When Work Is An Adventure

How to Jump Into the Action Photography Business.

- Maria Piscopo

THIS MONTH WE TALK with seven photographers pursuing their passion for action, adventure, and sports and find out how they are getting the work: Aaron Belford, Tegan Keller (Tegan K. Studios LLC), Chayce Lanphear, Joe Morahan (Morahan Visuals, LLC), Elli Morris, Jayms Ramirez, and Robert Snow.

Shutterbug: What types of clients have you found to license or buy adventure sports and action photography?

Aaron Belford: I sell and license images to all sorts of clients from action adventure tour groups to magazines and even medical and food companies. What draws many companies to buy action adventure photography is the feeling of the image or, more accurately, the feeling that you are able to inspire within the viewer. I have had yogurt and travel companies, and even nonprofits, work with me because of the way I shoot action and how I approach the process.

Jayms Ramirez: I’ve been fortunate to have a wide range of clients utilizing my adventure/lifestyle/travel work across many mediums. A few I’ve worked with recently include Land Rover, Sierra Magazine, WhereTraveler.com, National Geographic Adventure, and Travelzoo. I work with Aurora Stock, and have had many images licensed through an adventure travel agency as well.

Joe Morahan: As strange as this sounds, some of my biggest sales have been from finance and wealth management companies. I have found that my sports work meshes well with those sorts of firms. They seem to love images of subjects running up hills, or a version of a person striving to achieve a goal. They feel it says more than just another sports image.

Robert Snow: My clients include quite a variety of different industries such as apparel/clothing, shoe companies, energy drinks, soft drink companies, nonprofits, marine industry, and of course sports equipment.