So You Want To Be A Snowboard (Skate, Surf) Photographer? Ask Yourself These Ten Questions Before You Do Anything

The life of an action-sports photographer may seem dreamy from afar but it's not always all it's cracked up to be. Still interested? Ask yourself these questions first and save yourself some grief!

1. Do you like to work for free?

Once upon a time there was supposedly a way to make a full-time living as an action-sports photographer. Supposedly. Those days are long gone and now that basically everyone is a photographer (thanks iPhone and digital SLRs!) there is a lot more competition for the same amount, or even less, page space. Add to that the fact that editorial pays next to nothing, and most brands now have in-house photographers, and you can expect to be making jack squat for years to come. Sound fun? Read on!

2. Do you have the balls for it?

You aren't gonna get the shot of a lifetime standing on the sidelines. Professional action-sport photographers lead pretty much as risky a life as the athletes they are shooting. They still have to climb all the same mountains, brave all the same giant waves and often put themselves right in the impact zone, on purpose, to get a unique angle. Wimps need not apply.
 

3. Where do you live?

Want to be a snowboard photographer but live in Saskatoon? Well, that's gonna be a problem. You need to be where the action is and that usually means living on of the "hubs" for each sport. Ie. Snowboarding = Whistler and Mammoth, Surfing = Hawaii, etc.. There's ways around this one but it's gonna cost you dearly.

4. How much do you value comfort?

Especially when you're just starting up and eager to accept any and every invitation to go shoot, there's gonna be a lot of nights spent on floors and couches and a lot of hours crammed into the back of a small vehicle to get to the next spot, road trip, etc...

5. Can you handle spoiled brats?

This is not an across the board thing, and as you grow as a photographer you will learn how to avoid certain people, but often times you will have to deal with professional athletes who feel like the whole world owes them something and that you work for them. There's a time and a place to stand up for yourself but sometimes you're gonna have to just grin and bear it in order to get the shot. 
 

6. Do you even know any pros?

You can shoot photos of your friends all you want but with the way most action-sports industries work, the magazines are looking to run photos of athletes who represent brands that advertise in said magazine. In an ideal world every banger photo would find a home but in real life there's a lot more politics than you'd think. So basically you either need to already be friends with pros or be able to meet them. See # 3

7. Do you have a clear concept of why most of your photos suck balls?

The level of photography in action-sports in incredibly high these days. While this in itself is a wonderful thing, it means you are really going to have to step your game up to stick out from the crowd. 99% of the time a photographer who is just starting out will have a bunch of photos they think are amazing when in reality they are just so stoked on everything that they are a bit blinded. Do your photos compare to those in the magazines? Pick up as many issues as you can, mixing up the sports, and study each photo and what makes it work. Even after everything is all said and done most professional photographers are happy to walk away with one or two shots from a session. Do you have the ability to self critique well enough to not show anyone your crap? You better.

8. Seriously, you photos suck, what are you willing to do about it?

Are you willing to put in a few years of shooting before expecting even a little bit of success? Are you tough enough to take repeated criticism and not get all mushy about it? You're going to need a tough back-bone to make it and you have to be willing to put in months and years honing your craft. You need to be willing to seek the advice of other, more esthablished pros. Spending months and years shadowing others (assuming you can find one who'll let you) and learning from them is one of the key ways to hone your craft and learn the biz, are you willing to stick your neck out there like that?
 

9. Do you like spending inordinate amounts of time on the computer?

With digital photography came the need to post-process every shot you take. Add to that the hours upon hours you are going to spend emailing editors, updating websites, working with blogs and web magazines, doing self-promotion and all the other wonderful business-related activities you are going to have to complete to make a business out of photography and you sure as shit better be ready to spend more time in front of the glowing screen than shooting even.

10. Can you work it business-wise?

There is a lot more to being a professional photographer than shooting photos. A lot. If you want to make a career out of it you need to treat it like a full-time job and that is going to mean a lot of business-type dealings. Working with clients and magazines, invoicing, finding new outlets for your work, dealing with copyright infringement ... this is the major killer for most photogs who don't make it. You seriously need to love the business side as much as the photo-taking side, if you don't you're gonna get bummed out real quick. 

So where does that leave you dear aspiring photographer? Well, that's entirely up to you. While it may seem like this list is full of negative things, and it definitely kinda is, the flip-side of it all is that you will get to spend your days in incredible places, with rad people, documenting amazing feats of daring that in theory you will then get to share will thousands and millions of people across the world. What it really comes down to is if you're looking for a free ride to a life of fun and just think "oh wow, that snowboarding thing looks cool. maybe I should try that" then you are dead out of the water. It's only those who have a true passion for a given sport, who have already dedicated their lives to the pursuit of it, and genuinely want to help improve and give back to that sport that even have a chance at making it. But you already knew that didn't you? Cause you fucking love that shit and couldn't imagine it any other way!