Monday 5 December 2011

Year End Review and Christmas 2011


The Christmas shopping rush begins...

The Annual Christmas Discount Sale !  All prices held at 2011 prices until year end...

A bit about Christmas Discount prices, some stuff about the busy year, and Christmas order deadline dates. And some happy pictures (as usual).

Christmas Discount
Everyone knows that photographs get more valuable as time goes by, which is why we don't offer any crazy discounts on your pictures as they get older, and because we're nice we don't put the prices up either (but that's a thought!) - also you're not cheap and the images always get better value over time.
There was Snow last year just before Christmas

We work hard to keep our prices realistic and good honest value all through the year and now is no different - so get to the gallery to get hold of your precious memories today whilst they are still there (there's a big list of races still live at the bottom of this blog).


Fun at the Bexhill 5k this year.
From personal experience I know photos get more valuable because the ones I have of my parents and family I cherish more every day. Once they are gone, they are gone. In a recent survey the family photo album was top of the list of things people would grab in a house fire on the way out, although I'm not sure how that works with digital computing and the advent of "the cloud". Anyhow - just ask any ex-runner if they regret not having a photo from a particular race and I'll bet you'll get a long breakdown of their best performance in a race ever - a thousand words that cold have been said with one picture !
We make you look cool. It's our job.

I've never heard anyone yet complain that they have too many photos of themselves playing sport especially once they have stopped playing the sport - they are a guaranteed risk free purchase as presents for friends and club mates!
You can even buy a picture for your Mum if you like James...

Some might complain that they don't look "model perfect" in a particular race photo, however I can attest to this now - nobody looks perfect in a race - you're not supposed to. Actually the better and harder and more effort a runner puts into a race, the less model perfect they look, and the more human and real it becomes, and hence a better memory.
The legend that is Jacko. He retired from Sussex, but came back because it was too boring up north. Definitely not an Ex-runner.
 
 The bad news is we all become ex-runners at some point, I broke my foot for example, and I'll never do a PB again after that (18mins for 5k allegedly), for others, it's the knees, or for some, it's the family - and then how do you prove that you were once a runner to your youngest and dearest when they ask for proof ? Get that photo now before it's too late. Frame it and put it up in the small room with your other certificates where they will one day see it and doubt it really is you with hair.
The 10 legged Tempest 10 - time for a team Tshirt

Still not too late

The good news is it's still not to late to get some of the pictures we hold from 2011, and so below at the bottom is a list of events and race photos that are still currently available on the gallery.

Whilst the economy continues to trudge along the blunt edge of a EU butter knife trying to cut a garlic filled sauerkraut, and with 2012 not looking much brighter so far unless you're an administrator in Brussels, you can guarantee yourself a small ray of sunshine by looking at your 2011 race photos, getting the best one for yourself and perhaps your best friend from *that race* and make sure you keep it safe for when you need it.

There is a full list of races below at the bottom of this blog that are currently still on line on the gallery. Go and have a look now and get your best friend a picture as a secret Santa for the office party.

Christmas post and snow = give it plenty of time
Christmas Last Order deadlines: UK Mainland Only
  • Digital downloads - instant delivery - no deadline, even Christmas day at 9pm - they're yours.
  • Medium and High resolution files by email - Wednesday the 21st December
  • Prints by post - Thursday 15th December
  • Mugs and Mouse mats - Monday 12th of December
  • All Images@event collections
    • By Server Download - Tuesday the 20th December
    • By Post on a CD - Saturday the 17th December
There is no greater happiness than self fulfilment

The joy of ordering your images on time for Christmas feels a bit like this


The hard data for 2012
Some people seem to think that photography is a magical process that doesn't take much time and effort, fuel or involve anything like server hosting costs (strangely this frequently seems to be freelance writers on paid jobs asking for free images for their magazine article. Words are cheap, but not free apparently), but having been a spreadsheet guru in my previous line of work (still available for consultant work...), I thought I'd share what we get up to using some of the numbers. With over 15 professional photographers now on our team it takes a fair bit to make sure they all get their commissions correctly at the end of the month. With over 23 new events this year it's been quite busy with my last free Sunday not attending an event having being Easter Sunday back in April. I will be seeing my daughter this Christmas.

It's teamwork wot gets your images on line innit.

This year (up to the end of November for 2011) we saw over 75,251 performances, across 135 events putting over 970,846 images for sale on line. That's 19% more people at 12% more events than last year with 50% more images making it onto the gallery than last year. That worked out at 26% more images per runner at an average of 12.9 each, of which on average there were 614 runners per race.

Still with it ?

Additionally in 2011, we covered 24 events where over 120,845 images were put on line for free download (worth £5.45 each !) with over 6368 runners getting almost 19 images free each - good value for the event organisers and the competitors, with free download rates in the ~80% range for most events.
Caged like Monkeys in the office we work long into the night (2am mostly) to get images online for your delight the next day.
And now there is over 7600 of you on the blog subscribers list (it would be many more but they didn't click on the email anti-spam sign-up confirmation when they got it), I have to watch what I say here. Allegedly.


