Comments on: Practical Guide for Youth Soccer Photography – Part A

By: EclecticGuy

EclecticGuy — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:13:41 +0000

Bama5150, I’ll edit the post to make it clearer. But, what I meant was that parents may get upset if their kids are not in the pictures. I have not had a single parent complain about me taking photos! I am very careful to get shots of every player on the team – even the ones that might not have much playing time – and I work pretty hard to make sure I have at least 1 decent photo of every player. I’ve even spent time in Photoshop enhancing photos that I normally would have pitched because it was the only decent shot of a player. The scenario that I was trying to help photographers avoid with the tip was; if you shoot your own kid and not really focus on shooting everyone on the team and then post the photos and email all of the parents a link, they will likely get a little upset if their kid was not in the set. If 40 of 50 photos are great shots of your kid, then you probably should not be sharing them. If you only have a few photos of other players, send a private email to those parents, not the entire team.

Every weekend (during the season) I photograph multiple games and process and post the photos – usually by Sunday night. I then send an email to the individual team’s parents with a link and the password to the photos. What’s really nice, is every time I do this, I’ll get 5-10 emails back over the next few days thanking me for the great photos.

The one issue I had was several years ago. There were twins on my son’s team. Close to the end of the season, the dad came over to me at the half and made a comment that he did not appreciate me not photographing one of his sons who was a midfielder. He said his son was upset too, when each week he saw the photos and wasn’t in any of them. I was blown away because I knew I had taken many photos of him. Later, when I looked at all of the past games I shot, I had actually posted MANY photos of BOTH of his sons. You could tell them apart by their cleats or numbers. I sent a gentle email to the dad with links to 25 photos of each son and asked why he thought I hadn’t taken any photos of his son. There were many games where I had more shots of this son than my own! I never heard back from him and they left the team before the end of the season.

By: Bama5150

Bama5150 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:43:46 +0000

Hi, thanks for these great tips. To clarify #3, are you saying that the parents are upset if their kid is NOT in the pics or that they are upset that you are sharing pic of their kids?

By: EclecticGuy

EclecticGuy — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:45:08 +0000

Thank you for the kind and encouraging words William! I greatly appreciate knowing that I am helping folks improve their photos and learn along the way! Regards!

By: William A Sorocco

William A Sorocco — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:10:55 +0000

Your vast depth of understanding photography on the field of play and your english prose coupled with the abilility to convey that knowledge is a gold mine of assistance to those of us learning sports photography. I have been around photography for many years but have never read a more clear and concise set of instructions as those given by you. I am a 79 year old grand father who has had family members in the soccer sport for over 35 years from the 5 year olds to college. Indeed, I have learned a greater insight in soccer sport photography from your words of wisdom than from many other material pieces. I have read and re-read all of your material. Please continue on with the Series D.
Thank you, Wm. A. Sorocco, Sr.

By: EclecticGuy

EclecticGuy — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:39:22 +0000

That’s great Bob! You’ll have lots of fun. Just remember to get down low. The younger the players, the lower you need to get!

By: Bob Bailey

Bob Bailey — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:32:59 +0000

Thank you for the tips. I am looking forward to shooting my grandsons games. They are 5,6, and 9.