- GET ON THE SCHEDULE. Plan ahead and get your photo date(s) booked! We can schedule all 3 sports seasons before the school year even begins.
- WORK WITH US ON LOGISTICS AND SCHEDULING. We’ve been doing this for several years and we’re very good at efficiency. We’re happy to work with you to put a schedule together that works best for everyone.
- ALL ATHLETES MUST REGISTER AND PARTICIPATE. Have EVERY athlete register ahead of time at LKNMediaDay.com Also, all athletes must have their photos taken.
- MATERIALS ATTACHED BELOW. You can print, post and distribute these for coaches and athletes.
I encourage you to read through everything below. But if nothing else, here are the key points:
OUR GOALS:
1) Deliver the best sports photos athletes, parents and schools have ever seen.
2) Do everything possible to minimize the work required by the school.
Following is an overview of LKN Images’ process for taking and delivering team & individual sports photos.
Scheduling
You know it better than anyone – the beginning of a sports season is chaos. You have the district, the coaches, the parents and the players all over you. The last thing you want to deal with is us! The good news is that it’s easy to get us out of the way early.
By March, the state usually has the school and sports schedules released for the next school year. So, months ahead of time, you can pick your dates for team & individual photos.
You have 3 sports seasons. So, pick up the phone, drop us an email or set up a meeting with us so we can get all 3 seasons on the books well before the school year even begins.
By March, the state usually has the school and sports schedules released for the next school year. So, months ahead of time, you can pick your dates for team & individual photos.
You have 3 sports seasons. So, pick up the phone, drop us an email or set up a meeting with us so we can get all 3 seasons on the books well before the school year even begins.
The 2-minute rule
You probably have a good idea of how many athletes you’ll have on each of your teams for the next school year. We need 2 minutes to photograph each of them. Then, add 15 minutes for team photos. So, for example, if you have 50 players on your varsity football team, plan for 115 minutes for photos (50 players * 2 minutes each plus 15 minutes for the team). Then, you can add up all of your teams… and realize that it’s not realistic to think you can get all of them done on the same day. And that’s OK! It’s better to spread things out a bit.
We work 7 days a week, so it’s entirely up to you when you want to do it. But having done this for a few years, here are some recommendations:
We work 7 days a week, so it’s entirely up to you when you want to do it. But having done this for a few years, here are some recommendations:
- Start with your biggest teams and work your way down. It’s more disruptive for everyone involved to shoot a 50-man football team than it is for a 6-woman golf team. Get that big team done and everything else gets easy.
- Try to consolidate based on the field of play. We bring a lot of equipment. It’s heavy. It takes time to set up and break down. Moving from the stadium to the gym to the tennis court takes (wastes) time.
- Make sure you factor in uniforms. If you are getting new ones, we’re all on the hook waiting for FedEx.
- If we are also doing your banner photos, schedule those first. Everyone wants their banners hung as early in the season as possible. But people are OK if they don’t have individual photos until a few games in.
- Weather can be a problem. We don’t mind sun and we don’t mind clouds. But we can’t work outside in the rain and wind can be a showstopper. As the photo session date approaches, we’ll work with you to deal with mother nature.
Reshoots
We all know that you don’t always have perfect attendance – even for something mandatory. The good news is that we typically have multiple days scheduled for individual photos. So, if there is a conflict, we can try to schedule that athlete on one of the other days. They won’t make it into the team photo… but we should be able to get their individual photos done.
Location & Logistics
We don’t travel light. We bring in state-of-the-art sets, lighting and cameras. We arrive 30-45 minutes ahead of when the first picture is scheduled so we can get everything set up and tested.
The preferred location for team & individual photos is in the place where they play the games. But depending on the sports season, that can become pretty spread out. Let’s take spring sports – golf, tennis, track, lacrosse, soccer, softball and baseball. That’s at least 5 locations. So, we need to work together on the schedule to try to minimize movement on a given day of shooting. Track, lacrosse and soccer are all in the stadium. Baseball and softball fields are probably close together. Proximity is a big factor in getting this done as quickly as possible.
Lots To Choose From
We take multiple photos of each athlete – different poses, different facial expressions. We come with suggestions on poses that look good for each sport. But we also encourage the athletes to be creative. And… we’re very good at keeping things moving along and staying on schedule.
No Cameras Allowed!!!
