We deeply value photographers. We aim to:
- treat each photographer with respect and appreciation before, during, and after tournaments.
- compensate each photographer as best we can based on experience and skill given the constraints of the business.
- pay photographers via direct deposit in a timely way shortly after the end of a tournament.
- make tournaments staffed sufficiently so photographers aren't overworked.
- make tournaments as enjoyable as possible by keeping things light-hearted and efficient.
- minimize communication problems by keeping everyone up-to-date on the latest information by using a combination of texts, emails, and now, for the first time in 2025, shared photographer information on our website.
In return, we need photographers to help.
- Be timely in responding to requests for tournament availability, travel, and lodging by making postings via our new app.
- From time to time assisting us in locating other photographers you know who would help at tournaments.
- Once you are committed to photograph an event, following through on this commitment.
- Focus throughout the entire tournament in getting the quantity, kind, and quality of photos that are needed.
- Work cooperatively with other photographers to satisfy parent action photo requests.
- Be respectful of parents, players, and officials.
- Work cooperatively with our assistants who are working with you in scheduling and running cards back and forth.
Status Workflow
Dress, Training, and Work Activities
- Wear comfortable clothing including shorts, jeans, leggings, or sweat pants, and a varity of tops. The termperature fluctuates at convention centers so we recommend bringing a sweatshirt, hoody, or jacket as well.
- Wear confortable gym shoes for walking to and from the convention center, and walking to and from courts throughout the convention center. It is common to walk 2-5 miles per day.
- We try to minimize your walking to and from courts by having photographers located in zones of the convention center and having assistants "run" memory cards and request slips to and from the photographers.
- We will do on-the-job training on the first day of the tournament using the PHOTOGRAPHER NOTES as a basic for the training.
- We will review photos with photographers, particularly for new ones working with us, on the first day and periodically throughout the tournament. The goal is for all photographers to continue to improve their skills from their
own learning experience and from interactive review of their photos.
- Photographers will be assigned 1, 2, or sometimes 3 courts per hour via request slips
- Photographers will interact with assistants who will bring new slips and memory cards and retrieve photos on cards with their associated slips.
- Photographers get to focus on the goal of getting a quantity of good photos of the players requested for each hour.
- Photographers will take "non-action" photos as well as action photos of the requested players. Non-action photos include ready shots and celebration shots
- If requested players aren't playing, photographers will still continue to follow the action and shoot photos until the requested players come into the match and then focusing alot on those requested players again.
- Photographers will interact with the photographer scheduler in the booth and other photographers mostly via group text when photographers are at courts.
- Photographers will interact with other photographers to maximize coverage of matches to accommodate early and late matches.
Camera, Settings, and Workflow
- For our action photography, you need a camera to shoot at ISO's from 5000 to 12,000 at 1/1000 sec at F2.8
- You with also need a 70-200mm F2.8 lens.
- Monopods are optional.
- Example cameras that work well for volleyball action photography are Nikon Z8 and Z9, Canon R1 and R6 Mark II, and Sony a9ii and a9iii.
- It's imporant that all photographers use similar camera settings. Here is a link to those settings: PHOTOGRAPHER NOTES
- That link above also gives photographers some insight into the workflow, number, and type of photos to capture.
Availability & Confirmation
- Here is a link to the tournaments, dates, and locations for this coming year: Texas Star Tournaments.
- On that page, LOGIN with your 2-digit initials and phone number. If for some reason you can't log in, please let us know.
- Click DISPLAY to update your tournament availability for all tournaments this coming year. For photographers who have worked many times for us in the past, we hope you can mark all or most of the tournaments as AVAILABLE. If you aren't yet sure of your availability, select WILL CHECK. If you do this, please update this as soon as possible. If you definitely are available, select AVAILABLE, If you definitely aren't available, select NOT AVAILABLE.
- Note that some tournaments overlap all or some of the days. If you are available for any or most of these days, mark the overlapping tournaments as AVAILABLE. If you have a preference for one of the overlapping ones, enter this in the Notes
and as we work through the confirmations, we will try to accommodate your preference.
