Videos and pics from events

[Xanthoria]

Back in the twinkling dawn of the Jurassic era when I was growing up we would receive physical 4x6” prints of xc jumps after an event with the word “proof” written on in marker. If you wanted to buy one you’d write back probably enclosing the fee in groats or tuppenny bits Things got really fancy when photogs would start sending out contact sheets or having their logo printed on the photos Vs the marker scrawl.

Here on the west coast of the USA the norm is paying $120ish on the spot (one phase) and waiting 2 weeks for the videographer to put your video on YouTube while wearing out the refresh key on your computer. Meanwhile the photographer might capture your entire weekend for $85 or maybe just two of your xc jumps. Or they might have 10 very low res images of great shots for $175 or your whole weekend for $475… it’s a total guessing game!

In the UK these days I gather you can get video almost right away (based off YouTubers posting their competition footage the next day) or at least in 5 days and videography appears to often be done using a fixed tripod, with loads of static video cameras on various jumps showing the approach and jump Vs the roving videographers we have. https://equireel.co.uk/ says “ We place a network of cameras at each obstacle over the 5km course to capture every rider at every fence” and the fee is £60 per edited xc video.

I find all this very interesting since I come from a creative background. What’s the norm in your area? And when can we get totally silent and far away enough not to be spooky drones following our xc exploits for some amazing angles?

[BWP]

I’m in the UK and yes, most of the events here are covered by An Eventful Life or Equireel. For the bigger events e.g Blair it can take up to a week or so to get videos, although they do try to get the winners videos especially out very quickly.

For photos there are many different individual photographers and companies that cover XC and they vary massively from the ones that upload throughout the day and you can buy onsite to the ones you have to chase up 2 weeks later.

[Gardenhorse]

Ha. I remember those physical proofs. In Maryland in Area 2 there is no option to buy a video, which I miss. We have one photographer that does most of the events, and in my opinion isn’t the best. You generally get 30 or so images of your XC and SJ, but good luck finding one where they’ve gotten the peak of the jump and the lighting/background are decent. You can buy a single digital image for $25 or the whole album for $90. These are generally marketed as “social media images” to be posted on Facebook. They are lower resolution and not good for printing beyond 4x6. You have to pay more for a higher res image that is decent for printing.

ETA: The photos are usually up within a week after the event.

[Highflyer1]

I’m in Maryland and haven’t seen a professional videographer at an event since smartphones became a thing.

Pictures are pretty much what you’re describing-- there are a handful of photographers that shoot most of our local events and the prices for a single low resolution digital photo range from about $15 to $35 (one photographer has a viewing fee) and are all over the place in terms of coverage and quality but do usually get at least a few each of sj/xc. Photos are mostly posted online within the week-- I haven’t seen them sold onsite in a long time.

[Carried_Away]

I’m in Area IX in summers and FL in winters - the options vary greatly between the two.

Xpress Foto is wonderful and offers a pre-show package for around $120 IIRC for many (30-40 images) of XC & SJ, sometimes Dressage too depending on the show format. The images can even be uploaded directly to your phone at the show or the files emailed very shortly after the show. Jeff and Lori are great and I’ve known them for years. They are in FL for the winters and Area IV in the summers. A few of the smaller & schooling shows have other photographers who also do a great job and are pretty affordable (Lisa Madren, Victoria DeMore), usually they have the albums available for online purchases within a week or so of the show.

RNS Video is in FL for some of the bigger events or VideobyPatrick, which tends to have cameras set at places throughout the XC course vs. RNS which follows you via numerous camera stands. RNS is a bit more expensive ($100+) but Patrick is very affordable - around $25. At Flying Cross in Area VIII a few years ago I got drone footage of my XC round, but it was from pretty far away, still a cool thing to see though!

Area IX is a bit different since it’s so large, the quality is definitely not as good since we have some rodeo photographers that are not used to shooting jumping. I was pretty disappointed with my photos this year to be honest. Definitely no video options here. At the CO horse park jumper shows the photos are much better and pretty fairly priced, they are available daily on the photographer’s website.

[beowulf]

Oh! I remember those little strips - I used to cherish them because I couldn’t afford to buy the actual photos! I probably still have a few strips somewhere of some of my first shows.

I don’t know if there are many video options in Area 1, but we do have a good assortment of photographers here. The prices are all over the board. Some photographers have a season pass you pay and then they will upload all your photos. Others upload photos straight to their website. Most take a week or so. I’d say average is probably $35 per print and $25 for digital image. I will note one photographer I really like in this area charges $75 for full resolution digital images. I don’t tend to post a lot on social media, but I do like to have photos of my horse on my phone/computer - so I usually buy digital if I can.

I worry for photographers in Area 1; with so many smart-phones pulled out on course I can’t imagine how they are getting their money’s worth being outside all day, then photo editing for several days. It’s got to be a thankless task and I am deeply appreciative of all the photographers that come to my events. I try to buy at least one print per event to reflect that, even if I don’t have the wall space for it all.

[Cowboy_Girl]

The rodeo guy is actually pretty good

[LadyB]

In Ontario, we have 2 known photographers, one is mostly the west side, and the other seems to travel to most events. We do not have videographers, which would be awesome to have! We rely on friends at events for snippets, or me, who has my mom running across fields. Moms are the best!

Photos, digital is $25… which blows my mind. We used to have another photographer before these two, and I think he was a tad less money, but could also be the reason why he no longer does it.

I used to love getting the 8x10 print, I had a wall collage of them… I find the digital era to be a little less exciting, yes you get it right away, but do you really cherish it like you used to cherish a print out?

[wsmoak]

I have always wanted to crowdsource event videos. Everybody’s out there with a cell phone, if we got coordinated and had people upload video, interested people could figure out who is who, tag them or enter that info somewhere (name, rider number, start and end time) and then it would be technically possible using that data to automate pulling the clips together. In my spare time…