“We’ll survive this”: local sports photography business adapting to COVID-19 climate
Usually thriving during typical football and cricket seasons, here’s how one renowned eastern suburbs-based sports photography business is adapting to the sport-less landscape.
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Many businesses still operating have been forced to adapt the current COVID-19 climate and it’s no different for local entity, Field of View Sports Photography.
Somewhat of an institution of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs sporting scene, Field of View, led by founder Jo Fairy, has built a widespread network of leagues and clubs across more than a decade behind the lens.
Snapping the EFNL and Eastern Ranges in footy season and local cricket comps including Ringwood, Ferntree Gully and Box Hill each summer, sporting clubs and associations have long sworn by Fairy’s photography just as they’ve been the business owner’s lifeblood.
With local cricket grand finals cancelled earlier this year, and no local football each week with the season as uncertain as ever, the impact of the COVID-19 shutdown has taken a toll.
“I am (usually) booked out from the first week of the season until the grand final … before the season even starts,” Fairy said.
“Every time I pick up a new club it means putting more staff on, getting more contractors.”
But existing Field of View staff and photographers are currently on standby for a return to work once sport is given the green light to kick off again.
Amid the crisis, Fairy said her business has had to find new ways to adapt in sport’s absence.
One of those new avenues is corporate photography, having recently fitted out a professional studio in Croydon.
“I’ve been speaking to quite a few marketing people and business coaches, and they all have that same message that you’ve got to pivot, re-look at what you’re doing, see what else you can do and how you can deliver what you do differently,” she said.
“Now we can have five people, I’m going to be promoting some studio shots, corporate head-shots and that sort of thing.”
“I was about to do that before this (COVID-19) hit, but I’d only really started to focus on it in February having got the studio up and running with our lighting and everything sorted … and then bang, we couldn’t even do that.”
A typical football season sees Jo and her team working feverishly around the grounds on Saturdays and Sundays, as both the EFNL and Ranges photography partner, while serving a number of clubs including East Ringwood, Norwood, South Croydon and Lilydale along with 14 constant junior clubs.
Weekdays are filled with admin and sifting through thousands of photos, while weeknights are typically spent out at junior clubs taking team photos.
From a humble venture that begin in 2008 while photographing her sons playing footy, rapid expansions in technology have provided the business with its challenges, like the current season shutdown.
“The expectation’s more (now) because you’ve got so many more people with half-decent cameras in the phones,” Fairy said.
“The competition to get the shot is tougher now, but a different problem is getting everything done, and being in enough places (at once).
“Every day I look at the calendar I go, ‘I would’ve been here tonight, I would’ve been there, I would’ve been here’ ... (last Sunday) was my first Mother’s Day off in eight years, so that was nice.”
But despite the shutdown, Fairy assured the community her business would survive.
“It is just making sure I ride it out, even if there is no footy,” Fairy said.
“We are here and we’re not going anywhere – we’ll survive this. I’ll see this through and be ready and waiting for cricket and reset for next season.”
Field of View Sports Photography is located at 125 Main Street, Croydon. Bookings can be made via jo@fieldofview.com.au.