- For those tournaments you marked as AVAILABLE, update Arrive and Depart. Normally the Arrive should be one day before the tournament at some hour and the Depart the last day of the tournament after 6pm. If the Arriva or Depart days need
to be otherwise for your schedule, enter the required Arrive and Depart dates. Differences in Arrive and Depart from the norm will effect Air Travel and Lodging and may even result in a NOT CONFIRMED. However, we will do our best to accommodate unusual
Arrive and Depart dates and times.
- If there are circumstances that make it impossible to work all days or hours of a tournament, click a tournament and add the exceptions in the Notes. Your Arrive and Depart dates should take any exceptions into account.
- As soon as possible, we will review our needs, your Arrive and Depart dates, and any exceptions, and update your availability and update the sqtatus to CONFIRMED or NOT CONFIRMED. We understand that we need to respond quickly since your availability may change quickly.
- If for any reason, you need a quick answer to whether we can confirm you for a tournament, just text or call us at 512-970-7968.
Air Travel
- Photographers need to schedule and pay for their air travel arrangements within cost guidelines after receiving a confirmation on a tournament.
- There are exceptions where we will pay in advance for air travel, but we try to minimize these cases since the reservation needs to be in the name of a photographer.
- Photographers need to plan air travel to minimize costs while achieving the necessary arrival and return dates and times for working the days of a tournament. Frequently it is important to book air travel well in advance of a tournament to minimize costs. When we are asked to find flights,
we frequetly use Price Line or other websites to get the best deals. Once you have booked your flight, update the status to TRAVEL BOOKED.
- For first time photographers and cases where there is difficulty controlling costs, it's best to get approval from us on air travel costs before you book your flights. Click the tournament and update the Travel Notes with the airline, flight#, and cost you have found (including all fees) and mark it as TRAVEL QUOTE. We we verify it is a good rate, we will mark it as TRAVEL OK and you can proceed to book the flight and mark it as TRAVEL BOOKED. Otherwise, we will update your flight and quoted price so you can book that flight.
- Once you have booked your flight, enter the ARRIVE and DEPART days/times. In general, we assume you will leave on the last day after 6pm. However, for cost or flight reasons, you may need to leave earlier that same day or even early the next day. If the next day, this affects the lodging arrangements.
- Select the most cost-effective way for travel to and from an airport. Through this app, you will be able see the arrival times of other photographers and can coordinate with them on sharing a ride. Note we do not cover tips on ride-share or taxis. We also do not cover food during travel.
Driving Travel
- It may be more convenient and cost-effective to drive rather than fly to a tournament. In this case, you need to get approval before hand by updating status to TRAVEL QUOTE, entering DEPART and ARRIVE, and in the TRAVEL NOTES entering the estimated cost (mileage).
- Once a vehicle is involved, this may affect lodging locations and costs as we try to avoid parking costs and not all lodging locations make this possible.
- In some cases, driving becomes a benefit for transporting other photographers to and from a convention center.
- Once the drive travel is evaluated, we will mark it as TRAVEL BOOKED. Otherwise, if there are any issues with driving travel, we will contact you to discuss.
Lodging
- In most cases Texas Star will book your lodging. In some cases we will get assistance from photographers to select and even book lodging, particularly when it is an Airbnb or Vrbo.
- For hotel lodging, each photographer will most likely share a room with another photographer or assistant.
- For Airbnb or Vrbo, the goal is for photographers to have their own room, but at times may need to share with one other person. We try to accommodate photographer's preferences for type of lodging and sharing person. We need to keep a balance of comfort, compatibiity, and costs.
- The booking of lodging will utilize your on-line arrival and departure dates.
- Once we identify the lodging arrangement, we will update the status to LODGING QUOTED with the Lodging Name, Location, and Roommage. If this arrangement is OK, Photographers whould update the status to LODGING OK.
- Once lodging is booked, we will update the status to LODGING BOOKED, enter the Confirmation Number, and in the Lodging notes enter the Lodging Name, Location and Roommate.
