# No appreciation for what I feel are decent photos



## MetroRuss

Hello all,

Im brand new to the hockey family culture. I offered to take the photos of a minor hockey association for their marketing and web presence in my city. Since it is a youth program, it is expected that parents volunteer. The director of marketing accepted my offer and gave me a wish list of about a dozen different action shot, locker room shots, and other various happy faced kids. 

 I am taking a lot of shots and vids of the team my child is on, not just of him but of the whole team, coaches included. Trying to capture a theme of team feeling of hard work and practicing hard will lead to more success.

Ive got about 56 GB (1800 photos) of jpg/raw  after 5 weeks of practices and 6 games. It is a lot of OOF and bad composition shots to weed through.

So I went through a file that had 750 shots in it of 2 games and found many keepers of almost everyone on the team. The lighting was nice at this arena. Then they were PP resized to 1250 X 833 and watermarked.

2 days ago I posted 36 photos up in the team app that we use where everyone gets notified when the team chat is used.

So far I have not gotten a single online reply about them. However this morning at a hockey practice 1 father said he liked them.

So it comes down to this, yes, I would like to be appreciated for taking the time to shoot, sort, PP and post photos of their kids. I dont want their money. I just wanted to be a nice guy and make some people around me happy.

Does anyone have any experience with this reaction that I find strange?

Example photos below. BTW I am not a sports photographer.


----------



## The_Traveler

Ime, this is a common phenomenon. I did very extensive pro bono photography for a local non-profit in MD and was rarely thanked.
I think that there are three contributing factors: people don't realize the effort it takes to produce good work, people can't 'see' the difference between good and mediocre work, people don't value what they don't pay for.
Do this because you can and want to help. Do this because you enjoy it. If you do this shooting expecting thanks, ime you will be disappointed.


----------



## Overread

Remember:
1) Nearly everyone today owns a camera in some form - it might be a DSLR, a point and shoot, a mirrorless or even the camera in their phone (which are not that bad today). So the act of taking a photograph isn't alien to most; and they are generally happy with point-shoot-auto mode results.
This takes some of the mystery out of photography for them - to them its easy and when they hear a DSLR go clikcliclickclick they thing every click is a great shot (its a DSLR its a REALLY good camera!) 

Basically its ignorance of the process and the time involved.

2) People are lazy - commenting takes time and this is why many forums have seen huge drops in member uptake since facebook became mainstream - people just go there. Same for comments on photos - evne if it takes 5 seconds to register to comment many won't bother. They'll look and say "nice photo" to themselves and then move on.

3) Bombardment. We are bombarded by so much media all day long that its overwhelming to most people. So they get very blasé about it. 

4) Targeted - your photos are just a mish mash of everyone. If you were to go through and put tags/names on each person perhaps even put each one in a folder it would have a very different effect. Of course that takes even more time and organisation - fine if you're being paid for it and not if you're not. 

5) It's free - yeah sometimes slapping on some watermarks and a professional website and a £20 price per photo and suddenly people can treat you totally differently than a flickr page with open access.




In the end I agree with Traveller - do it because you like and enjoy doing it and don't bother if you don't want to. You're not under obligation and its your free time.


----------



## Designer

Overread is spot on with his reply.  Read it over several times.

As to getting better shots; make sure you have the focus and exposure where they need to be, and then learn to crop down to the essence of each shot.  Yes, you're not always going to see/shoot/frame an ideal shot every time, but just a little bit of editing can make a worthwhile difference.


----------



## tirediron

In addition to the excellent advice above, some improvement in technique might help.  First and foremost:  Learn how to shoot 'two-eyed' that is:  Your dominant eye is glued to the view-finder and doesn't come away from it.  Your non-dominant eye tracks and anticipates the action so you can anticipate where the play is going to go.  Single-point, continuous AF and centre-weighted metering are likely your friends here. 

There are two types of images you're going after.  One is the documentary image; the play, the action, etc.  In general, this should have at least two players (whose face you can see) and the puck.  You want to avoid, to the greatest extent possible, "bits" of other players, sticks, etc in the shot.  The second type is the 'hero' shot; that is, the image which shows (usually) a single player in action.  Designer's re-work of your last image is a good example of that.

This is something that takes a lot of time and practice to get good at.  It's also an area where equipment makes a real difference.  A couple of mid-range or better bodies coupled to fast (2.8 or better) pro-level zooms will allow you capture far more of the action.


----------



## MetroRuss

The_Traveler said:


> Ime, this is a common phenomenon. I did very extensive pro bono photography for a local non-profit in ME and was rarely thanked.
> I think that there are three contributing factors: people don't realize the effort it takes to produce good work, people can't 'see' the difference between good and mediocre work, people don't value what they don't pay for.
> Do this because you can and want to help. Do this because you enjoy it. If you do this shooting expecting thanks, ime you will be disappointed.



Hi Traveller,
I do enjoy taking my photos and your points are well received.

Thank you!


