Choosing an event photography partner: questions organisers should ask

Your photographer is one of the few suppliers every participant notices. Good photos, online quickly and easy to find, make an event feel well run; slow, unsearchable galleries generate complaints for weeks. Whether you've worked with the same photographer for years or you're choosing one for a new event, these are the questions worth asking. They apply whoever you work with; where we give examples, they're from Photohawk Studio.

1. How fast will photos be online?

Speed matters more than almost anything else. Participants look for photos in the hours after the event, and that's when they share and buy. Ask:

• When will the gallery be live, and will it be searchable straight away?
• Is the finish uploaded first?
• What happens if the venue's connection is poor?

With previews first, on every Photohawk plan, the web uploader puts light previews online before the originals, so a gallery can be live and searchable on race day while the originals follow in the background. See how preview-first uploads work.

2. How will participants find their photos?

A link to thousands of unsorted thumbnails isn't a service. Ask what search is offered:

• Bib number search, ideally read automatically from the photos.
• Selfie search, for photos where the number is hidden.
• Browsing by place and time, with collections named after points on your course.

Ask to see a gallery from a past event and try finding someone yourself. Five minutes on a phone tells you more than a sales pitch.

3. Free or paid for participants?

Agree the model before anything else:

• Participants buy their own photos: usually no cost to you. Ask how pricing works and whether bundles are offered.
• Free for everyone: you or a sponsor pay an agreed fee. Our page on free race photos paid for by sponsors explains how.
• A mix: for example free finish photos and the rest for sale.

Ask how the photographer's own costs work, so the quote makes sense. On Photohawk, for example, plans have a monthly price and a commission on sales, and free-download photos are charged per photo; the pricing page has the figures.

4. How is face data handled?

Selfie search uses face recognition, which means biometric data about everyone in the photos. You should be able to tell participants exactly what happens. Ask:

• What do participants need to be told, and can you supply wording?
• How does someone opt out, and how quickly is their face data deleted?
• How long is face data kept?
• Can selfie search be switched off for some galleries, such as junior races?

On Photohawk, selfies are used for one search and never stored, face data is deleted automatically at the latest 12 months after each photo is uploaded, deletion requests are handled within 30 days, and selfie search can be switched off for any gallery. Our GDPR checklist for organisers covers what to agree.

5. Whose brand do participants see?

The gallery is part of your event's experience. Ask whether it can carry your event's name, logo and colours, and where it will live. On Photohawk, galleries carry the workspace's logo and colours on every plan, and Pro and above can use a custom domain.

6. Who can use the photos afterwards?

Organisers often want photos for next year's marketing. Agree in writing:

• which photos you may use, and where;
• how the photographer is credited;
• for how long;
• what happens to photos of identifiable people, especially children.

Coverage, team and backup

Ask how the course will be covered: positions, how many photographers, how long the finish is staffed, and what happens if someone is ill. For big events, ask how the team works together; our article on how many photographers a mass participation event needs helps you judge a proposal.

Support for participants

Someone will ask "where are my photos?" Agree who answers: the photographer, the platform's support or your team. Give participants one clear route, and make sure the gallery link is in your results email. Our page on how organisers offer race photos to participants covers the participant side.

A partner checklist

• Gallery live time, in writing.
• Bib search, selfie search and browsing by place.
• Free, paid or mixed, with the fee agreed.
• Face data: notice, opt-out, deletion, time limits.
• Your brand on the gallery.
• Your use of the photos, with credit.
• Coverage plan and backup.

If you're a photographer reading this to see what organisers ask, create a free Studio account and set up a sample gallery to show them.