The photo session is a closed event with a professional photographer. No other cameras are allowed to be at the event. We have no problem if the athletes want to play with their iPhone away from where we are shooting. But no parents, coaches or any other school personnel can use a camera at the event. First, it is distracting to have others taking photos while we are trying to do our job. Second, it is unprofessional. You wouldn’t bring your own chef to a restaurant… so don’t bring another camera to a professional photo session.
Please make sure coaches and parents understand this so we don’t end up in an awkward situation.
Please make sure coaches and parents understand this so we don’t end up in an awkward situation.
Registration
We have an online system where we need EVERY ATHLETE to register:
LKNMediaDay.com
On the first screen, the athlete clicks on their school and then their sport. On the second screen, they fill in basic contact information.
We only use the registration information to communicate with the athletes and their parent regarding their photos. We do not share the information with anyone else. But we need 100% of the athletes to register.
If athletes are participating in multiple sports, we need them to register separately for each sport.
We only use the registration information to communicate with the athletes and their parent regarding their photos. We do not share the information with anyone else. But we need 100% of the athletes to register.
If athletes are participating in multiple sports, we need them to register separately for each sport.
Photos Are Mandatory
All athletes are required to participate in the team & individual photo sessions. Even if they have no intention of buying anything, we need to take photos of everyone. There are two big reasons for this…
First, we share sports photos with multiple groups at the school – yearbook, scoreboard, teams for social media, etc.
Second, we don’t charge anyone to do this – no cost to the school, no upfront payments from parents for photos that they’ve never seen and no obligation to buy anything. But, in return, we need to opportunity to maximize what we have available to sell. That means we need to be able to photograph every athlete.
When communicating with your athletes about photos, you need to position it as a mandatory event. Just like a team practice.
First, we share sports photos with multiple groups at the school – yearbook, scoreboard, teams for social media, etc.
Second, we don’t charge anyone to do this – no cost to the school, no upfront payments from parents for photos that they’ve never seen and no obligation to buy anything. But, in return, we need to opportunity to maximize what we have available to sell. That means we need to be able to photograph every athlete.
When communicating with your athletes about photos, you need to position it as a mandatory event. Just like a team practice.
Photo Viewing, Purchasing & Delivery
We don’t use paper forms. We don’t require any upfront payment or purchase. Other than the photo session itself, we do everything online. Parents and athletes are able to use their mobile device and/or computer to view everything. All purchases are made online. Photos are delivered directly to the home. So, for the school, all you need to do is help us get things scheduled and make sure all of your athletes show up. We take it all from there!
Each team’s photos are published to an online gallery. As soon as the photos are released, we let everyone know how to access them based on the information they provided when they registered. They click a link and that’s it!
Each team’s photos are published to an online gallery. As soon as the photos are released, we let everyone know how to access them based on the information they provided when they registered. They click a link and that’s it!
Photos are tagged into groups to help sorting. The system also has an incredible face-find feature that can instantly find every photo the athlete is in.
We offer a wide range of products – digitals, prints and printable items like water bottles and bag tags. Items can be purchased individually, or we offer fully customizable packages that save money.
As above, the school doesn’t have to worry about any of this. Each parent or athlete decides on what, if anything, they want to buy. They pay online. Digital products are available for immediate download. Physical products are shipped directly to the home. If there are any questions, they are directed to LKN Images for help.
We offer a wide range of products – digitals, prints and printable items like water bottles and bag tags. Items can be purchased individually, or we offer fully customizable packages that save money.
As above, the school doesn’t have to worry about any of this. Each parent or athlete decides on what, if anything, they want to buy. They pay online. Digital products are available for immediate download. Physical products are shipped directly to the home. If there are any questions, they are directed to LKN Images for help.
Summary
Our goals are to make this as easy as possible on everyone at the school and to deliver photos that are better than you have ever seen before. If you have been working with us for a while, you know that every time we show up, we tend to have something new. We’re constantly investing in education and equipment to keep LKN Images on the cutting edge of sports photography.
Additional Resources
- Athlete & coach registration site
- Video overview
- Printable poster to hang at the school for athlete registration
- “Cheat sheet” for coaches. A quick document to give to each of your coaches that gives them the key info about banner photos
- Information sheet for parents to insert in pre-season package for all athletes
If you have any questions or issues, please contact me directly:
Kathleen@LKNImages.com
(704) 506-0109
