"Yay! I can't wait to ship you 25 big ones for this photo!"
If there is one thing I've always had pretty good radar for, it's when I'm getting played. It's a great survival skill in the Army (if not a job requirement) and it has served me well whether I was at home or deployed. I also have a knack for understanding when I'm being held over a barrel. In the case of MarathonFoto, I believe a bit of both is happening simultaneously and it doesn't take a genius to figure that out.
First, let me just say that I understand that MarathonFoto is doing something that not everyone can do. They are camped out in uncomfortable places, taking photos for quite a few hours and capturing moments that would be difficult, if not impossible, for the average spectator. I get all that. The issue I have is that they abuse the shit out of the vig that they take.
They totally deserve to turn a proft, but they don't need to be such a shark about it. I have an issue with their margin mainly as a result of the fact that they have a captive clientele. You simply don't have much of a choice with regards to getting some action shots during the race. Yeah, yeah, you can have friends or family take the photos along the route, but let's be honest, if your wife and kids have come to San Francisco to see you race, they are not going to be able to get the same kind of shots or even have access to the opportunity in many cases. In addition, MarathonFoto knows that most runners will be desperate to get a finisher's photo or action shot given that this is their first marathon, a category in which a growing number of participants are a member.
To summarize, I have no issue with the business model here. In fact, I admire it. But sonofabitch, trying to stick me for 25 bucks per 5 X 7 is ridiculous and borderline extortion. Having spent my entire career in the Army, I know and understand why there is a premium on certain items; you're paying for all of the work that went into it. However, I believe the margin is more a result of the "situational" variables involved than the tangible issues of getting the photo (related costs of making it happen). At any rate, I don't do this for the 8 x 10 color glossy photograph, so I'm happy to let my buddhist side take over and let this go, which is a good thing given how completely effing horrible I look in my photos:
Exhibit A:
What the hell was I looking down for? I never look down.
Exhibit B:
Not only do I look like refried Ass, but out of focus refried Ass to boot.
And the piece de resistance:
Who the fuck is this guy? And why am I looking at him like I want him to die? So funny I couldn't help but refrain from clicking the "NOT ME" button.
What do you think about MarathonFoto? Are they savior or vulture?
19 comments:
Dude! Great post! Seriously, this is funny as hell. I especially love the last pic! Digital downloads should be $5 tops! Crowdsourcing marathon photos is something we need to explore more!
I got bad news cousin they don't just stick it to you with sports photos but I am sure you have been taken for child photos. its a conspiracy with all photographers!
Great post, though putting these pictures out there with a rogue PSYOP NCO running about is asking for trouble... right-click, save as...
I agree with Mike's idea about crowd sourcing. The crappy thing you didn't touch on is marathonfoto maintains the copyright to the prints you purchase. It's your image, but they own it since it's a public venue.
Wonderful post! And I vote for VULTURE.. like you I don't mind them turning a profit--but jeez louise!!! $25 for a slightly-out-of-focus 5X7? Not right at all. I say we need a little competition out there-- a few paparazzi-like companies and then WE the consumer can choose which company we would like to purchase from. Prices will fall and perhaps we will get a better product.
Great post Marcus, very good points made all around. I wanted to take a minute to respond to this, because I think you seriously hit it on the head.
No doubt many of the larger companies lack in creativity, and picking the best spots. And a lot of the tagging of your numbers is done by computers that don't understand that a horribly out of focus photo isn't something you want to buy. It's frustrating to athletes who know better.
Although the main problem lies in the cost. As you mentioned, $25 for a 5x7, that's a bit insane. However, being in the game ourselves, we understand why the rates are high. The percentage of people who buy their photos is pretty low. Now, you have to ask if it's because the quality isn't there, or is it because it's too expensive? The answer seems to be a bit of both. And to top it all off, hiring photographers is expensive! A smaller company such as ours sometimes pays more than $5k for photographers for a 2 day event!
