Bringing athletes and photographers together via an app

Problem statement

Kite surfing is an extreme sport that has been gaining popularity over the more 'traditional' sports for years. More and more, kite surfers are taking the trouble to capture their sports performance on camera as closely as possible — just like practitioners of other popular extreme sports.

Thanks to innovations such as the action cam, athletes are now increasingly able to shoot images themselves. Nevertheless, many of them continue to experience that taking beautiful photos really is a profession in its own right. Unfortunately, hiring a good photographer often still has a high threshold, for example because a sports location is not close to the photographer, or because the (weather) conditions on location leave much to be desired. Hiring a professional photographer can therefore be expensive.

At certain times, such as a spontaneous sports session on the beach or at organized events, it often happens that a professional photographer is present. He then usually takes pictures of multiple athletes. For a photographed athlete, it is then quite a challenge to see these kinds of photos for themselves: the photographer often leaves when the athlete is ready.

Bringing supply and demand together in an accessible way

The idea of Capture Me originated within a group of friends who regularly go kite surfing, and who enjoy being photographed here. The friends noticed that it can be very difficult to quickly and easily find a good photographer for their sporting moments. This was the reason for them to further develop the concept of Capture Me. It was up to Solid Digital to further develop this concept in a user-friendly app.

Capture Me brings athletes and photographers together in an accessible way. When an athlete creates an account in the Capture Me app, they can easily search for a photographer here. The search can be tailored to distance and location: is it an event, for example? Photographers and athletes can chat with each other in the app, for example to schedule photo sessions. Athletes can also see whether a photographer has already taken photos of a certain moment or a location where they have previously worked out.

Capture Me makes it easy for photographers to get in touch with athletes, and they can easily find athletes who want to be captured on photo or video. In addition, photographers can create a profile in the app and add information such as portfolio and equipment. This is how they make a good impression on athletes who are looking within the app.

When developing the app, the focus was on offering added value for both athletes and photographers. As a result, the app has become an extremely useful tool for both.

From concept to app at breakneck speed

Solid Digital has advised the creators of Capture Me to develop their concept as quickly as possible and to test the app in practice. That is why, for this project, it was decided to start with a progressive web application (DAD). This format is easier and faster to adapt than a so-called native app. Since an original concept almost always changes when it is rolled out in practice, it is all the more important that adjustments can be made easily and cost-effectively.

After the concept has been sufficiently validated in practice and a user database has been created, the PWA app will be converted to a native app. This native app will then be available on the Apple and Android Store.