Dragon Boat West

I was wondering what the folk on the forum thought about paying for race pix.  i'm talking about the pics that are taken from out on the water.  the pics usualy portray the teams from water level, with less than half the boat filling the frame.   some times just one or 2 paddlers in the frame.

how much $$ are images like this sellable for.  i'm tired of going to races and getting charged big $$ for a 5x7 print.

I'll be taking tons of pics during the day (when I am not racing or coaching ....) The good folks at DBW allow us to post them and while I do not guarantee professional quality they shouldn't be too bad.
Photog takes excellent shots so you should stay tuned to this Website for some great pics!
Are you a BAD boy or just full of LARD?
 :roll:

my friend Ken is neither, he runs on Diesel.  :)

Thanks!
you planning on taking shots from the North or South Shore?
Or just some nice finish shots.

I'm a photographer and paddler so I know what you meant.  Well, it's not cheap for one of those exhibition tent.  I was thinking of having a tent and sell professional print onsite but it was out of our budget.  And then the cost of hiring photographers, equipment, and overhead for a weekend event.  Last year I was in San Francisco and I think it's cheaper down there.

i'm racing also, so i'll just be doing what i can from near the racers village.  :)

photog is right, this is ken from DieselFish.

i work with a group called paddlerpix.  the people that did the pix in san francisco.

what we found was that if you take good photos, ones that paddlers can't get, then you get a product that has some value.  but pricing a 5x7 at $20 is just nuts.

in SF last year the price was $5 per print.  the pix from sat were shot on film so that they could be sold in the afternoon and on sunday.  the shots from sunday were shot digi so that they could be sold on line.

the gang at paddlerpix are paddlers and they understand what makes a good photo.  and they have a few very large lenses that brings the pictures right up close.

anyways i figure with travelling i wondered if folks thought that $10 for a print was acceptable, or maybe 3 prints for $20.

also i find that many of these "event" photographers just don't get paddling.  their pictures don't capture a whole lot of emotion.  it isn't the same as standing in the middle of the road and snapping 1000's of shots of anonymous runners as they run past. would any of you agree?

It's much cheaper for the print in SF.  Like you said 3 5x7 prints for $20 is acceptable but not at $20.  This year I didn't bring my long lens...only brought the 80-200 zoom which is not enough.  Maybe next year I'll get my buddies to bring their 600mm and 400mm lenses and sell prints at a fraction of their price.

Somehow I don't believe Alcan will allow you to rent a booth, due to your blatant intentions of causing conflict for their official photographer.
You're likely better off submitting a competing bid to become their official photographer.

Competition tends to drive prices down.  So if the official photographic company knows someone is competing with them then they might lower their prices.  $20 for a print is ridiculously high....the price I saw in SF was reasonable.  

How many people here bought prints from Alcan DB official photographer?  On the other hand, there were so many people buying at SF DB festival....why?  Because the price was reasonable.

Photog, were sitting by the rocks there on Sunday with the monopod?

wow... 200mm is not enough?? Time to start revising my long zoom purchace plans. ;P

I have a 300 with teleconverter so that makes it a 600mm....but it's heavy lugging around that thing.  Also, it's a prime lens not a zoom so whenever I want to take close pics I need to swap it out with another lens.

I agree the prices are unreasonable. But complaining about it afterwords doesn't really help. Best thing you can probably do is put together a proposal and bid for next year. Show samples of your work, give them prices, etc, etc.


Yeah, i was, several forum members spotted me and introduced themselves . . . why?

True...but then I need to see which of my associates want to spend a weekend on site.  I cannot possibly take all the pictures myself on land and on the water.  Also, it's not as easy as it sounds because lots of stuff goes on behind the scene and prep work as you may know as you're a photographer.




