We recently connected with Jack Kalsched and have shared our conversation below.

Jack , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

Photography, and as a matter of fact art altogether, was never a part of my wheelhouse. Before I discovered sports photography, I considered myself a 2-D individual; athletics and academics were the two “dimensions”. But, during a baseball game in 2019, I tore my ACL and meniscus tracking down a fly ball in centerfield. This forced me to turn to my creative side, which I embraced for the next 15 months of recovery.

I took my mom’s camera and started shooting my friends in action who were still on the diamond as a way to stay a part of the baseball community. My photos weren’t bad to begin with, but the results screamed amateur. On top of the mediocre pictures, I didn’t have editing experience or access to good editing software.

So, that’s where it all started. I picked up my mom’s old camera on a whim and started shooting. I eventually invested in my own equipment, upgrading lenses and spending on beneficial accessories years later. I enjoyed, and still enjoy, seeing the reactions of my friends and other athletes when they see my pictures. I always had an artistic side, a third dimension to my skillset if you will. But, photography was the vessel I needed to express and discover myself artistically.

During the pandemic, I created my own website, and a picture of mine went viral on USA Today and the instagram page “houseofhighlights”, a page with 30 million followers. That’s where I would say I knew this could work out as a side hustle, and potentially a main income source.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Jack Kalsched, I’m currently a high school senior in New Jersey, and I’m a sports photographer and videographer. I have my own business where I sell my services to any athlete of any sport. I’ve shot football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, and field hockey, but I’m always eager to try new sports.

I got into sports photography on a whim, basically. I injured my knee playing baseball and turned to photography as a way to stay close to the diamond. In the previous question, I go into more detail about my “origin” story, if you will.

I offer both photography and videography services. For photography, I sell team services, where I’ll take pictures for your whole team, or I sell individual services, where I’ll come and take pictures of just you in action. For videography, it’s more of the same. I sell both team and individual options. Both photography and videography require mass amounts of editing on the back end of the process.

I’m most proud of my success as a service-selling individual, something that’s not easy to get started with. Photography was just a hobby for me in the beginning. But, when I started posting my photos on social media and gained attention and praise, I started to shift my focus to be more business-oriented. I take great pride in each and every picture I produce. I go through and edit each one individually, making the editing process tedious, but worth it in the end for the client.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Absolutely social media. Especially for sports photography, social media is the easiest way to reach the larger population except for word-to-mouth.

Posting my best photos and videos from my most recent work allows me to reach the athletes’ extended circles. These extended circles include adults, who may want pictures for their child, or friends/other athletes, who want photos for themselves. I always make sure that if an athlete posts my photos to their page, which I love when they do, they tag me in the caption so that that “extended circle” can reach me and knows who took the photos.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I already had a “presence” on Instagram. By “presence”, I mean I had a personal account with a following of 600-800 already. With this, when I started taking photos and posting them, it was already reaching 600-800 people each time. This was a great headstart that I used and took advantage of.

For others looking to grow their social media presence, I would say don’t be afraid to advertise on your personal account. If you have good relations with your community, make sure that they know you’re the person behind the new venture. People, for the most part, like supporting local businesses. So, take advantage of that. Advertise your new venture as much as possible on your own personal account, redirecting social media dwellers to your business page.

If you’re starting an entire new account on a new platform, the best thing is to use relevant hashtags to reach pages like the “For You page” on TikTok, and the explore page on Instagram.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jackkalsched.com
• Instagram: @jackkalsched
• Other: Email inquiries: [email protected]

Image Credits
Images by me!