Most clubs or athletes keep photos as a record. Who scored a basket, how it ended, eleven men lined up before kick-off. A record. Proof that it happened.
That’s nice. But it’s not enough.
Because a chronicle won’t draw anyone to the stands. And that’s exactly what a club photo is meant to do.
A good sports photo isn’t just a news report. It’s a marketing tool. Its job isn’t simply to record that a match took place – any passer-by with a mobile phone can do that these days. Its job is to whet people’s appetite. To present sport in such a way that people want to see it live, shout at the top of their lungs and go out and buy a shirt.
And clubs don’t want to pay for the photos. Often, quite rightly.
I’ll say it straight out: most clubs don’t want to pay for photos. And to be honest? They’re right.
After all, who’s actually in charge of the photos these days? The coach’s son. Or a lad from the marketing department. A mobile phone, snapped between two matches – as long as there’s something, that’s all that matters. And pay for that? Nonsense. I’d talk the club out of it myself.
But that’s exactly where the trap lies. ‘We don’t pay for photos’ doesn’t actually mean ‘we don’t need photos’. It means ‘we refuse to pay for a photo report’ – and that’s perfectly fine, because a photo report has its own value. When it comes to marketing, however, that value is virtually zero.
But I’m not producing a news report. I’m producing something completely different. It’s in a different league, serves a different purpose and has a different effect. Comparing it to the photos taken by the coach’s son is like comparing a poster outside a cinema to a photo on an ID card.
A photo that doesn’t catch the eye might as well not exist
Here’s the test. And it’s ruthless: if a photo doesn’t make you want to take up that sport, it might as well not exist.
Nobody wants to look at it. Nobody shares it. Nobody feels anything from it. So what’s the point of it, really? It cost you just as much time and money as the one that draws the crowds. It just sits in a gallery that nobody has visited for years. And when you need to use one, none of them are suitable – it’s just not quite right.
A feature article almost always fails to make the cut. A marketing photo is produced specifically for it.
Show this sport in a way that nobody has ever seen before
The report will show the player standing on the court. A marketing photo captures that split second – the tension, the anger, the hard work, the decisive shot – in such a way that even someone who has never been interested in sport will raise an eyebrow.
To make it look cool. So that the club wants to show it off. So that it wants to put it on its website, post it on social media, print it on a poster and shout to the world: this is who we are.
And it really does work. I was taking photos of a top-flight table tennis club. After the shoot, the federation started using the photos too. Suddenly, the club was everywhere. The photos didn’t end up in a drawer – they went on to do more, because people wanted to use them. A marketing tool in all its glory.
And now for the main thing: the sponsor
Here, photos turn into money.
A sponsor doesn’t want its logo on a boring report that nobody will even bother to watch. It wants to be featured alongside images that look big, eye-catching and professional. It wants to be where people’s eyes are drawn.
Great visuals don’t just mean a ‘prettier gallery’. They mean you’re in a stronger position when it comes to attracting and retaining partners. A club that looks bigger and more sought-after than it actually is at the moment practically sells itself to sponsors. And you’ll feel the difference in your budget, not just in your photo album.
So no – it’s not about having photos
Everyone’s social media feeds are full of photos from the match today. What’s rare is having photos that really make a difference: they get people excited about sport, help the club reach the league where it belongs, and give sponsors a reason to want to be part of it.
It’s the same old story as with the website. A report simply shows what was – like a catalogue. A marketing photo entices and sells – like a good salesperson.
And no matter how incisive the report may be: if it doesn’t make the sport appealing, it might as well not exist.