- If a photographer is involved in booking the lodging, the photographer should update the status to LODGING QUOTE and in the Lodging Notes enter the Lodging Name, Location, and Cost (with all Fees).
We will evalute the quote and either mark it is LODGING OK or contact the photographer to discuss further. If the photographer is booking the lodging, the photogtraher will update the status to LODGING BOOKED.
Transport To/From Lodging & Convention Center
- Photographers pay for Uber/Lyft as needed to get to and from a convention center. This cost will be reimbursed once payment is made via direct deposit. Tips will not be covered.
- Photographers should minimize their rides by sharing their rides with other photographers.
Start, Break and End Times
- On the first day of each tournament, please arrive no later than 7:15am except for one tournament as noted below. We will introduce new photographers, verify camera settings, and get all photographers and photographer assistants on a text group. Here is a link to camera settings and additional notes as a guide to photographers, particularly first time ones,
so you are aware of the action photos to be taken and the work flow: PHOTOGRAPHER NOTES. It's best to have your camera settings all completed even before you arrive on the first day of a tournament. For first time photographers, we will walk through the notes and answer any questions you may have.
- On the remaining days of each tournament, please arrive no later than 7:30am.
- All photographers should be prepared to leave the booth at approximately 7:40am to photograph your 8:00am matches that frequently start early.
- For Lone Star Classic tournaments, many matches are likely to start at 7:30am. For these tournaments, some photographers will need to arrive between 6:45am and 7:00am in order to be prepared to leave the booth at 7:15am to photograph the 7:30 matches which also may start early.
We will interact with photographers before and during the tournament to determine which photographers need to arrive early for the 7:30 start matches.
- For all days of each tournament except the last day, there will be a break at approximately 1:45pm - 2:00pm for approximately 45min - 1 hr so you can have lunch. Cost of food will not be reimbursed.
- For all days except the last day, photography will end between 7pm and 9:00pm. The exact time depends on the number of parent requests for action photos. On some occasions, some photographers may need to work until 9:45pm if there is a need to cover an action request.
- On the last day of each tournament, photography will end between 1pm and 4pm. The exact time depends on the number of parent requests for action photos and delays in the start of championship matches. The end time may also depend on your need to leave for the airport.
Reimbursements
- You will be reimbursed for all air travel expenses.
- You will be reimbursed for the cost of gas used in driving.
- You will be reimbursed for costs associated with lodging.
- You will be reimbursed for costs associated with transport to/from Lodging to the Convention Center.
- You will not be reimbursed for Lodging Incidentals, Uber/Lyft tips, or food.
- All reimbursements will be made at the same time as compensation for hours worked (see below).
Compensation
- Hourly rate depends on action photography experience and skill. Our best photographers take a large quantity of shots that parents and players like.
Frequently our best photographers take 400-900 shots/hour covering various requested players on one, two or sometimes three courts. We evaluate photographers skill in part based on the number of action photos in customer albums and placed in customer orders.
- Photographers record their start and end time each day on our time sheet. The start time can include up to 45 minutes (1st day of each tournament) or 30 minutes (remaining days) prior to the first match of each day (assuming you arrive at least 45 or 30 minutes before the first match). This time
covers photography preparation activities such as camera setup, communication with other photographers, and receiving any special information for the day. The end time will be once you return to the booth
and pack up for the day. You don't need to clock out for lunch - we will cover up to 1 hour of your lunch time.
- There will be a way in the near future on the Texas Star website to enter hours per day, travel, transport to/from lodging & convention centers, and miscellaneous expenses. If for some reason, there is a need for a photographer to pay for lodging expenses, there will be a way of entering this as well.
- We will use the on-site timesheet and on-line entries to determine your compensation for the tournament.
- All payments will be made via direct deposit from our bank account to your bank account.
- For first time photographers, we will need your bank's account#, routing#, and account name on the first day of the tournament. It generally takes our bank a week to verify the information before we are able to make a payment.
- Payment will be made via direct deposit within 1-2 weeks from the end of a tournament.
