Hi, so I shoot sporting events mainly MLS games. However, I am not being paid for it. It’s more of a get you foot in the door type thing
So if I travel let’s say 6-7 hours and spend the night at an hotel. Can I write those things off?
I do other paid photography events like weddings etc.
I get that shooting MLS is fun. I shot the top tier league in my country as well. Difference is I was being paid and shooting every home game near me. The other shooters were selling their images through an agency.
You really ought to work out what your business plan is or switch to lower impact shooting such as working directly with a local team and covering home games.
It’s your time of course and you can do what you want, but that amount of time for no income is poor from a business perspective and if you’re claiming on tax we’re talking business.
Thank you that is solid advice.
Working with your local team can open up a lot of opportunities as well if you get your foot in the door. I never exploited all of them because I worked for the club and had to set professional boundaries. However clubs need a lot of photographs both match-day and promotional, they have community events, gala dinners, and the team is full of cashed up young men who are getting married, having kids etc.
It can be an effective network depending on what you want to shoot.