Besides race medals and finisher shirts, the one experience item participants have come to expect from a race, particularly in this digital age, is a good set of professional race photos.

And perhaps because of the cultural changes that have come with the digital age, the purpose of race photography within the endurance events business has been swinging back and forth between race photos as a secondary revenue stream vs race photos as a marketing tool.

So, do you offer paid photos, as a means of boosting your current bottom line? Or do you give photos away for free, as a marketing investment aimed at higher participation growth in the future?

This and other questions is what we’ll be discussing today with the help of my guests, race director, race consultant and general race-jack-of-all-trades Josh Reed of On Path Events, and professional race photographer John Kelly of John Kelly Photos. 

Among other things we’ll look at how modern race photography works, from snap to download, how you can work with your race photographer to create some really memorable shots for your participants, and, as mentioned earlier, we’re going to be looking at the various business models around race photography, how they’ve been trending lately, and which might be best suited for your event.

In this episode:

• The difference between event promotional photos vs participant/race photos
• Enhancing the participant race experience through race photos
• Who buys race photos and why
• The cost of race photography for different types of events
• Looking at your course through the eyes of a race photographer
• Picking good spots to shoot from
• Creating spectator areas
• Working with your race photographer
• The journey of a race photo: from shooting through sorting and tagging to being delivered to participants
• Is delivering race photos fast important?
• Free participant photos: the argument for and against
• Typical purchase rates for paid photos, and impression/download stats for free photos
• Getting sponsors involved in race photos
• The future of race photography

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 26,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about race photography or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.