPLE OF PRO MOD LIGHTS

I do have a water-based fog machine that I like to use as part of these sessions; however, some indoor locations have smoke/fire alarms that it may set off. When talking with any administrator/owner of an indoor facility, the system type should be brought up and whether or not if fog can trip the system. If the smoke/fire alarm can possibly be disabled in the specific area for the shoot, that would be ideal, but some school may not allow this. If a fog machine isn’t able to be used, I can look into getting an Atmosphere Aerosol Haze spray can, which produces the same effect, but does not spread as much as a fog machine. Another option is for me to bring spray bottles with water, to give a “raining” effect.

I get some requests for “fire photos”. At this time, I do not offer these types of fire photos for liability reasons. Also, many indoor facility will not allow this. Making sure everyone is safe during these sessions is my top priority!

Parents & Coaches

Parents are encouraged to be present during the entire session. Mom and Dad – I do discourage barking orders or bickering during your child’s session… remember, this is supposed to be fun, and we want him/her to be happy and relaxed. If we are doing a team session, parents are welcomed to attend as well as coaches. Coaches will be included in the team photo (no additional cost) and can also have their individual photos take as well (additional cost).

team shots

Below is information specifically regarding team shots:

• For communication purposes, I’ll require to have one person (coach/parent/administrator) be my contact point for scheduling a date/time and location. This person will fill out the questionnaire below and be able to relay important information regarding the session to other players/parents. When this person is designated, please have them contact me indicated they are the “chosen one”. When you have too many cooks in the kitchen, things can get miscommunicated and that’s when issues start to arise!

• If a team has a particular vision in mind, images can be sent to me by the contact person so I can get an idea of how to set my gear up. I encourage teams to discuss the style/vision prior to the session. I also encourage each player to come up with some poses they like for their individual photos. If the team/individual has no particular style/vision in mind, I can come up with some ideas based on our settings.

• I will request a team roster including, players name with corresponding jersey number (if applicable), and parents name, email address, and phone number. This roster/info can be collected ahead of time or I can bring a form to the session for parents to fill out.

• It is expected that all team players be on time to the session. I typically like to start with the team photo and them move to individuals. This allows players that need to leave early to do so after their individual photo is complete.

• If you’d like a composition team photo (team photo comprised of individual shots) this can be done at an additional cost as it does take time to compile.

• Each player will have up to 4 poses, depending on what package the team selects. Poses can include:

  • A predetermined formal pose that every player will do

  • A full body pose

  • An action pose

  • A player choice pose. (Can be with a teammate(s))

Session Tips & Tidbits:

• Sleep and eat! - Try to get a lot of REST the night before your shoot. Don’t stress over it; trust me - we’re going to have a great time together! Make sure you EAT before your session so you’re not miserably hungry.

• Skin – Please don’t lay in the sun all day prior to your shoot. Red or peeling skin is not a good look! Severe sunburn is not only bad for you, but it is bad for your session, because we will probably have to reschedule.

• Acne - Don't worry about having a few pimples here and there! I can remove these in post-processing. (Hooray for the magic of Photoshop!)

• Hair - You can style your hair the way you would for the sport you play or feel free to wear it how you’d like. For the ladies, if you’d like to have your hair down, we typically will start he session with that look and then if you want to put it up later in the shoot, you can do that as well. Remember, you still want to look like YOU in your photos. So if you’ve had long hair for quite some time, now might not be the time to get a short haircut if you’re not sure that you’ll love it.

• Makeup - Wear what you normally wear, it is up to you! I recommend not going over the top though as it may take away from the sports feel of your photos.

• Glasses - If you wear glasses, please see your optometrist about loaning you a pair without lenses, or have your lenses removed for your session. If this is not an option, I will do my best to avoid glass glare and will try my best to remove the glare in post-processing.

• Scars/Birth Marks - Scars/birth marks will be removed only at your request. Please tell me at the time of your session what your preference is.

Posing/ Expressions

I know it sounds silly, but practice DOES make perfect. Practice different expressions and poses in the mirror before your session. Here are a couple of things to try:

• Have in mind a few poses that you’d like to try out. Look in the mirror and practice those poses.

• Use Pinterest! Take note of some of poses that you’d like and try. Feel free to message or e-mail me some pictures of poses or shots that you’d like to try to incorporation into your session.

• Try some different expressions, like a serious/intimidating face or smiling with no teeth showing. See what you like and what you don’t.

High School Senior Yearbook Shots

Some high school allow seniors to submit a sports photo. If you’d like to submit one of your photos to the year book I will need to know the email address, deadline and file format. Before your school’s print deadline we recommend that you follow up with your yearbook staff to insure they received your image.

Payment

For Individual and Team Option 1, after receiving your questionnaire, I will send you/the team representative the session contract and invoice via e-mail. The session fee and signed contract are due prior to or at your session. Payment can be paid by cash, check, Venmo or a credit card (through online invoice).

For Team Option 2, prints, digitals and other items can be purchased on the team’s online gallery via credit card. If parents prefer to pay cash, check, or Venmo, I can bring forms with me to the session for them to fill out and pay there. I can also provide forms to the Team Representative/Coach to hand out prior to the session.

After the Session

For Individuals:

Once your session is over you'll receive your digital proof gallery within the week for you to select your favorite images for me to do full edits on. If you’d like to purchase additional images/poses beyond the set amount of your package, each additional image is $15. In 2-4 weeks, I will provide you with a final gallery with all your selected fully edited images. You'll be able to download them and also be able to share with family and friends easily. You can also purchase prints/canvases with my selected professional laboratory through your gallery as well!

For Teams:

Once the session is over, I’ll proceed to editing all final images of players and the team photo. The link to the final gallery will be provided at the session for all parents and can be emailed upon request. Digital images and photo prints/packages can be purchased from my professional laboratory directly from the online gallery. A deadline date to order will be established and within 2 weeks from that date, your prints will be provided by me to the team representative to disperse to the team.

If you’d like assistance in creating promotional media for the team or an individual player, I can develop for an additional fee. This can include, but not limited to, team posters, individual banners with name/number, seasonal schedule, and images to promote upcoming games, and more. Reach out to me for a quote if interested.

Social media/website posts

I typically post a few of the session photos on my social media and website following the session. My contract contains a clause for a model release to do such. For individuals, if rather not have me share your images and want to opt out, let me know in the questionnaire below and I can amend the contract to remove the model release clause. For teams, I will bring with me to the session a form for parents to fill out if they do not which to have their athlete’s photos shared.