I created a social media brand that allowed me to get credentialed. I shot all the sports that no one really wanted to shoot and built my portfolio. Then I landed a prized internship with the Washington Redskins in 2016 worked through the 2019 season. During the 2019 season I worked for MLB as Live Content Creator and moved on to working for the Air Force later that year which still my current job, but looking forward to getting back into sports. I talk about some of this on my channel.

I first picked up a camera to impress my then film school student girlfriend (not wife), since then I have shot everything from prep sports, weddings, real estate, corporate events, headshots, fashion, etc. I've always been told I need to "narrow what I shoot and focus on that", but I see that you shoot a wide variety of genres outside of sports. How do you properly market yourself so that your wedding clients are thrown off by the sports, and your sports clients aren't thrown off by your portraits? I have 3 separate websites (similar in branding) to split up my weddings, real estate, and corporate. Anyway, really liked this video, definitely subscribing, any advice would be great, thanks!

I picked up my Dad's film camera in college. It was a Pentax and he had a few different lenses in his bag that I would shoot with. People always thought that I was good with a camera but I never owned one myself. Fast forward through the years, when I was 42 years old, my oldest son was playing little league baseball and I was tired of the crappy images that we'd pay $65 for. I had a D3000 at this point, some pocket wizards and 50" umbrella. I offered to the coach to take a team photo but wanted to do something different. I had the kids come out on the field, put the catcher in his gear and sat him on a bucket. Then fanned the rest of the players out from their, laid down on the ground and shot as wide as I could on my APS-C sensor to capture the image. I went home not realizing what I had captured. Edited and posted to my wife's Facebook page and went to bed. The next morning I woke up to see that it was liked more than 300 times, but it had been shared 64 times. A few hours later, I was at work when a business collogue called me over to her desk to show me something. It was my image, and she wasn't even a Facebook friend. A friend of a friend of a friend was one that shared my image. That was when I decided that I could make a buck on the side and really do this. I know do all photo composites for youth sports and high schools, and love working in the business. I've been bootstrapping the business with the hopes of one day making enough to support my family and quit my day job.

@@CharlieKaine Awesome! And yes, a good question and one that you could go a few ways with. There's no real right answer here, and having separate websites as you've done is definitely a sensible option. My thought is always one-stop shopping, so potential clients of all types, from sports to weddings to commercial, can all land on the same website and portfolio and find what they're looking for. And, in some cases, the wedding people like seeing the sports stuff, and vice versa. Again, totally subjective and separating them out is also great! Just how I do things. Thanks so much for watching/subscribing.

@@joeclaymore Awesome, fantastic story! Amazing to hear how a photo can make waves like that, and great to know you haven't stopped since. Enough of those and you'll be gone from your day job in no time :) Good luck with the journey! Thanks for watching.

Thanks so much for following along! Glad you are enjoying the channel. Weird times right now for sure but things will return to normal for photographers, I'm sure of it! Enjoy the journey.

Thanks for following along!

Ayyyyy yes sir!! Parents are still down in the 410. Miss it every day - now I'm nostalgic at you mentioning it. Thanks for the nice words and following along.

Thanks big Frankie!

Great suggestion Jeff. Would like to do this once things get back to normal and we have our full staff!

Thank you so much!! Appreciate the kind feedback. Good luck in the journey!

@@billieweiss7681 of course! Do the Red Sox still hire photo interns? I will definitely apply if there is an opening next season!

@@EmilySmith-mv6jj Unfortunately we won't have openings next season due to the public health situation! But hopefully again in 2022.

Wow man!

Thank you!

Thanks so much. I appreciate the advice. Enjoy the ride.

@@billieweiss7681 , continued success! I an no longer able to shoot major pro events due to health. I look back with fond memories, I truly enjoyed the journey! I pass that advice on because it is easy to get caught up in the stress and rigors of the job, thus losing the joy of photography.

Thank you so much for following from Colombia!

Thanks Wayne! Appreciate the nice feedback!

Thank you!

Wow awesome you got the D5. My favorite camera - an absolute beast! Certainly open to it when I have the time in the offseason.

Thank you Terry! Appreciate you following along. Primarily I see that there was no in-depth/extended storytelling. It was more just comprised of one-off pictures, but I never really dove deep into any of the subject I was shooting. I also just see a lot of technical flaws in the cropping/toning/editing which I would correct if I was to shoot/edit again now. For current work, I am still hard on myself and always critiquing, but as general guidelines, clean backgrounds and peak action ( like you said), great highs and lows of emotion, bold, vibrant, larger than life aesthetic quality are the stylistic elements that guide my photography. After a long time, each photographer has those few stylistic pillars that become their "go-to's". Hope that helps, thank you for watching!

Thank you! Hope you enjoy :)

@@billieweiss7681 I will for sure, photography is a hobby of mine for now, and any new information from pros is useful.

Thanks so much. Stay safe!!!

Billie Weiss thanks very much

We use Photoshelter to store all of our team archives! I also have a video up on my channel about file storage and structure for photography :)

I'm a big fan of the Manfrotta tripods with the fluid head system. A good affordable option is the 290 XTRA Kit, Aluminum 3 section tripod with fluid head. Sturdy enough to hold the 200-400. They also make some nice ball heads like the XPRO series.

Thanks very much for the nice feedback, Sven! Yes, the Fuji system can be tough to find the right sports lens for. Have you checked out the Fuji 100-400mm? It is a pricier lens, but I believe would work great with your X-T3. A little pricier than some lenses, but not nearly what a 400 2.8 would run!

@@billieweiss7681 Thank you for your answer! Yes, 100-400 might be a good choice, but it‘s something like 4-5.6 - that would work great at sunny days. But I learned that I need at least 1/640 to freeze the players, better 1/1000 or more and I fear this would push up ISO over 6400 on cloudy days. The lense is around 2.000 Euro ... I think I might try the new 70-300 first that has similar aperture values, is more portable (=versatile) and will only set me back 800Euros.