The UCF Knights Conquer Content with PhotoShelter

The Knights prepare for the visual campaign

At the University of Central Florida, the UCF Knights aren’t just competing; they’re creating compelling visual stories. As a major NCAA Division I program in the Big 12, their 16 sports teams produce an incredible volume of thrilling photos and videos that capture every touchdown, goal, and victory. To share these moments quickly and efficiently with fans and media, the Knights needed a powerful system for organizing and distributing their vast visual content library.

The challenge: No central keep for content

Conor Kvatek, the Director of Photography, and his team previously used a mix of different tools to store and share photos, making their daily work complicated. This created several key difficulties in managing their visual content.

• Finding photos was a mess. They juggled platforms like Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and a local server. Photos ended up scattered across many locations, making it hard for anyone to find exactly what they needed quickly. As Conor explained, “I can safely infer that a lot of our challenges probably would have been just having a good central system to store photography, and to be able to quickly access and have ease of access with a product like PhotoShelter.”
• Getting photos instantly during games wasn’t possible. With their previous setup, there was no way to transfer photos in real time. Instant access to images during a game day or event simply wasn’t available. Getting photos quickly wasn’t easy for their team or those they collaborated with, like designers and social media managers.
• Working from phones or tablets was difficult. The team had to rely only on laptops and desktops to access their photos. Quick mobile access was missing, which prevented an easy on-the-go workflow and made it hard to grab and share content from remote locations.

“I can safely infer that a lot of our challenges probably would have been just having a good central system to store photography, and to be able to quickly access and have ease of access with a product like PhotoShelter.”

Conor Kvatek, Director of Photography, UCF Knights

The solution: Bringing order to the kingdom with PhotoShelter

Things were complicated and inefficient, but now the UCF Knights’ #Content Team works smoothly and effectively. Here’s how PhotoShelter helped them solve their problems:

• Easy live photo transfers make things simple. Photos transfer straight into their photo library as they are taken, which has significantly streamlined their creative process. This allows them to work in real time and speeds up collaboration. It’s also great for preparing interns, as they learn a system used by professional sports leagues. Conor says, “The biggest thing is just the ease of FTP. It takes me all of 5 minutes to explain how to set it up and then start transferring images wirelessly…”
• Finding photos is easy with good tagging. The system makes finding the right files in a flash super simple. The team can add helpful information like athlete names, locations, and actions, making searching very straightforward. As Conor put it, “The way PhotoShelter utilizes metadata, it’s easy to just find good images at the snap of a finger.”

• Getting photos on the go is simple. Accessing galleries and upload/download capabilities from their phones is incredibly useful when laptops or desktops aren’t available. Users have instant access to find and grab photos while they are out and about. Conor highlighted the impact: “When we’re in the field, and we’re not necessarily able to get to a computer, having FileFlow on our phones to access PhotoShelter galleries, or our FTP galleries, is insanely useful… PhotoShelter has changed the way we work.” He added, “Everybody that has ever touched a photo at UCF has FileFlow downloaded on their phone because I showed them what you can do with it.”
• Keeping content safe and secure. Their system ensures content is kept safe, secure, and easy for the team to manage. For media and other groups, they can easily create small, dedicated galleries, upload a few photos, and then share a link with a password. Conor mentioned, “That security is important to me from a liability standpoint, and also to protect our student athletes.”
• Smart Galleries help keep things organized. Smart Galleries are particularly effective when the team has to sort through many photos at once. When they have seven photographers covering a game day, resulting in around 2,500 photos, Smart Galleries help everyone find what they’re looking for by automatically organizing images based on information like who shot them.

“Smart Galleries really shine when you have a lot of stuff that you have to cull through en masse… When you take into account that we have 7 photographers on a game day, suddenly it’s 2,500 photos that you have to be aware of, so Smart Galleries really help everybody find what they’re looking for. There’s often a lot of needle-in-a-haystack moments and the way we set up IPTC data on the cameras beforehand helps us know who shot which photo. Then the Smart Galleries will take that metadata and divvy it up when the images get transferred.”

Conor Kvatek, Director of Photography, UCF Knights

Winning with visual content and PhotoShelter

Implementing a digital asset management system has transformed the UCF Knights #Content Team’s operations. The challenges of scattered files, slow workflows, and limited access have been overcome, replaced by a streamlined, user-friendly platform. The ability to capture, manage, and instantly share their visual content now allows the UCF Knights to more effectively tell the story of their athletics program and connect with fans and media.

“PhotoShelter is by far the easiest product I have ever used to encapsulate my workflow and help me do everything I need to do on any given game day, practice day, or even days when I’m not doing anything and I’m just pulling photos to slap on social media. I have never really had a complaint.”

Conor Kvatek, Director of Photography, UCF Knights