Why do race photographers threaten to delete your race proofs if you dont purchase them right away & extend deadline?

seems unethical

Unethical? You must mean the part about threatening to pull the proofs down and then not delivering on the threat.

So far as ethical lapses go, this one doesn't register very high with me. The photos belong to the photographer, it's his/her right to keep them available as long as he/she likes.

As someone who occasionally sells a photo or two, let me explain the photographer's dilemma. If you don't give a deadline, people put things off and then almost inevitably don't buy. Not good for your business. If you give a deadline, people sense a little more urgency and are ultimately more likely to buy a photo. I doubt extending deadline results in many more sales, but it does give the photographer one more excuse to contact the subject for a sale.

By the way, you've probably seen the licensed photographers at high school state championship games/meets. If you get one to speak honestly with you, they'll tell you it's all about the moment. People will buy photos on the day of the event that they will rarely buy if forced to order online or purchase two days later. The emotions are riding high 15 minutes after the kid placed 6th in the state championship race. Not so much so two days later.

I'm still getting offers to purchase graduation photos (from May) for one of my children. Maybe after tomorrow those offers will cease.

Along with this I would say that it also takes up a ton of space to store 1000 or so proofs on your website from one event. Lets say you have 5 events in a weekend that is a lot of file space on your website that you have up there. Accumulate that over months and years along with some sort of cart software and that is a lot of space. If you are a small business you are probably running on a smaller webhosting package and can't afford to go over disk space by keeping archives and archives of photos on your page

Neumann J wrote:

Why do race photographers threaten to delete your race proofs if you dont purchase them right away & end up extending the deadline?

new email today: "A 2nd chance to preserve your Race memories"

For one, it's their property. And secondly, why do you characterize it as a 'threat'? It seems to me that it is a courtesy call, and since they do make a living at this, they want to sort out the potential buyers from the rest.

Straightforward enough to me.

I don't believe I gave them permission to be stalking me and taking my picture.

You entered a sporting event, media goes along with it. If they're taking pictures while you're going on an easy run at home, then ya, that is stalking.

Do you like lookin at pictures of yourself grimacing in short shorts?

It is obvious that this person is not really asking a question. He was online, got pissed off at the e-mail, and already being online, decided to go to LetsRun to vent his frustrations and find like-minded individuals. It also may have been a passive attempt to spark some hatred of recreational runners. But then again that last part probably says more about me than it does the original poster.

Hey, I bought one of my hobbyjogging pictures a few years ago!! I just copy all the pictures I can off the computer. Its nice that all those companies put their name across my chest in the photos. That way I can remember who took those great pictures of me.

Neumann J wrote:

Why do race photographers threaten to delete your race proofs if you dont purchase them right away & end up extending the deadline?

new email today: "A 2nd chance to preserve your Race memories"

Do NOT choose sales in any capacity as a career.

Patches wrote:

Along with this I would say that it also takes up a ton of space to store 1000 or so proofs on your website from one event. Lets say you have 5 events in a weekend that is a lot of file space on your website that you have up there. Accumulate that over months and years along with some sort of cart software and that is a lot of space. If you are a small business you are probably running on a smaller webhosting package and can't afford to go over disk space by keeping archives and archives of photos on your page

I'm a sports photographer, and while I don't often to 5ks or marathons, space is not an issue. Or at least it shouldn't be for anyone who knows what they're doing. I have years worth of huge files for sale, and I'll never need to worry about taking any down to save money.

I've never taken the 'last chance' route to try and foster sales, but I suspect anyone doing this is just incentivizing their product. I don't have any numbers on it so I don't know if it pays off. But I've sold prints from events 9+ months later organically (no marketing, no email blast to remind them or anything like that), just from google searches or having links on events websites, so I wouldn't even consider taking them down after a period of time.

Race Directors / Meet Directors are increasingly using volunteers with pro gear to shoot events and pass out the proofs for free as part of the entry fee. Cheap technology and wonderful volunteers have enabled us all to enjoy additional advantages. Ask the race director for free pictures of yourself.

past his prime wrote:

The photos belong to the photographer, it's his/her right to keep them available as long as he/she likes.

Photos should belong to the person whose picture is taken, unless said person permits agrees to their picture being taken in the first place. That would also mean that every athlete would get a share of broadcast proceeds, etc.

Not according to the law. Any videos or photos you take is yours and yours alone. You can keep them, sell copies, post online, whatever, it's for you to decide.

As a free service race/meet directors are inviting volunteers to shoot and deliver free photos and free videos to entrants and issue photo passes to them if they agree to provide the free videos and free photos.

If you keep thinking in that "way it should be manner" you're going to be very disappointed in life.

The Way It Should Be wrote:

Photos should belong to the person whose picture is taken, unless said person permits agrees to their picture being taken in the first place. That would also mean that every athlete would get a share of broadcast proceeds, etc.

You did agree when you signed the race entry/disclaimer.

The form you signed does not say anything about giving you a share of the broadcast proceeds.

If you don't like it, set up your own race. That might also be extremely eye-opening for you about the economics of the race organizing and photo-taking business.

Patches wrote:

Along with this I would say that it also takes up a ton of space to store 1000 or so proofs on your website from one event. Lets say you have 5 events in a weekend that is a lot of file space on your website that you have up there. Accumulate that over months and years along with some sort of cart software and that is a lot of space. If you are a small business you are probably running on a smaller webhosting package and can't afford to go over disk space by keeping archives and archives of photos on your page

Nonsense, the only decent race photographers I know use SmugMug Pro, unlimited storage, full brand customization (CSS) and you obviously set your own prices.

Hundreds of races per year, and I can go back years and buy a picture from that race in 2006.

Trying to host it yourself just doesn't make sense.

there are some excellent roll-your-own photo fulfillment applications, similar to smugmug but you run them on your own server. They offer much more control over the products and services you can provide. If the photographer does there job you shouldn't be able to tell if they're using smugmug or Photo Cart or anything else. I use smugmug but could easily host a store front on my own if I had the need for the additional functionality and still maintain a catalog of every single event I've ever shot. Trying to host yourself doesn't make sense if you're an idiot, but it make sense for a lot of people that do it just fine.

It's called trying to make money. A lot of you people should try it sometime...