What I cover
Sports photography splits into two jobs: standing still and shooting fast. Clubs and schools usually want both from the same booking, team photographs at the start, action once the whistle goes.
Team and action coverage
Squad photographs, match and fixture action, sports days, tournaments and academy sessions all sit under this page. I’ve shot Sunday league squads on Hackney Marshes in October drizzle, and a sports day in Dulwich where the real challenge was keeping four events running at once.
Portraits and events
Individual player portraits, club headshots and awards evenings round it out. An awards evening is closer to event photography from £350 than sport: flash bounced off a low ceiling, formal shots, a few candids. Training sessions you want documented fall under fitness and training photography instead.
Prices
A half day covers one fixture or a full sports day at a single venue and starts at £300. Most Saturday fixtures fit inside three hours, team photos included. See full pricing across every service for how sport compares with everything else I shoot.
| Service | From |
|---|---|
| Half day (up to 3 hours) | £300 |
| Full day (up to 7 hours) | £550 |
| Additional team, same booking | £75 |
| School sports day (half day) | £350 |
| Club season retainer (per season) | £1,800 |
| Individual player portraits, per squad | £120 |
| Parent print ordering | £8 per print |
The season retainer is the only one worth thinking hard about. It works if you’ve got fixtures most weekends from September to May; it’s a poor deal for a club that plays twice a month, where day rates add up to less.
Team photographs that don’t take an hour
Ten minutes a squad, once everyone’s assembled in kit with boots on. The photography is the fast part; herding twelve nine-year-olds into two rows is the slow part, and that’s on the coach, not me.
A riser helps for squads over sixteen, so the back row isn’t just heads; for anything smaller I skip it and shoot from a low angle instead. I always try to keep the sun behind me and the team facing into it rather than squinting, obvious once you say it, but I still turn up to grounds laid out the other way round.
The traditional two-row line-up gets criticised as boring. I disagree. It reads instantly, it’s what parents want on the wall, and it photographs consistently whatever the weather. The creative alternative, players scattered and jumping around a pitch, usually takes three times as long for one usable frame in six. Read more on photographing a sports team if you’re organising the day yourself.
Shooting action
1/1000s minimum, faster if the light allows it. Anything slower and a sprinting winger blurs at the edges. A 70-200 covers most of a five-a-side pitch; for full-size football or rugby I bring a 300mm instead.
Staying at one end matters more than people think. Chasing play means missing the moment the ball arrives. I’d rather nail one corner of the pitch than get mediocre frames from everywhere on it.
The best action frame is rarely the goal itself. It’s usually the two seconds after, a keeper still airborne, a striker turning to the crowd. That’s the shot a club ends up using. See recent work across London, from Sunday league games on Clapham Common to academy fixtures further out in Barnet.
Schools, clubs and safeguarding
I hold an enhanced DBS certificate and I’ll send a copy before the booking if your school or club asks for one, and most do. Consent for photographing under-18s, image storage and retention are all things I agree in writing beforehand, not on the day.
Safeguarding policy varies by school, trust and club, sometimes between two teams at the same ground. I work to whatever the venue sets, and I’d rather confirm it by email beforehand than sort it out on the touchline. If you also need portrait day covered, see school photography from £350.
When the parent with a good camera is enough
For a weekly under-9s fixture with no scoreboard and no trophy at the end of the season, a parent with a decent camera and a 70-200 on continuous shooting is genuinely enough. Save the budget.
Professional coverage earns its cost when there’s a season retainer to justify the consistency, a tournament final, an academy that needs portraits matching last year’s set, or a club that wants images turned round in 48 hours for social media rather than whenever someone gets round to it. If none of that applies to your fixture, I’d say don’t book it.
Tell me the squad count and fixture date, and whether you need team photos, action, or both. I reply within one working day with availability and a price.