For Immediate Release
May 17, 2007

SPORTOGRAPHY TACKLES THE BUSINESS OF
CAPTURING AND SHARING GREAT MOMENTS IN YOUTH SPORTS

(Brookfield, CT) In any town or city on any given day, young people are playing sports, learning karate, taking dance lessons, being active and being involved.  Each game, lesson, and practice offers moments to be treasured – a first catch, a perfect hand stand, a stellar dive.  Millions of these moments have been captured on film for the long-term enjoyment of players, parents, grandparents, friends, coaches, teachers and others. 

One company, Sportography, Inc., of Brookfield, Conn., has looked at the cultural demand for sports photos and has turned it into an innovative, customer-focused business.  Started in 1987 as a “basement business,” the company has enjoyed unprecedented growth of 900% in the past 10 years, and has been featured in The Fairfield Business Journal, Bloomberg Financial News, Business Week, and others.  Today, it is the largest sports photography business of its kind in America and, with a staff of 350, takes more than one million pictures annually at youth and amateur adult sporting events throughout the east coast.

Sportography has a clear vision of becoming the “pre-eminent youth sports photography company in the nation.”  The business has found success by setting a solid foundation, being forward thinking, and eagerly pursuing technology and the web. At the same time, the company focuses on the fun of taking great portrait and action shots, and building solid relationships with its growing customer base.

“We are in the business of preserving timeless memories in professional and innovative ways,” said Greg Eisen, Sportography’s president and CEO.  “To be the best at this, we must maintain an organized and efficient business environment – particularly regarding our customer experience, products and services.”

To this end, the company will soon release Online Photo Registration (OPR™), a custom-designed software application that offers a new, simplified way of ordering children’s sports photos.  With OPR, customers receive an e-mail from Sportography, along with easy step-by-step instructions to browse photo options and make their selections online.  Then, customers print out their “photo tickets” (similar to how travelers print airline tickets) and bring them to photo day at their school or sports organization. 

“We are the first company nationwide to offer this type of service, essentially freeing our customers from traditional photo order forms,” Eisen said.  “This is a great example of how we set the standard and watch our competitors catch up.”