How Glossy Finish Shoots Youth Sports at Scale

February 6, 2019
By Greg Scoblete

While the youth sports industry has a questionable legacy when it comes to great family vacations, it can result in some stellar sports photography. But successfully photographing some of the country's largest tournaments, where hundreds of players roam across up to a dozen fields, is no small feat. For Haim Ariav, the founder of Glossy Finish, it was a challenge ripe for technological disruption.

The company, founded by Ariav over 12 years ago, teams with local photographers to cover large youth sports events and sell photo prints and posters on site to friends and family. They were purchased by Lifetouch several years ago but Ariav bought the company back when Lifetouch was sold to Shutterfly in early 2018.

"We're not the only photographers who shoot sports and deliver images on site, but we are the only ones that do it at scale," Ariav says. The company has partnerships with some of the largest youth sports organizations in the U.S., including USA Football and Cal Ripken Baseball. Their roster of freelance photographers include those who shoot for the NFL and Getty, Ariav says.