With that said, you have to ask yourself... if the costs were lower, would more people buy? The answer is yes. But does it balance out? Who knows. Marathonfoto has been in the game for a while, so it seems they would have arrived at a sweet spot in terms of pricing, but their prices aren't really fair for those of you who race every weekend and just want a way of preserving the memory. Their bread and butter is first-timers, and even then paying that much for photos just doesn't seem fair for those athletes.
We are in the same game, but we see that there are absolutely better ways of doing race photography. We're hoping our growth at least encourages these bigger companies to improve their game, and drop their prices so that more people can enjoy the images from a moment that took a lot of training to get to!
Happy training!
Agreed. (looked up "vig" added to my yiddish, thx)
I've run the Peachtree Road Race eight times, plus several qualifiers... I've purchased just one marathon foto: Only because it was a birthday gift for my 1st time runner friend.
The price was a scorcher. I'll be satisfied will cellphone snapshots hereafter.
I happen to be a former employee of MarathonFoto and thought I'd just toss in my two cents. I'm afraid to say that our tagging is not done by computers, as suggested above, but by actual people. We hired so many temp taggers during peak racing seasons. The halls were always crammed with high schoolers. They are supposed to see that a picture like the one you posted is out of focus and mark it as bad. Of course, the taggers are generally young kids only there for the paycheck (they're paid per photo), so I'm not surprised at the number of bad photos that get marked as okay to sell.
And I couldn't agree more about the prices. It is a little ridiculous. But like you say, you're kind of out of options. Which does completely suck. But, having worked there, I will say that I can see where the high prices come from. Everything mentioned above by Nuvision Action Image is completely true - high photographer costs, low buying averages, etc. But all that aside, it does suck for the customer. I feel for you there.
Unfortunately, it's a rock and a hard place with this situation. You'll just have to make friends with an amateur photo junkie with a DSLR ... somebody with a standard DSLR and a decent lens could camp out and get at least one or two good shots of you at a desired location. Good luck with your crowdsourcing for any future races!
Valid concern. But what you don't realize is that to get the exclusive rights to photograph said events, to get the participant list so that the images can be conveniently emailed to each participant, MarathonFoto and others have to pay the event organizer per finisher. NY Marathon, 30,000 participants, the company may have to pay NYRR $9 per finisher. So before they have even taken a single shot, the company is down $270K. Go to MarathonFoto, I'm pretty certain no one is getting rich there.
I have worked as a photographer for marathon photo. You have to wake up when its pitch black, stand out in the cold all day, and try to take pictures of people who really dont want their photos taken. They only pay you about 9-11 dollars an hour, depending on how many pictures you take. It is not a fun job at all. When you buy a picture, you are having to pay the company, every one at the office headquarters, and tons of photographers. If you are so cheap, just have your mom take a pic at the finish line, but dont complain about it. People have to make a living you know.
As someone who finally ponied up the money for the photos from our first marathon six months ago, I am glad companies like MarathonFoto exist. Sure, the prices are high but it IS "first timers" who buy the whole package. Six months ago, I was a different person. It was just before I was diagnosed with some health issues and I want to remember that moment in time. It was not a stellar athletic achievement but it will always be my "first." I have since been in two other half marathons and did not buy the photos. Cell phone pics are fine. They are filling a market niche.
The thing I like about MarathonFoto, compared to BrightRoom, is that they stay on the course until everyone is in. BrightRoom packs ups, disinterested, when the less athletically inclined are still out there. They are probably the most likely to buy the photos because it is a real achievement for them to finish.
Just ran a marathon where MarathonFoto was the selected vendor for the occasion. For one digital image of the finisher's line it's just under $40! Wow...for a digital image. Of course I Googled 'MarathonFoto too expensive' and your hilarious and spot-on post came up. My vote: Vulture. No wonder they have such a low buying averages.
