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Photographic Money
Race photos are available for just about every race these days.
Some races include the cost of photos in your registration fee and/or have a sponsor. The Half at The Hamptons offered runners free photos. The photography was sponsored by Delta Dental which places their logo on all of our photos. I like this idea. I’m okay with Delta Dental’s logo on the bottom of my photos. It’s a small price to pay when you consider what other companies charge.
From Free to Oh My God!
While some races opt for the sponsored photos or include the cost in your registration fee, many races still charge for photos. Global Click Photography shot the Eastern States 20 and Run for the Border 10 Miler. Their photo fees are reasonable, starting at $13.99 for a medium resolution down load. They also have a variety of print photos starting at $9.99 for a 4×6 print.
Marathonfoto is the big dog of running photography. They do the Boston Marathon and hundreds of other races and marathons around the world. No one can deny that they do a superior job and produce a top quality product. But, they charge what I consider to be outrageous prices. A 5×7 photo is $17.95, 8×10’s are $23.95. You can buy a Memory CD of all of your photos for $89.95 or download all of your images for $84.95.
I understand that these companies have many dozens of excellent photographers on the course using expensive equipment. They also have a team of employees and a web site that need to be paid for. I know nothing is free.
I would order more photos or do more downloads if the prices were reasonable. What do I consider reasonable? $9.99 would be a good place to start for a 4×6, an 8×10 or a hi-res download. I would consider $49.99 to be a reasonable price for a CD or download of all of my photos. A download costs them almost nothing. If I decide not to buy anything, as I often do, they make no profit at all.
Most of us feel that we look terrible in our running photos. My friends don’t like their pictures but I think they look fine. When I run a big race like The Boston Marathon, I’d like to buy a few photos. But at $23.95 for an 8×10, I may buy one or two.
I have many pictures that friends have taken at races using their smart phone. They may not be hi-res and perfectly framed, but they are free. If I can have one or two half descent pictures from a race, I’m happy with that.
What do you think? How you feel about this issue. Do you buy photos or CDs? What do you think is a fair price? Are you ok with sponsored photos that are free but have a company logo on them?
Run well my friends,
Andy
ยฉ anagelin 2014
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3 responses to “Photographic Money”
Personally, I have not bought race photos and probably never will, unless it is one of me breaking the tape in a race which ain’t very likely. The prices are too expensive for the most part.
If it is an important to me race, I will ask one of the people I know at the race to take a couple of photos of me or ask the wife to go and take some pictures. No they are not professional in quality, but they are good enough for me.
Up here in Maine we are lucky that David Colby Young, Donald Penta and other volunteers (I have a couple of times) support local runners and racers and volunteer to take photos of races and offer them to runners free under the Creative Commons license. So we are lucky that many of the local races have great quality photos an sometimes videos of runners.
I guess we haven’t hit the big time yet.
That’s probably a good thing! It’s always fun to get an email from someone I know with a jpeg attachement.
Running is big business and it all adds up to a lot of expense.
Photos are like medals in a way. For your first few races they are exciting, but then they just become more stuff.
I’ve only ever bought a few race photos. And if I can’t just digitally download it, I don’t bother. I hate paying for shipping!