A smart new workflow from Capturelife and GFcrew is making it possible.

At Capturelife, our purpose is to make it easier to create, share and enjoy life’s most important memories – and to support and grow the photography and experience businesses that capture those indelible moments. That’s why we’re always thrilled to partner with innovators, like GFcrew and others, giving them new ways to streamline their operations, integrate with ease and harness the power of the Capturelife digital memory and marketing platform.

Glossy Finish, creator of the GFcrew action sports model and community, has been a Capturelife client and partner since early 2018. With Capturelife as their technology partner and the launch of GFcrew in June of 2019, they’re helping professional youth sports photographers tap into a powerful model that has parents pay them upfront to take amazing action photos of their athletes – and actually earn money in what has historically been a very challenging market with limited payback. 

A great model is now even better.

GFcrew and Capturelife up-ended the old model of “spray and pray” – shooting photos on spec and then hoping parents will come back later to review and purchase prints from a gallery website. With Capturelife as the technology backbone, the GFcrew model gave action sports photographer one app, one solution and one amazing community to help them take a new direction and grow their business.

But like any good innovator, the GFcrew team wasn’t ready to rest on their laurels. After working with and listening to hundreds of action sports photographers in their community, they evolved their model once again. GFcrew created a way for any photographer in their community to easily set up their own branded website to promote pre-sale and athlete sign-up before games and tournaments – moving beyond on-the-field customer sales.

And because Capturelife is a powerful and flexible technology platform, making this new workflow for customer acquisition and job set-up a reality was a breeze for the GFcrew team and as a result, a dream for any photographer on their program. With this tweak to the GFcrew model and Capturelife’s open API, robust toolset and workflow options – it’s now easier than ever for these photographers to promote their services for specific games and tournaments on social media and via email – driving parents and athletes to their own site for more information and sign-up.

A game-changer for creating demand and increased revenue.

Needless to say, the GFcrew community of action sports photographers is thrilled. With a simple way for them to create their own branded website for games and tournaments, parents can conveniently register and pay to have their athletes photographed before anyone ever hits the field. Each and every transaction is handled online before the game – easy, touchless and friction free. 

Capturelife technology helps power the entire process – setting up each job, creating each customer record, processing every transaction, automatically distributing the photographer’s payment, providing digital image upload, then notifying and delivering athletes’ images directly to consumers’ smartphone. It’s a sophisticated and proven transaction backbone and process, similar to that used by today’s ride-sharing services. Yet it’s so much more. With Capturelife, photography businesses create seamless, one-to-one relationships with consumers and a new model that generates urgency, increased revenue and the opportunity to re-market and generate additional post-event sales.

Real revenue success and happy customers. 

One month into using the new GFcrew formula, Rob DeForge of RD Sports Photo is grossing around $2,700. Compare that to $80 for his old spray and pray method – hoping to sell individual or group images or prints post event after all the hard work has already been done. For free. 

“I have no plans to focus on my old ways,” Rob said. “The new GFcrew sign-up feature is awesome for customers because it’s so easy and convenient for them to register their athlete for photos.” 

“I had a parent that would always inquire if I was going to a game in the past but would rarely purchase any photo through my website. Since I started promoting online pre-game registration, she has registered and purchased 3 times in the last 3 weeks. This just works because it is easy, and that is so important in this day and age with everyone’s time being so divided.”

With self-service registration and payment for parents and a seamless integration to the Capturelife platform, action sports photographers are selling out their slots, creating demand and buzz, streamlining their process and making way more money than ever before.

"Before GFcrew, I hoped and prayed while I shot and sprayed that someone would buy my photos,” Doug Clements of Pro Motion Photos shared. “Now, I sometimes have to turn people away because I have so many clients to shoot for. That's a good problem to have!"

Guaranteed revenue – upfront and before game day. Greater focus and concentration on only pre-paid clients. And doing what photographers love – capturing the best and most exciting images of athletes in action. That’s a formula for success and satisfaction 

Even more growth on the horizon.

The GFcrew touchless photography experience powered by Capturelife is the right solution for the market today – driving valuable business for action sports photographers right now. Even during a pandemic, orders have increased exponentially over the same period last year.

More experience and memory businesses are discovering the brand and business benefits of moving to a streamlined experienced, tapping technology that makes their operations better while meeting today’s consumer expectations.

“Inventing a new future for Capturelife partners and customers and propelling new success for their businesses gives us great satisfaction. With outstanding partners like GFcrew and new partners in the cruise, attractions and resorts industries – we’ve proven time and again how valuable photographers’ digital content and a modern mobile workflow can be,” Scott DeFusco, Capturelife CEO said.

“That’s why we built Capturelife technology the way we did, with an open API to flex and address as many unique scenarios as these industries might have. We’re on a mission to infuse more joy into the consumer experience of their most precious memories and to invigorate engagement with those memories to help businesses achieve greater brand loyalty and revenue than ever before.”

Are tired, old models and operations stifling your success?
Put the power of Capturelife to work for you today!