It's not all free !
Work wise we have put in over 941 hours attending events, and more than 1600 hours in the office to bring you the images, that's up a total of 29% on last year - and I'm not including travel time, preparation time or other general office admin, marketing and blog writing in that total time - it's just time spent getting and putting images on line for you !
Also we now have a team of three image hardened individuals who work on Sundays and Mondays going through all the pictures we take to make sure only the finest quality images get shown to you - none of your out of focus blurry stuff on a small preview that you can't really tell anything with, but I won't mention those other companies...

Hurry now to get those photos from this years races so you have something to show your friends at Christmas when they ask what on earth you've been doing and why haven't you seen them all year.


Next Weekend is mostly - 
Saturday - The Brutal 10 - race 3 - http://www.brutalrun.co.uk/ simple but brilliant off road racing
Sunday - Mince Pie 10 at Seaford  http://www.seafordstriders.org.uk/mincepie.html you win a mincepie and a sense of self worth.


So until next time,
Anthony



The current gallery list, in reverse order - the July events will be leaving us very soon.

November Race Name Pictures
27/11/2011 now live - The 3xMolehills 2011 3700 files
20/11/2011 now live - Brighton 10k 2011 23783 files
13/11/2011 now live - Poppy Half 2011 5445 files
13/11/2011 now live - Phoenix Preston Park Races 2011 1832 files
13/11/2011 now live - Grand Union Canal Half 2011 10874 files
12/11/2011 now live - Brutal 10 Race 2 2011 2313 files
06/11/2011 now live - Veteran Car Run 2011 12618 files
06/11/2011 now live - Loseley 10k 2011 - free downloads 10932 files
05/11/2011 now live - Future Car Challenge Run 2011 313 files
October Race Name Pictures
30/10/2011 now live - Barns Green Half Marathon 2011 29112 files
22/10/2011 now live - Beachy Head Marathon 2011 35653 files
16/10/2011 now live - Abingdon Marathon 2011 28756 files
16/10/2011 now live - Kellystore Guildford 2011 - free downloads 4001 files
15/10/2011 now live - Brutal 10 Race 1 2011 1505 files
09/10/2011 now live - Petts Wood 10k 2011 3895 files
09/10/2011 now live - Givaudan Ashford 10k 2011 6728 files
09/10/2011 now live - Badger Half 2011 5570 files
09/10/2011 now live - Herts 10k 2011 20207 files
08/10/2011 now live - Dusk till Dawn 2011 2355 files
08/10/2011 now live - XT MTB Enduro and 10k 2011 - free downloads 5459 files
02/10/2011 now live - Rowers Revenge 2011 2277 files
02/10/2011 now live - 7Oaks Junior Aquathlon 2011 1548 files
02/10/2011 now live - Wimbledon 10k October 2011 3318 files
02/10/2011 now live - Reading O2O 10k 2011 4692 files
02/10/2011 now live - Basingstoke Half Marathon 2011 26329 files
September Race Name Pictures
25/09/2011 now live - Tonbridge Half Marathon 2011 13510 files
25/09/2011 now live - Hursley 10k 2011 4856 files
25/09/2011 Now live - The Big 10k 2011 3618 files
24/09/2011 now live - XT Festival 2011 - free downloads 11889 files
18/09/2011 now live - Pilgrims Half and Full Marathon 2011 18163 files
18/09/2011 now live - Kellystore Joyden Woods 10k - free downloads 2071 files
11/09/2011 now live - Bacchus Full and Half Marathon 2011 7881 files
11/09/2011 now live - Chestnut Tree House 10k 2011 12896 files
04/09/2011 now live - Newbury Tri 2011 4290 files
04/09/2011 now live - Maidenhead Half Marathon 2011 20355 files
04/09/2011 now live - ETL Spitfire 20+ Tempest 10 7022 files
August Race Name Pictures
28/08/2011 now live - Bexhill Tri 2011 3692 files
28/08/2011 now live - Arundel 10k- free downloads 6327 files
27/08/2011 now live - Hard as Snails - free downloads 5693 files
21/08/2011 now live - Ringmer Tri 2011 2142 files
20/08/2011 now live - F3 Dorney Triathons 2011 12324 files
20/08/2011 now live - Pride Run 2011 11392 files
20/08/2011 now live - Big South Swim 2011 1089 files
14/08/2011 now live - REP Birdman Swim 2011 1409 files
07/08/2011 now live - Milland Valley 2011 3868 files
July Race Name Pictures
30/07/2011 now live - REP BTF Aquathlon 2011- free downloads 2843 files
27/07/2011 now live - Bexhill 5k 3258 files
24/07/2011 now live - Down Tow Up Flow Half 2011 13058 files
24/07/2011 now live - Downland Running Festival 2011 2240 files




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