Lights....Cameras.....Action.....

In life it is unfortunate that one bad apple can spoil the bunch.

After 10 long weeks of shooting and over 6000 images taken, edited, printed and matted, our gang of shooters, editors and sellers are damn glad to be finished.  We have a 1 month break until the next event giving us time to recharge not just the batteries but the souls as well.
For some people photography is easy, for others it offers a basic click of the index finger and poof there it is.
For the action sports shooter life is fast and furious, constantly moving with the game shooting angles and positions that the average mom and pop can't get with their cameras. Shooting 6 year old's playing soccer football might just be the hardest thing I have attempted, like shooting a pack of mini hyenas all chasing a ball. Trying to separate individuals for re-sale is bloody impossible.

The last  two weeks of the season we set up a sales booth at the fields to sell our action shots, the feedback was overwhelmingly good and the only complaint we had was that parents wanted more pictures.

We received a call at the shop on Monday from a mother of a boy in the league, she said the she was not at the game on Saturday so her father went with her son and he bought the action shots of his grandson. He was waiting for the match to start and was approached by a father who asked where he got the pictures. "Over there by the massive tent with the signs that say ACTION SHOTS SOLD HERE TODAY!" According to the grandpa the man wandered over to our tent to look at the pictures of his son. A bit later on the grandpa saw the man and asked him if he bought any pictures, the man told the grandpa the the action shots of his boy were very good but instead of buying them he pulled them off to the side and took cell phone pictures of them. The grandpa was well disgusted with the other man but unfortunately he bit his tongue not wanting to start any trouble. Later that night the grandpa was so upset that he called his daughter and told her to pass the story on to us.

well well well..... after standing in the heat and taking action shots of over 600 children from March to May I was furious, my wife was disappointed and my father (Who is one of our shooters) was on the brink of violence (Old school Dundee) We were all there on closing day but the thief was not.....lucky pilferer.
Dad promised me he would not violate this bastard in front of 600 children and I don't know what I would have done to him.

Times are tough I know, we ended up giving away hundreds of dollars worth of product to people who bought just a little and If asked I would have given the thief a discount if needed. This bastard so boldly took from me and my family not some giant corporation. I have 2 kids in this league and I missed most of their games this season so I could be out there shooting action of other children. While my 2 boys played at one end of the complex I was shooting at the other end, I know that this is not  the end of the world and the revenue lost is not life altering but the thought of someone taking from me just paces away from my position irks me to the point of violence..... So here it is, we have about a month before we shoot again and will spend much of that time finding out who you are, then I will give you the real professional action shots gratis, how does that sound? Then you can explain to your son where the other pics came from.
I kind of promise to keep my fists by my side since I need them in a month or so. Good luck thief......I make you no such promise if my father catches you before I do.

Ray, the 70 year old ref can still run all day.

This kid played with boys twice her size but gave away nothing. A future star.

Float Like A Butterfly Sting Like A Bee