I recently ran a half marathon where, with shipping, I paid the $25 for the one 5x7 photo. They were so cheap they didn't even put the race name/logo anywhere on the photo. I'll pay the price, just finish the job!
Not defending MF because $25 for the one 5x7 is strong; however, what they do is not easy or cheap. The average road race photographer is walking around with about $4,000 worth of equipment. You have to stand there for hours no matter how hot, cold or even raining. A large marathon puts about the mileage on your camera equal to a cross country trip in a car. A large marathon will have about a dozen photographers being paid about $150 each, include gas/travel, hotels, food and give backs to the race directors and you are quite a bit in the hole starting out. Then there is the post work, such as getting the images from each camera, categorizing, editing, tagging and uploading, etc., etc. Although it might look similar, but what MF does is not like using your BestBuy camera to take a picture of your wife at a local 5K. And yes, out of 100,000 photos, there are going to be a few blurry ones that end up online because the workflow process is very labor and equipment dependent.
I am not a fan of MF because they are like Walmart squeezing out the local guys, but...pimping isn't easy.
I've just run the silverstone half marathon here in the UK. The cost of one photo download is £45 ($68). Now I know they have to cover costs and everything but that is an unbelievable rip off.
VULTURE x 1,000.
BTW, what's the big, bright-white blob blocking the bottom left corner of the last photo where you're not even the primary subject??? Low quality photo...easiest way to explain it.
As a pro-tog; a single print (from me, not the sports agencies) is around £30. It's not just the time out in the field, but the time back in the office too, the editing, the usual office overheads, insurance, wear and tear on equipment - pro camera upwards for £3000 (body only), lenses are more (at least £900), transport to the venue, and often overnight stays because it starts early or finishes late. Food and water (water is more important than food) - and yes, a very small profit (I have a family too).
Add to that MarathonFoto are not a lone tog, but an agency. Togs take the pictures & hand over cards, backend staff do the validation, editing and tagging.
I'm not justifying MarathonFoto's prices (especially given the extremely poor quality of the last image), but ask yourself - what is a tangible memory worth to you? Yuo can either tell your grandkids you ran a marathon, or you can show them. And a really good image, you can have on the wall.
(and the bright white 'blob' is the edge of a white sleeve on a t-shirt. That whole image just smacks of an amateur - probably because MarathonFoto won't pay proper rates, so hobbiests take the jobs).
Marcus, great post...kept me laughing as I sit here and anguish over the same dilemma. Vultures for sure!! By the way, Hooah, thanks for your service to our country!!
I was actually looking for a way to "liberate" one of my photos (at no cost to me) from MarathonFoto (MF) when I stumbled onto your post. I too served this great country (26 years as an AF NCO) and I too feel the exact same way you do about this company gouging us. Hence the reason I was contemplating "cost free appropriation ideas".
I just completed my first Tough Mudder and REALLY wanted the MF pics (at a cheaper price than what those MF folks are asking). However, after reading the replies to your post I think I need to stop looking for a free handout and use some of the core values the military has taught us. You know, like "Suck it up and deal with it!!" and "You've gotta love it when it sucks!!".
Luckily for me, I'll still have a couple of bucks left after my Ex takes her half of MY military retirement this month. Besides, eating is overrated, it can wait until next week...LOL.
I probably will give them a call before I acquiesce to their extortion, just to see if they will honor a Military Discount...lots of luck with that!! Right!?!?
I'm going to share a secret. I'm not sure if you'll ever get this, but go find your old marathonphotos again, and find the thumbnail url. You've already blown up the thumbnails to the large format, but you still have the watermark on the images.
Then try changing the 'images' in the URL to 'offsiteimages'
some random image of a dude:
thumbnail:
http://images.marathonfoto.com/MFT2013/81/731381/1001/0039t.jpg
fullsize: http://offsiteimages.marathonfoto.com/MFT2013/81/731381/1001/0039.jpg
if you do figure this out, enjoy!
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