Oh...if I knew you beforehand I would also go over and say 'hi' to you and meet fellow photographer...I'm new to this forum.  I was by the rocks as well.  There's always next festival  :)

Did you see a Caucasian guy with a monster Leica lens ( > 500mm) with a R8 body?

well, i guess that's part of the reason why DG probably feels justified in charging those prices. and if we don't like it, we can take our own pics. which we do. lol.


no, but you would think I would remember.  :P

the "official" photographer does usually ask for exclusivity, so yes a competitive pix booth would likely be not an option.  also geting the bid is not the easiest thing to do since once a festival gets confortable with a vendor they are generally resistant to change.  and btw, we did try to get into alcan as the pix vendor.

when paddler pix did SF, the plan was to provide a service that would enhance the festival- not turn a huge coin. why would this be so important to the photographers?  because they are paddlers themselves.  that is why the $$ was low. and the crowd loved it.  with the high volume the photographers made the $$ that they needed, and everybody went home happy.

the pics that photog takes and all the other ones on this forum are great.  definitely not the average results taken by the mass public with their credit card sized point and shoots.  consider the 100's of the community teams that would make up the largest buying volume.  and everybody knows that it is harder to sell pix online than it is to sell a tangible print in the heat of the momment.

Indeed very true...everyone here in this forum has some great shots.  It's harder to sell online prints because it may look nice on the screen but when it come out as a print it may be a different story.  I've many clients who wants to see the actual samples in print rather than online if they are buying the pics.

no, but you would think I would remember.  :P[/quote]


well, almost any serious amateur or pro photographer would notice his gear...especially Leica    :roll:   Maybe he's one of the guys from DG?

I've only seen the DG guy use Canon gear. A 10D body I think.

ah, i've never been a fan of collector's camera's. i like to keep it practical, and like Voon i've also noticed DG with Canon as well, though i had always assumed it was a 1D or 1Ds, though i've never seen him up close.

*on a side note (PM me if you want to comment on this), i had a chance to check out your website just now.  You're a langara grad huh? me too. '98.   :)

There were some some pretty sweet cameras and lenses out there snapping pics. I am not a big camera buff but just like to taking pictures of DB (and "Candid Photography, nudge nudge wink wink..say no more!)
If any one want a full res shot of any the shots let me know and I will post  them on an FTP site for you. That Photobucket site Photog mentioned is excellent and may be one of the few place I don't mind paying for the premium service. It is tough to get the good action shots from  Shore (exspecially with all those friggin squatter boats) and there is no real clear vantage point to get decent shots of the starts due tot he course layout. I would LOVE to see some start line action as that would be cool. Maybe next year we form a "Photo Force" and get together and take pics of all teams (each person gets a few teams to shoot) so we can a more varied collection of shots (we all have our favorites..)
Maybe by then I can afford a decent lens as well!
 :lol: Keep Shooting!

I got a close look at his gear at least year's 'Rip up the river'. At the time he had a 10D with the 28-105 USM lens, which is all a practical, workhorse level set. I think that since he managed to get such a high profile gig as the official ADBF photographer, that we would assume he has some super pro gear... But it looks to me that he's just another photographer trying to eke out a living.

yeah, as am i. being a starving artist sucks sometimes.
mind you, whenever i'm on the feild at bc place, every shooter who works for the papers; ap, reuters, province, sun, and the smaller community papers; use nikon and canon. no leica, contax, pentax, kodak, or fuji.

getting together to form a paddler photo team is a great idea.  that is what paddlerpix is.  as a unified team of cameras you can get good event coverage and access to vantage points that you would not have as an individual.

in SF there was a photo boat on the water right on the finish line shooting head on pix of the paddlers charging into the finish.  those pix needless to say sold fast.

starting line pix are also spectacular with the facial expressions, water spraying, and always an intersting background of action behind the primary subject.

While on the topic...


For my two cents worth... I think the prices of DG is just plain obscene. I'm sure he needs to make a living but the prices are just ridiculous. Especially for pictures of boats heading back to the dock. Just personal preference but I like action shots of a section of paddlers during a race... not la-di-da-ing back to be unloaded. Hope someone lets the people in charge of the Alcan Festival know how the paddlers feel about the photography.