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

[ilzho]

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 

[kvbarkley]

If it is a practice, you need permission.

If it is a game where the public are allowed as spectators, you don't need any permission.

If you want to be on the field, you need permission.

[ebiggs1]

Since I am a schol photographer I will tell you how it works here.  May differ where you are located.

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

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?

In my area some do and most don't.  Schools have very little money and spending it on a photographer is not one of the ways they spend.  Parents usually wind up paying, not the school.  Schools are not allowed to push a parent to a certain person or company over other such enterprises in the area.

You will not be allowed on the sports field of any game at any of my schools.  The liability of you causing a student to get hurt or you getting hurt yourself is too great.  You can buy a ticket and shoot from the stands or bleachers, fence, but not on the field.

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.

School's have a class that is called 'Yearbook".  Its sole purpose is to produce the yearbook.  The students do it.  Individual senior photos are usually done by a professional photographer.  But it is up to the parent to contract for that. Not the school.

I still (retired) do quite a lot of senior photos.

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.

You don't need permission to photograph kids.  Basically you can photograph anything you can see on public property.  You can be charged with trespassing if you are on school property if they believe you pose a threat.  At the very least you will get a chat from the school's SRO.  You don't want that.

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

No.  But I am pretty well known in the community.  if you are on public property no one can question, challenge, you or size your gear.  Trespassing is the big concern if the public property is the school. Public property has a different meaning when it is school property.  There are other certain 'public' places that are questionable to photograph right now.  The power plant, the airport, etc because of how the world is.  Not illegal but it will draw attention to you.

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

I don't really know but possibly. Like I said I am well known in the community so whether it is from my school job or something else I don't know.

I am going to repeat this, "First off my advice is forget it.  It is a bad idea if you don't have a kid in the activity."  This is not one of your better ideas.

This is a real very likely possibility, "... insinuating you might be a pervert,...".

[ilzho]

Ok, thank you for candid advice.

One of my goals, is to be able to help out for a college program.

I figured, being able to shoot some HS games would give me some experience.

I realize college is different than HS on a number of issues, but I'm just trying to gain experience and get better.

[ebiggs1]

College sports is going to be very much more restrictive than HS.  Pro photographers pay for the right to photograph a college sporting event.  And, it is not cheap.   

[Waddizzle]

Ernie raises some good points.  In my experience, photographing Youth Tackle League and Little League is less stringent.

[RobertTheFat]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

Ernie raises some good points.  In my experience, photographing Youth Tackle League and Little League is less stringent.

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The one guy I know who photographs school sports started doing it when his daughter was on one of the teams. But then he kept on doing it (at the parents' insistence, I guess) after she left for college. That would seem to reinforce one of Ernie's points.

[ilzho]

All great advice, I really appreciate it.

[TTMartin]

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@ilzho wrote:

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 

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What I did was contact the local newspaper. I worked out an agreement where I would provide them with free photos of the sporting event, in exchange for a byline that said more photos were available on my website. On my website (through exposuremanager.com) people could order prints. The printer would take the order, do the billing, mail the prints, and send me the money. There are a number of printing sites where you can do this.

As far as the actual sporting events, I would show up early and introduce myself to the referee or other officials and ask them where I could take photos. For baseball and softball, the coaches would have to agree for me to be inside the fence, because if the ball touched me it would be considered a dead ball. For football generally you have to stay out of the coaches box which extends from 25 yard line to 25 yard line. Generally I would get backfield photos when the line of scrimmage was behind about the 30 yard line. I would then move to the other side of the coaches box for defensive photos or passing plays, as the line of scrimmage moved inside the 20 yard line, I would move to the end zone to get shots of players coming through the line.

[ScottyP]

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@TTMartin wrote:

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@ilzho wrote:

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 

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What I did was contact the local newspaper. I worked out an agreement where I would provide them with free photos of the sporting event, in exchange for a byline that said more photos were available on my website. On my website (through exposuremanager.com) people could order prints. The printer would take the order, do the billing, mail the prints, and send me the money. There are a number of printing sites where you can do this.

As far as the actual sporting events, I would show up early and introduce myself to the referee or other officials and ask them where I could take photos. For baseball and softball, the coaches would have to agree for me to be inside the fence, because if the ball touched me it would be considered a dead ball. For football generally you have to stay out of the coaches box which extends from 25 yard line to 25 yard line. Generally I would get backfield photos when the line of scrimmage was behind about the 30 yard line. I would then move to the other side of the coaches box for defensive photos or passing plays, as the line of scrimmage moved inside the 20 yard line, I would move to the end zone to get shots of players coming through the line.

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Smart. You were still basically volunteering but instead of approaching the school asking, you got press credentials which gave you legitimacy, so the coaches worked with you, and you even found a way to market the images.  Neat story.