THE coolest sports photography event of the year is changing seasons and with that move comes a whole slate of new sports. Horse racing. Beach volleyball. Collegiate track & field and swimming & diving. These will give the Sports Shooter Academy a whole new look and an opportunity for workshop participants to cover events that you may not have had an opportunity to cover before.

The Sports Shooter Academy is the ultimate hands-on sports photography educational program that gives participants the opportunity to cover real sports events under the guidance of a faculty of award-winning photographers. Each evening participants will edit their work with the workshop instructors, receiving one-on-one critiques in the process.

Sports Shooter Academy 14 will kickoff at 1PM Wednesday, May 3, 2017 and concludes Sunday, May 7 at 1PM. The Sports Shooter Academy 14 will be based in Orange County, California.

Many attendees regard the daily one-on-one editing and critique sessions with the faculty as the highlight of the workshop. Classroom sessions and faculty lectures will cover a variety of topics including basic remotes, insider tips to improve your sports photography and digital editing workflow.

Space in Sports Shooter Academy 14 is very limited!

The workshop application is your key to attending, so please fill it out completely. The essay portion is very important, so take a few minutes to consider what you will write in your submission. Your experience in photography, what you hope to take away from the workshop and your photography goals are areas that should be covered in your essay.

We also require that you provide examples of your work, so please list your personal website or any site that features your photography. For SportsShooter.com members we recommend using the "Hidden Gallery" feature through your member page. The examples of your work do not have to be exclusively sports images but should demonstrate you skill level and knowledge of camera equipment and photography. A good number of images for submission is 15-20 images.

The registration fee for photographers is $950.

Full-time college and university students accepted into the workshop will attend tuition-free through the generous funding from Nikon Professional Services.
(Students accepted into the workshop pay a non-refundable $200 administrative fee and receive a $50 rebate in the form of a gift card from Samy’s Camera upon checking in on May 3.)

Students currently enrolled full-time in a college or university; students that graduated from a college or university since May 2016 are eligible to have their workshop tuition paid for by Nikon Professional Services. Students must also list the contact info for a photography/journalism/photojournalism/multimedia faculty member or campus newspaper advisor to confirm their student status.

There are a limited number of student spots in SSA 14.

Other companies supporting Sports Shooter Academy 14 include: Samy’s Camera, Think Tank Photo, PhotoShelter and Honl Photo.

To see what the Sports Shooter Academy Experience is like, check out these links for workshop galleries, videos, galleries from past workshops and behind-the-scenes photos:
http://www.sportsshooteracademy.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sports-Shooter-Academy/218332281520720
http://vimeo.com/ssacademy
http://www.sportsshooter.com/workshops.html  

Day 1 (May 3) of the workshop begins at 1PM and will be comprised of classroom sessions and lectures by the workshop instructors. The Sports Shooter Academy Open House will be held this evening featuring lectures and an open mic Q & A session with the workshop instructors. There will also be a trade show featuring supporting companies Samy’s Camera, Think Tank Photo, PhotoShelter and Honl Photo. Samy’s will have special pricing on equipment during the Open House.

Days 2, 3 and 4 participants will be covering sports events around Southern California and each evening will edit their work and will receive one-on-one critiques from the workshop faculty.

Day 5 (May 7) will be the final editing and critique session and awards will be presented. SSA14 will conclude at 1PM.

Workshop participants are expected to provide the equipment they will need to participate in this workshop. Many of the sports events we will be covering require long lenses (300mm +), so please keep that in mind. Also there will be opportunities for remote camera installations, for example at track & field and horse racing. So if you have remote gear (radio triggers, floor plates, clamps, etc.) we recommend you bring it.

Nikon Professional Services will be on-site and will have loaner gear available for daily checkout on a first-come-first-served basis.

NPS will have their latest professional digital cameras (Nikon D5, D500, D810 and D750) and lenses ranging from ultra wide angles (Nikkor 14mm) to super telephotos (Nikkor 600mm). All participants, whether they ordinarily shoot Nikon or not are welcome to check out loaner equipment from NPS.

The Sports Shooter Academy will have a special group room rate at our headquarter hotel for workshop participants. We highly recommend workshop participants stay at our headquarters hotel. We will begin early in the morning and editing/critique session can last until 11PM.

The closest airport is the John Wayne - Orange County Airport (SNA). The hotel has a free shuttle service to and from John Wayne Airport. Details on the workshop hotel will be included in your SSA14 acceptance confirmation email.

Workshop participants will have access to a private message board where they can share information, arrange ride sharing and look for roommates. This message board will also be one of the primary methods for getting out news about the workshop.

WORKSHOP REQUIREMENTS
(If you want to learn be inspired from some of the best sports photographers in the business, this workshop is something you do not want to miss.)
- You must provide the camera equipment you will need to participate in this workshop.
- Sports Shooter Academy participants must have a good working knowledge of photography. While this workshop is not exclusively for full-time working photographers and photography students, the techniques and methods are professional level. This is not a program for beginners or the inexperienced.
- To have your work reviewed and critiqued by the workshop faculty you must provide a laptop computer with a professional image browsing software installed (for instance Photo Mechanic, Adobe Bridge, iPhoto, ACDSee). Images will be submitted on a very tight deadline, so it is important that participants have a good knowledge of a field digital workflow.
- Participants must provide their own transportation to the location shoots. (Note: Car pooling and splitting the costs of rental cars is very common at the Sports Shooter Academy. Once the workshop is filled, we will set up a couple of methods for participants to contact one another.)
- Your registration fee (or in the case of students, the workshop processing fee) does not cover your personal expenses. Transportation, lodging, meals and incidentals (like parking) are the responsibility of the workshop participant.
- To participate in the Sports Shooter Academy, you must be at least 18 years of age. Due to liability issues, we cannot accept high school students.
- Once accepted, we expect all participants come to the Sports Shooter Academy with a desire to learn, work as a team and act in a professional manner at all times.

To contact the Sports Shooter Academy email: info@sportsshooteracademy.com