Press pass for sports

This is becoming another interesting read and good answers thus far. I'm from a small town as well, the local newspaper and TV always send their own people to cover all events. When they can not cover an event they simply will post the results, short article, with no footage or photos.
I have photographed many High School base ball and football games in the last four years to obtain shots of my grandsons. I was able to gain on field position either through the Athletic directer or the head coach. I never received any compensation, though at times was offered payment by parents. While I am shooting I always give the press and paid photographers the lead and stay out of their way. Everyone has a camera these days and they can't let every Mom on the field or it will be complete chaos. I've enjoyed photographing every game and met many nice people along the way.

Having said this, just remember there is NO such thing as a free lunch. It may be free to you but someone had to pay for it. Sounds to me like some people may take advantage of your good nature. A press pass is the very least that the newspaper or athletic directer should provide for you as well as free admission. It's entirely up to you whether you seek payment. You are helping the newspaper, making the team and coaches look good, using your gear, will be traveling many miles and later many Mom's may ask for photos of their kids. And even the most seasoned pro shot his first game at one time so there are many things to consider.

pat.kane wrote in post #18854035
"for free" is what you missed at the end, and you also missed the point from texkam. There is no reason for the paper to pay a professional trying to earn a living when people are willing to give them a passable product for free.

If you were to accidentally injure an athlete while photographing, do you think "I'm an unpaid hobbyist" is going to work as a defense if you're sued? Get a $2M liability policy so you don't lose everything you own, a business license, new gear because yours is worn out, etc. and you'll appreciate the need to ask for compensation.

...or don't. This is an age-old debate and people are entrenched on both sides of it.

I understand what you are saying. Although from a injury/risk standpoint, I am not shooting from any area that spectators are not allowed and I do carry a significant general umbrella policy because of my regular profession. To clarify, the newspaper has a paid pro, he has just been out of commission with some chronic health issues this spring. I fully expect him to return and for the kids to have a chance to see their picture in the paper vs. nothing is worth it to me.

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Yeah, it's your choice, Duckster. . Nobody should be hating on you because you allow the paper to use your images as a courtesy. . You're not taking anybody's job away from them. . In fact, I'm surprised your local paper even has a photographer anymore .... that's old school.

Most small papers, if they don't get pics submitted to them for free, then they just don't run any photos. . They don't need pics. . Nice to have some pics to go with the article, but not a necessity by any means.

Sadly, photos of this nature don't have much, if any, financial value anymore. . If people want to see a pic they just go to facebook to se what one of the parents posted. . If there are no such pics, they shrug and go look at something else. . The people in this thread that take the hard core "no free pics" stance are stuck in the past, back when photography had value. . It's like they can't accept that things have drastically changed.


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For me, it is not a ego thing or money thing to see one of my photos in the paper but since I have a 16 year old on the team, I know how cool the kids think it is if they get a photo in the local paper. And when you go to those graduation receptions, you will see those newspaper photos displayed proudly with other awards so for them, I take the photos.

Tom,

I assume you're talking about me or texkam. I don't view either of our comments as hating on duckster and that surely wasn't my intent. My assumption is he had no idea there is still money to be made shooting high school sports, even for a parent. Most of the sports I cover are pre-paid in full or a combination of yearbook contract coverage and speculative sales. I regularly get requests for free photos and though the conversion rate goes down every year, I still convert some to sales.

The issue of liability was worth mentioning. I've seen parents on the sidelines get run over and I've had to scramble to not get hit (mostly football games, though I saw one parent non-photographer cross active lanes during an indoor meet and get flattened). It only takes one kid getting injured for someone's hobby to turn into a financial nightmare. Sounds like duckster is covered, which is great.

Duckster,

My apologies if you interpreted my post as an attack. We all make our own decisions on when to shoot for free, charge or find other compensation for our services.

Regards,
Pat

I didn't take it as an attack. Just was trying to clarify what my position was as far as shooting for the local paper. I have been taking T&F as well as XC photos for the team/parents for a couple of years. The newspaper's sports editor became aware of my photos after the coaches mentioned that I take photos. They had been noticing the lack of current photos to accompany the stories in the paper.

I can certainly see the issue that professional photographers could have with the "PWAC" situation, as far as it possibly hurting their business. But I have not seen professional photographers at these HS meets, besides a few local newspaper shooters, usually from the hometown paper, whichever town the meet happens to be in that day.

Duckster... keep doing what your doing. As someone who does shoot NCAA events professionally, for money, I see nothing wrong with what you are doing. I have donated my services to many sports clubs, schools, and events like special olympics for decades, because I think its a way of giving back to the kids and the community. Especially for local home town news papers that usually are getting by on a thread. Keep them alive and part of our communities. I've made as much as $5,000 in one weekend, and $0. Both felt great to me.

Keep giving man... its' what communities are built on.

Approved for media pass for State Track & Field meet this coming weekend. Will be fun to be closer to the action.

Just shot the first golf tourney of the year here in HK (a small Asian tournament).

Awesome!

I've been in your position several times and the newspaper always organized a media pass with the state sports body. They should have temporary passes available and, to my knowledge, they were provided free to my organization. We had a couple and it was as simple as my editor calling the organization and adding my name to the media list. This was also somewhat true when I shot collegiate sports. There, my magazine had already been given passes to all the games so they just handed them over to me.

It was cool to be able to access the infield for the meet, allowed for much better shots than from the grandstand.

Any pics to share?

Lots of photos over the 2 days. This was one of my favorites.

Photo from duckster's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (978041)

Many former newspaper photographers are former newspaper photographers because publishers know that there are so many people out there with "expensive cameras" who will willingly fill the hole with their images just for the thrill of "being in the paper."