Rangefinder Magazine
August 2004

Hot Shots
Sets Standards for Sports Event Photography Production

Hundreds of photographic studios shoot sports teams and events—but not very many on the scale of Hot Shots Sports Photography.

Randy Schnorr says the Kodak Professional ML-500 Digital Print System has replaced a handful of networked desktop thermal printers, easing production issues. Media costs are roughly 80 cents per 8x10—virtually half of what he paid using the desktop printers.

The company, based in suburban Buffalo, NY, covers an average of 24 events per month, which includes the deployment of three teams each weekend in 24-foot trailers equipped with a full studio and digital lab.

Operating on this scale requires two things: the ability to think big and equipment that can turn out hundreds—even thousands—of quality prints on site and on demand. Hot Shots has both.

“ We’ve evolved into a national company that’s growing and growing,” says owner Randy Schnorr. “We can’t do half of the events that we get invited to.”

Most of the company’s sales take place right at the sporting events themselves. Photographers shoot the action with Canon digital cameras and return to the trailer to download their images. Then a production team creates and posts proof sheets. Athletes, families and friends view the proof sheets, place orders, and, within a few minutes, walk away with their finished prints. This high-speed, on-site printing is the result of a single Kodak Professional ML-500 Digital Photo Print System—the only photo-quality printer Schnorr has found that can print at the volumes the Hot Shots business model requires at an acceptable per-print cost.

	Team Hot Shots photographers cover 24 sports events each month. According to owner Randy Schnorr, photographers cover

Schnorr estimates each trailer team handles about 500 such orders per weekend, accounting for up to 2500 prints. People who don’t take time to view their photos at the event can visit the company’s web site (www.teamhotshots.com) after the fact and place their orders online.

In addition, Hot Shots shoots posed team and individual photos for 50 different sports leagues. Those images are brought back to the company’s western New York headquarters, digitally processed, and printed on a ML-500 print system. Schnorr says the company might do 100 teams in a week, accounting for 6000 8x10 prints. Add in web orders for another 1000 prints, and the company often produces 7000 prints in five days of seven-hour shifts.

“ And the amazing thing,” Schnorr says, “is that the printer is usually ahead of the people sending the print jobs. That thing just cranks right along.”

Technology Transforms Company
Of course, that’s how things work today. But it hasn’t always been so.

Schnorr founded Hot Shots nine years ago and built it slowly into the high-production, high-satisfaction company it is today. In the beginning, he and his team of photographers all shot film. The trailers were equipped with wet labs and traditional photochemistry. When a photographer returned to the trailer to drop off exposed film, the three-person production team would process the film, sleeve it, print, and finally post contact sheets.

	Proof sheets of digital images are available for viewing by athletes, their families and friends, usually before a game is even over. Customers place 500 orders for 2000–2500 prints at a single site, and they can get their prints within minutes.

“ Using digital technology has definitely made things a lot faster,” Schnorr says. It has made things easier, too. Schnorr used to be part photographer, part repairman, part troubleshooter. “I’ve been under a lot of film processors on Saturdays, fixing things on site. I can remember driving from Buffalo to Toronto, about four hours round-trip, because a belt broke, or a lab’s chemistry got contaminated.” So while a digital process might cut 20 minutes out of the process, it also makes things “a thousand times easier,” Schnorr says.

It didn’t all happen at once, though. He notes that his photographers are equipped with the latest digital Canon SLRs (mostly 1Ds or 10Ds). But “the latest” is a different model every year. So each photographer’s capabilities evolve with the technology.

The printing process, likewise, has evolved over the last few years. The company used to depend solely on a handful of desktop thermal printers for each trailer. “We would have to network four or five of them together to get the output we get today from a single ML-500 printer,” says Schnorr. “And, of course, there were always issues with cords and SCSI IDs. With the ML-500 printer, we get the same productivity all in one package.”

Another important consideration is cost. The media cost (paper and ribbons) with the ML-500 print system, Schnorr says, works out to be more than 40 percent less than his previous printing solution. That difference adds up fast for a company that’s producing thousands of prints each week.

Before purchasing his new Kodak Professional printers, Schnorr says, he did a comparison of print quality and found the ML-500 print system produced more vibrant color, “which really makes the images pop.”

In a 24-foot racing trailer, Hot Shots production staff download images from digital camera cards, prepare proof sheets, and print incoming orders. The company also offers custom trading cards and faux magazine covers for an $8 premium.

Digital technology has also expanded the company’s product offerings. In the early years, the company offered just straight prints. Now a customer can order a custom trading card or magazine cover from Hot Shots’ own digital templates. “It takes about an extra two or three minutes to type in the customer’s information, and a caption—‘Joe Smith Saves the Game!’ or something like that,” Schnorr says. Such a product sells for an $8 premium.

Producing these products efficiently depends on having a well-engineered digital workflow. “We have a couple of different software packages designed and tailored to our business,” Schnorr says. “We can print any package, templates or formats quickly and easily. We’ve done a lot of little things to make things faster and more user friendly. Without good software, you’re really stuck.”

Managing Growth
Today, Hot Shots Sports Photography is growing at about 20 percent annually. That’s impressive in a stagnant economy. But Schnorr could grow the company even faster if he wanted to take the plunge. He’s been offered venture capital to fuel growth, and capital is definitely the fuel he needs, given the cost of equipping each trailer team. But Schnorr says he prefers to retain control of the company himself. Growth will have to come naturally.

His concern, actually, is how fast the market is growing with competitors. “Because the technology has made it easier and easier, a lot of people are jumping into the business that may not have the skills and background to do the job right,” he says. “They’re going to hurt us in some ways.”

Schnorr is confident that Hot Shots today is one of the top three companies in event imaging in terms of its capabilities and system innovation. He spends a significant part of his day investigating new process and imaging technologies, looking for systems that will give Hot Shots even more of an edge.

“ We’re 90 percent of the way to having a system up and running where, as photographers are out there shooting, images will be going straight to the PCs,” Schnorr says. “As they’re shooting, images will be showing up right on a 15-inch monitor. It will give people at the event the opportunity to see the images as they’re being captured… and get even more excited about imaging,” he says. “That’s what our future is all about.”