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What's the proper way to ask to get into High School sporting events?

ilzho
Rising Star

Hello:

 

I'm looking to expand my experience in shooting sports and I thought I would ask all of you that have experience in doing this, what is the proper way to go about it?

 

Here are my thoughts/concerns:

 

1) I assume some schools might have a contracted photographer, but if they don't, do you ask permission from the Athletic Director or head coach to take pictures?

 

2) Do you tell them they can have the pictures to help with their yearbook or online site? I'm not looking to charge for the photos, I just want to gain experience.

 

3) Since the students are minors, do you need permission to shoot them or does the school handle this? It's a public school system.

 

4) Have you had any parents question you about 'What are you doing with the photos', insinuating you might be a pervert, haha.?

 

5) Have you gotten any side paying gigs from taking pictures of the games?

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but any guidance is appreciated.

Thank you,

David 

23 REPLIES 23

joshuametcalfe
Apprentice

Most of the schools have their inside newspapers and the easiest way would be to offer being their sport life photographer. I can't think of a reason why would they reject this offer if you want contribute and volunteer. Of course that should be agreed with school administration.

 

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@joshuametcalfe wrote:

Most of the schools have their inside newspapers and the easiest way would be to offer being their sport life photographer. I can't think of a reason why would they reject this offer if you want contribute and volunteer. Of course that should be agreed with school administration.

 

[link removed per forum guidelines]


Actually, I think the best idea is to volunteer to serve as a mentor to students who want to learn to do it themselves. That, of course, assumes that they need your help.

 

65 years ago I was co-editor of our high school newspaper, and our photographer (a student) was pretty good. I thought he was probably as good as anybody the local newspaper sent to cover our games. Even if that recollection is wrong, the point stands. A school's mission is to help kids learn to do things themselves, not to provide a diversion for bored adults.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

I am going to repeat what I said 3 years ago...

"First off my advice is forget it.  It is a bad idea if you don't have a kid in the activity."

 

It is not going to happen!

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

School security and liability concerns are a lot more "hot topic" issues than they were even 10 years ago and that varies tremendously by school district (and probably state).  Both as a parent and as a consultant in enterprise risk management I understand AND support their viewpoint.

 

I got heavily involved doing high school sports photography after some of the kids I coached when they were much younger started playing at the high school level.  I had also worked with their coach before and knew the athletic director which helped.  When I started I was also a full prof at a nearby university and although it wasn't the college I was in, a lot of their teachers came from the college of education at my university.  When I started I also served on the board of a charity with the school board vice president so I had connections on multiple levels. Schools are rightfully risk averse so you normally aren't going to easily walk onto the field and start taking photographs without attracting the attention of the school resource officer and others.  Most will require a background check, they all should.  Typically once you are checked by one school, you will be "credentialed in" at away events with that school.

 

I also spent a couple of semesters as a volunteer supervising coach for some of the high school girls who were coaching the middle school soccer team and I had been through the school background check for that in addition to the one I had from the university.  I originally just photographed girls soccer and started a couple of years before my daughter was of high school age but pretty quickly I was also asked to do a number of other sports.

 

But once you are a known commodity at one area school, that opens the door to a lot of other schools.  After my daughter's freshman year of soccer the incredibly talented head soccer coach of a nearby Catholic school invited her to join him and his recently graduated star forward as he prepped her for her first college start.  He refused to let me pay for my daughter's lessons but gladly accepted my offer to take photos at one of his games and then the AD asked if I would also do a couple of their football games.  I shot a JV football game at another high school as a favor to a colleague and when her grandson shared the photos with his coach, teammates, and parents, the varsity head coach contacted me to ask me to please cover their playoff game. At this point I could probably get access to pretty much any of the high school fields in the area because of the relationships I have built with various coaches and ADs in the area.  But it all starts with making a very good impression at one school. 

 

When you get the opportunity to shoot a high school game, professionalism is key.  As my daughter told me when I shot their first football game it looked like I was dressed to try out for the AD position 🙂  I made sure to introduce myself to the coaching staff well before the game to get their guidance and any requests from them.  I also talk to the officials at a convenient time well before the snap, they want to know that you understand how to stay out of the way and a lot of photographers are horrible about getting in the way of the chain gang at football games. It is even more critical in soccer where the sidelines officials are literally running to keep up with the action, especially to make that critical offsides call, and they don't appreciate trying to run around a photographer.  You have to manage the relationship with the players during a game, during football kids often want to know if you got a photo of a big play they made and you need to make sure that you don't become a distraction.  The coach has enough to worry about without a photographer problem and gently reminding the player that the game is still going on is usually sufficient 🙂  Some of you probably saw the recent story on the rookie QB who missed the final play because he was helping a fan take a selfie; don't let your interest in photography interfere with a student athlete.

 

A lot of schools will want you to stay well away from the student athletes which isn't surprising but that is also subject to change and other schools, once they know and clear you, are happy to have you in the area to get candid and celebration shots.  Be exceedingly careful to cull any shots that have even a hint of a uniform malfunction or anything else that could be embarrassing to a player.  I remember the first year I shot high school soccer, the coach desperately wanted a good group shot while the girls were being announced for the opening lineup.  Unfortunately, many of them feel that is the perfect time to adjust their uniforms and what isn't noticeable in real time is quite noticeable when frozen in time.  I really hate to "photoshop" anything from games but I had to make a couple of hands disappear in order to have a photo that was acceptable to me but I take a VERY conservative approach.  When I shot the introduction of the girls' cross country team a few years ago I cropped the group photo from the waist up because their shorts were far too revealing, fortunately that was a one year uniform for the team.  With some of the shots I will contact the player after the game to see if they want it included and the answer is pretty much always yes but it is right to check.   I have yet to get a photo of someone smiling while they head the ball during a soccer match and usually the expression looks rather like someone in the final stages of meth addiction.  The girls love them but I will still continue to check before I submit them as part of a group file.

 

When a player goes down with an injury, do NOT take photos; that is in incredibly poor taste at a high school event.  In many sports, players take a knee during an injury time out and so should you as a show of respect.  Don't be overtly partisan, in many places that is good reason to have you removed from the field area and officials rightfully take a very dim view of such behavior. They even enforce that on students from that school shooting for their yearbook and if they enforce it upon those photographers they will enforce it on you.

 

If you don't have a child playing for a school, but you want to get into sports shooting at that school then prepare to volunteer some time to get an introduction to the people who can give you access.  Go to a sports booster club meeting or volunteer for other activities.  Contact the AD and coach to see if some photos during practice would be helpful to the coaching staff.  I am part of the career day every year for a couple of area schools and that is a good way to become known by school officials.  Schools are happy to draw upon community resources but they have to balance that against the very real risks of allowing adults access to the school.

 

I really love shooting high school sports and I enjoy working with high school students.  As a hobby I restore vintage radio gear and most of the people doing that are well up in years and most seem to have great disdain for anyone younger than 50.  It is very nice to truly get to know and work with these young people which is a key part of avoiding "grouchy old man syndrome" 🙂

 

Rodger

EOS 1DX M3, 1DX M2, 1DX, 5DS R, M6 Mark II, 1D M2, EOS 650 (film), many lenses, XF400 video
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