Okay! But we always charge for our photos…
Here’s why…
For more than five years we’ve prided ourselves on taking some amazing photographs and videos of thousands of swimmers in one of the most iconic and amazing places to swim — San Francisco Bay and Lake Tahoe.
We’ve also shared our images/videos on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere to illustrate our services, share our love of swimming in San Francisco Bay and at Lake Tahoe, and, lastly, for the artistic pleasure of putting together amazing shots and videos. It’s been a pleasure but it’s been expensive too…
We currently (October, 2021) have in excess of 70,000 photographs and more than 12,500 video clips of the swims we’ve piloted. We have all of them backed up and organized too. We have the fastest computers available so we can edit our photos and videos efficiently and quickly and the best software available. We’re efficient and the imagery we produce doesn’t usually suck — at least in our opinion.
Then there are the uncounted hours developing our skills regarding where to position the boats to get great imagery, stop the action to capture amazing scenes, and generally make sure we have stunning images available that capture the essence of our swims. Also, Bryan’s 35+ years of commercial photography experience really comes in handy too!
There’s a real cost to all of this…
We’ve more than doubled down in recent times on cameras, lenses, gimbals, lighting, audio equipment, software, and sorts of related equipment. Also, we purchase the latest iPhones as soon as they’re available too because the added features of each new release add significantly to the quality of the images we produce. Do you love that stabilized wide-angle shot with Alcatraz perfectly framed behind you? It doesn’t just happen… We got it by investing in skill, technique, equipment, and forethought.
The truth is we need to make a return on our investments to be able to continue to offer ALL of the services we do. The extra service offerings are just that — extra services at an additional fee.
We offer a discounted photo service when you register (The base package is only $48!) for photos of your swim. When this option is included, we make sure we capture a lot of images and send the very best afterward and we bring the appropriate equipment for the shoot.
We too live busy lives…
After the swim photo/video requests have an administrative cost as well as a time cost to review a swim from the past and process the imagery. We love being on the water with you but are also required to spend a significant amount of time in the office running the business side of things too. Adding photo requests in the mix is fine, but we’re already slammed. So, we’ll do it, but we’re going to have to charge for it…
If you only want us to send you whatever we took on your swim, we’ll make them available to you for little as $60. Select whether you want images OR videos (1080p for your personal use (non-commercial) and they’re yours to use. If you want videos AND photos, send $85. There are a few additional options to consider too… Don’t want our logos on the imagery, add another $25. Want us to color correct and edit the ‘as-shot’ images into something even more amazing, add another $45. There’s an order form below for your convenience.
Lastly, we can’t guarantee anything about what we captured since we weren’t expecting to produce any images for anything other than our own use.
Want to know what we shot before you submit the form below? Sorry, nope… We usually get some good shots but we won’t know till we get into the archive and look. But we wont do that unless you order. Again, we’re just as busy as anyone and the truth is we’re actually just charging for our time at this point since we would rather be out swimming or hanging out away from the boat AND office… So, if it’s important, roll the dice and we’ll send what we have… You may be surprised by what we captured.
Thanks for your understanding and continued support.
Best,
Sylvia & Bryan
Pacific Open Water Swim Co.