Many know that one of my passions (besides Abacus) is training for and racing in triathlons (swim bike run athletic events). Over the past few years I’ve been fortunate to participate in dozens of organized runs and marathons and Ironman-distance triathlons.

During all of these sanctioned races, photographers are contracted by the race organizers to be stationed at ‘strategic’ locales along the race course to photograph athletes at their best (or worst). I can remember my first race, I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t even see the photographers until I saw one past the finish line! It’s pretty cool getting your photo taken during the races.

These professional sports photographers that contract with race organizers throughout the US have photographed me (as well as thousands of others!) from the beginning of a race to the climatic end.

What’s best and most important is you’ll have a photo of yourself at the finish line and all points in-between. And for the photographers, it’s their hope that you’ll purchase numerous copies for yourself, family and friends.

I’m not an expert photographer, but these people have it down to a science. Each strategically positioned photographer is equipped with at least one digital SLR camera or two. They’ll most likely using a monopod to hold the camera’s view to a particular area that you’ll be passing through. As runners and/or cyclists come towards the photographers’ area of view, they snap the pictures. Sometimes you can hear the ‘clicks’ of the digital cameras or you can see them a bit ahead. If you see them ahead of time, you’ll want to do your best to give them that ‘just right’ pose as you go by (ie: smiles, arms up, knees high, working it!). I’ve included an image of our Miami Marathon for an example.

After most of the long races (marathons, Ironman tri’s) there’s an area setup out of the way for you to go and get your ‘finishers’ photo taken.

For completing your race, it takes a few days for the photography company to compile all the digital images of the participants.

The variety and expanse of the pictures of you or your acquaintance can be overwhelming. Usually, you can purchase:

Photos of varying sizes from wallet sized to 20 x 30 posters; commemorative plaques (that include action, candid and finish line photos). You can even have your photo(s) placed on magazine covers, Wheaties™ boxes, baseball card-type trading cards, shirts, hats, mugs and just about anything you can imagine to print on.

Pricing as you might imagine can be high as well. But hey, it’s your chance to be photographed as an athlete! Finally, one of the nice services is that you will have a photo archive of your race or races. These companies typically keep your images for at least a year after your event.

There are many companies who provide these services with the two most popular being Action Sports International and Brightroom Photography.

You may also want to investigate other sports photography sites to see what is available. These include:

• Raceshots at http://www.raceshots.net
• Race Photos at http://www.racephotos.com
• Capstone Photography at http://www.capstonephoto.com
• Sportography at http://www.sportography.com/
• Penrose Photography’s FinishShots at http://www.finishshots.com/search.php
• Dan Hicok Photgraphy http://www.danhicok.com/
• Race Day Photo at http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=50643
• Fotojack at http://www.fotojack.com/
• Raceshots.net at http://raceshots.net/index.jsp
• And Fast Photo Pro at http://www.fastphotopro.com/

Many of the techniques that these professional photographers use have been learned after several years of photo taking. But with the new Stay Focused Press guides, you can learn to take outstanding pictures using your own DSLR. Abacus has titles that include the Canon XS/XSi/T2i, Nikon D40/D60/D3000/D5000 and more. Be sure to check them out at www.stayfocusedpress.com

They’re also available as e-books for iPod and iPad.