Sports photography website SportsShooter.com announces that it will shut down

by
Jeremy Grey

posted Monday, March 13, 2023 at 3:45 PM EDT

SportsShooter.com, a well-liked on-line resource for sports activities photographers, has declared that it will shut down this 7 days on March 15. 

As reported by PetaPixel, SportsShooter.com’s origins can be traced again to an email e-newsletter that United states Currently photographer Robert Hanashiro commenced in 1998. Hanashiro shared his thoughts about photojournalism and sports pictures with colleagues. The e-newsletter eventually achieved a subscriber record of around 7,000 viewers and featured contributions from numerous professional photographers.

Freelance photographer Brad Mangin began archiving every e-newsletter concern of Sports Shooter on his particular internet site, sharing the initial content material in addition new photos and backlinks. That material evolved into the dedicated SportsShooter.com internet site in 2002, full with a searchable database.

 

 

In a farewell publish, Jason Burfield points out that lots of folks were being instrumental to expanding SportsShooter into the bustling, lively local community it grew to become. Robert Hanashiro’s first e-newsletter was instrumental, of system, together with perform by Joe Gosen, Brad Mangin, Grover Sanschagrin, and Burfield himself.

“We created a web site that brought persons with each other from all more than the world. They interacted and shared strategies. They appeared for feed-back on their operate. They shared great images. They learned from each individual other,” Burfield writes. “More than the decades we have additional options and eradicated options. We have labored to try to remain on best of almost everything and do our finest. But, at the stop of the working day, this was a passion job for us and not a thing that would change our day employment.”

For quite a few many years, SportsShooter.com was among the the only destinations in which dedicated, enthusiastic sports photographers could get to talk about method, gear, and photos on the world-wide-web. When the site launched, social media was still a prolonged way off.

Primary contributors turned considerably less involved around time. Website material and how men and women eat it has transformed. Burfield writes, “It truly is time to turn off the lights.” SportsShooter.com has experienced a “fantastic journey,” adds Burfield.

In a forum put up about the internet site shutting down, quite a few longtime people have offered their ideas. Photographer Kevin M. Cox writes, “I joined the internet site on that initial working day, June 21, 2002, and got a member ID of 73. SportShooter.com was such an great useful resource for me when I was changeover from university student to skilled all all those a long time back it genuinely did have a massive affect on my vocation.” Cox identified his second newspaper staff occupation, wherever he worked for 15 a long time, through a classified listing on SportsShooter.com.

 

 

Photographer Ron Erdrich adds, “It truly is been a minute given that I contributed to a thread, but it can not be understated what an a must have resource this web site grew to become. Just glimpse at that photo, I’ve received brown hair.” Erdrich is referring to his profile photograph in which he has a head of dense brown hair. Primarily based on his remarks, I am guessing that is not the case any more. Virtually 21 several years is a extended time, and a lot has transformed in the course of SportsShooter.com’s life time. 

Dirk Dewachter, an early subscriber to Hanashiro’s authentic e-newsletter, remarks that “All through the decades, I realized from the very best and at times the most specialised photographers…I am eternally grateful for the experience and to this date formed friendships with men and women who I normally by no means would have fulfilled.”

Over the yrs, the web-site has integrated 1.1 million photos, just about 73,000 contest entries, more than 42,800 message threads, around 400,000 information board posts, and 2,645 news articles. To check out some selected highlights in advance of the website shuts down, read Burfield’s entire announcement.