Single-event photo galleries: how race photo platforms work

If you've run or entered a race in the last few years, you've probably used a single-event photo gallery: one page for one event, where you type your bib number or take a selfie, see your photos and buy them. Several platforms work this way, and they differ more in their business model than in what participants see. This article explains how single-event galleries work, the main models behind them and the questions to ask before you choose one, whether you're an organiser or a photographer.

What participants see

From the participant's side, single-event galleries look much the same everywhere:

1. A link arrives in the results email or on the event's social posts.
2. The gallery opens on one event, sometimes split by distance or day.
3. The participant searches by bib number, selfie or time, or browses by location.
4. They buy a photo or a bundle, or download free if the organiser has paid.

What participants care about is simple: is the gallery up quickly, does search find them, and is buying easy on a phone?

The models behind them

Behind that similar front end, platforms tend to follow one of a few models.

The platform runs the photography. The platform supplies or contracts the photographers, runs the gallery under its own brand and shares revenue with the organiser, or charges the organiser. The organiser has little to do, but the photos, the brand and the participant relationship sit with the platform.

The photographer runs the gallery on a platform. A photographer or photo company uses a platform's tools to run galleries under their own name. They choose prices, keep the relationship with the organiser and the participants, and pay the platform a fee or commission. Photohawk Studio works this way.

The organiser runs it. Some organisers book a photographer and run the gallery themselves, either for sale or as free downloads paid from entry fees or a sponsor.

None of these is right for everyone. The question is who you want to own the brand, the prices and the relationship with participants.

Questions to ask before you choose

Whichever model you're considering, these questions decide whether people find their photos and whether the numbers work:

Finding photos

• Can participants search by bib number and by selfie, without anyone tagging photos?
• Does it work on a phone, without an app or an account?
• Are there other ways in, such as time search and browsing by location, for when search misses?

Speed

• How long does a big gallery take to go live from a venue connection?
• Can the gallery go live before every original has uploaded?
• If the connection drops, does the upload resume by itself?

Money

• Who sets the prices?
• What are all the fees: monthly price, commission, card fees, storage and free downloads? Our article on commission versus subscription shows how to compare them.
• Do payments go to your own account, and when?

Brand and data

• Whose brand is on the gallery, and can you use your own domain?
• Who keeps the relationship with participants after the event?
• Is there a published policy on face data: how it's used, how long it's kept and how people ask for it to be deleted?

How Photohawk Studio answers them

For what it's worth, here's how Photohawk Studio does it:

• Search: bib, selfie and time search on every plan, found automatically on upload.
• Speed: the web uploader sends many photos at once and resumes by itself; on every plan, previews first gets a gallery live in minutes while the originals follow.
• Money: you set your prices, singles and bundles; each plan has a monthly price and a commission on sales, with card fees separate. See the pricing page.
• Brand: galleries carry your logo and colours on every plan; Pro and above add a custom domain.
• Free or paid: each gallery sells photos or shares them as free downloads.
• Discovery: public galleries can be listed on Find your photos, where participants search events by name, date and country.
• Face data: deleted automatically at the latest 12 months after each photo is uploaded, under our biometric data retention policy.

For organisers: what to agree with your photographer

If you're an organiser booking a photographer who runs their own galleries, agree in writing:

• Whether photos are sold or free, and who pays.
• How soon the gallery goes live, and where the link will be shared.
• Whether selfie search is used, and what participants will be told about it before the event.
• How long the gallery stays up.
• What you can use the photos for in your own promotion.

Getting started

If you photograph events and want to run single-event galleries under your own brand, create a free Studio account, set up a gallery and upload a test folder. It takes a few minutes, and you can try search on your own photos before your next event.