Most of our team's games this year have been at this field at 8am. At that time of the day, more than half of the field is in shadow, making action photography more difficult.




















Two shots where the lighting contributes to a semi-3D effect:







Dan.

[downunderman]

Dan, good captures of kids enjoying a game of soccer, seems that in the east, you don't have to get permission from all of the parents to take photo's of their children, as we have to here in the west.

[dosdan]

seems that in the east, you don't have to get permission from all of the parents to take photo's of their children, as we have to here in the west.

Our soccer club, Sunnybank Saints, and the group they are a member of, Queensland Christian Soccer Association, have no rules on taking photos. Young boys & girls play in mixed teams. It might be different if I shot teams that my son is not playing in.

I know that I could never take shots of my daughter in her netball games, as still and video photography is forbidden by her club.

This is my 3rd year of shooting kids soccer (U7, U8 & now U9). I hand out slips to all the parents at the match with this written on it:

You will find photos from this game tomorrow at
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/dosdan

If you would like any photos removed, please send an email to xxx@xxxxx.xxx

Dan Bridges (father of Kaiea, Saints U9 Cyclones).

I've never had a parent request it yet. Instead, I'm asked for larger versions. I've set up Piscaweb to allow the downloading of the uploaded 1500 px or 1600 px (longest dimension) images.

When my son gets a bit bigger, my interest in photographing soccer may wane as the bigger players are not as photogenic, seem not to display as much emotion on their faces, and are more spread out on the field and kick further more often.

Dan.

[andre-mz5]

Hmm, I have never asked parents for approval overhere in Holland. If it's an open match or sports event everybody is free to take pictures. In case very young kids are involved I may get in touch with a team leader and check if there are any objections when I shoot some pictures.
The biggest objection will normally be that I won't interfere with the game which normally means : NO FLASH at an indoor event.

[adr1an]

andre-mz5: there was a spate of concern here over photography of young kids by individuals who didn't pursue photography purely as hobby if you catch my drift. This lead to a lot of over reaction, particularly at things like Swimming Carnivals etc, where some schools instigated policies of no photography etc etc. Then people got confused about it all as to what the 'law' was etc, people bleated privacy concerns and the usual 'what about the children?', so a lot of sports associations also put bans (at the time - not sure how continued it is) in place unless you theoretically sought permission from everyones guardian present. Its sad - because I have heard of a few parents that have mentioned that they dont bother taking pictures because of the hassle - or just thought they couldn't.

A friend who coaches a local (non-school) Juniors Rugby team suggested I come along and take some pictures for him.. He laughed when I said wouldn't it be a bit of a hassle and he reckons it wouldn't be a problem and I'd be doing it on the teams behalf if anyone complained anyway... Still not sure about it myself...

*shrug*

Short version: A few people and a couple of websites got blown out of proportion by the "shock jocks" and "tabloids" and consequently there is a lot of community 'concern' over photographing children if they aren't your own, and even then.... :|

[downunderman]

A friend of mine wanted me to photograph her son playing foot ball,as was fist game in seniors. I roll up with my camera,setting up when the couch informs me that it is not allowed for me to photograph the players. To take a photo of the friends son away from the rest of the players.
Friend was not happy as wanted action shots of her son, so go figure.

[andre-mz5]

Well when I was shooting my soccer pictures I was walking around with the K5 + Sigma 70-200 F2.8 so looked pretty impressive. A couple of the team coaches thought I was a hired pro photographer and came over and asked if I could take pictures of their teams. Well I was already hired by my nephew's team (he was the coach) so I told them I was already occupied. I have givena CD with the pictures to my nephew and I'm sure some of them have found their way into various homes as an enlargement or computer wallpaper.
It is a shame that people are getting paranoid when somebody starts shooting kids. Especially when you have been in contact with the coach(es) and got their approval and maybe even showed them some kind of ID or business card it should not be that big of a hassle.
I think it's better that everybody can see somebody is taking pictures with some real camera equipment. I think it would be more suspicious if you find out somebody is secretly taking pictures with their mobile phone or ipods.
I hope your friend someday will get a nice action shot of his son.

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Last edited by andre-mz5; 07-25-2011 at 05:41 AM. Reason: typo

[downunderman]

Andre, funny that you should mention mobile phones, when my grand Daughter started swimming lessons I went along with my Daughter plus camera to take some photo's of the occasion. When we got there the pool manager who i know saw my camera , said that I would have to leave it in his office as no photo's to be taken.
Later during the lesson, I saw a woman take a photo with her mobile phone , nothing was done. When mentioned to the manager about this said he did not see. sookayy to take photo with phone but not in the open with a camera.