----------



## MetroRuss

Hi Overread,
Breaking it down the way you did, makes it easier to see and digest what our society has become with the advancement of digital devices and 12mp cameras in everyones pocket.

Thanks!


----------



## MetroRuss

Hi Designer,

Thank you for the tips. These shots were taken last year before my son started playing hockey. These guys are one level down from the NHL so I posted these shots instead of the kids shots in order to respect their right to privacy.

Since then, I have realized that over 85% of my sports shots do need the composition cropping since it is not a landscape shot from a tripod. Thus the 56 GB of shots that sit waiting for attention.

It sure does make a massive difference, and then 7pm turns into 11pm in moments.


----------



## MetroRuss

tirediron said:


> In addition to the excellent advice above, some improvement in technique might help.  First and foremost:  Learn how to shoot 'two-eyed' that is:  Your dominant eye is glued to the view-finder and doesn't come away from it.  Your non-dominant eye tracks and anticipates the action so you can anticipate where the play is going to go.  Single-point, continuous AF and centre-weighted metering are likely your friends here.
> 
> There are two types of images you're going after.  One is the documentary image; the play, the action, etc.  In general, this should have at least two players (whose face you can see) and the puck.  You want to avoid, to the greatest extent possible, "bits" of other players, sticks, etc in the shot.  The second type is the 'hero' shot; that is, the image which shows (usually) a single player in action.  Designer's re-work of your last image is a good example of that.
> 
> This is something that takes a lot of time and practice to get good at.  It's also an area where equipment makes a real difference.  A couple of mid-range or better bodies coupled to fast (2.8 or better) pro-level zooms will allow you capture far more of the action.



Great advice! Thank you tirediron!


----------



## Derrel

When it comes to free photos, people are generally ungrateful.


----------



## SquarePeg

Derrel nailed it.  I take a ton of photos of our rec softball league and of my daughter's high school field hockey team.  All are shared on social media (Facebook for the parents, Instagram for the kids).  If I were doing it for thanks or appreciation I would have stopped a long time ago.  As for sharing on the team app - that could be part of the lack of response.  Maybe save up the best ones for a slide show during the end of the season banquet if there is one...

Do it because you enjoy it and/or because it helps you improve your skills and to have your scrap book that your family will cherish.


----------



## Dave442

I have found that just putting up one photo at a time is usually the best option for receiving a response on a group forum. Sure it is nice to have a record of action from the game, but posting all the images is like having your aunt start showing you every image from her last trip. 

Designer did a couple nice edits and any single image similar to those that you edit and post from your kids game would have people looking forward to your image from the next game.

A few thoughts...
People don't have time to look at a bunch of images, much less comment on them.
Eliminate as much distraction from around the subject as possible to grab the viewer.
Good composition to keep the viewers attention.


----------



## The_Traveler

Since you allow editing/critique, I'd like to make a couple of points.

*Make the part of the image that is the point fill as much of the frame as possible without losing the context.* I cropped this so that the goalie is larger and at the thirds but kept the other players in for context.
*Minimize the distracting effect of stuff that detracts from the important area.* I darkened the spectators and lens-blurred the other players a bit. Then darkened everything but the goalie and puck
*Maximize any stuff that adds to the photo. *Added contrast to the ice and removed the overall blue cast to make it a bit more appealing and 3dimensional.

While more could be done, (sharpening the goalie and adding more contrast to give the photo some pop ) in the end, this photo lacks the real acute sharpness that one generally wants in sports shots.


----------



## Derrel

I have to agree with the above idea: you want the "essence", but leaving the other players in gives context. In many cases, cropping out other,opposing players leaves us with a larger image of one player, but the player can be isolated, stranded within a frame, without the context of the game. Context is important!


----------



## DGMPhotography

I think everyone here has given good advice so far. 

I'm not a fan of The Traveler's edit, though. I agree with darkening/blurring the spectators, but it looks like the whole image was darkened, and the white balance became yellow for some reason so that the whites don't look white anymore. That might be a monitor issue. 

One thing I would add is that a lot of people won't feel compelled to comment on something, especially if it's not relevant to them specifically. If you want feedback, why not ask for it? 

Did you say anything when you uploaded the photos? I might have added something like, "hey everyone, the coach had me take some shots of the team. Here are some of the finished shots - what do you think?"

People are lazy, but a prompt might help.


----------



## ac12

As with others, if you get one or two thanks, that is plenty. 
It is the old 80-20 rule; only 20% will thank you, the other 80% just expect it.

Many people today expect things, and don't think about the effort to do it.  In fact it works in reverse.  Put out a set of pix of only a few players, and you will start to hear complaints from the parents whose kids are not in the pix.  "Where's the pictures of my kid!"  The expectation attitude of some people, sometimes makes you want to quit.  Because the next level of complaint is, "The picture of my kid isn't as good at the pictures of XYZ kid!" and  "Why does kid XYZ have more pictures than my kid!"  And how do you get a game pix of a kid, who the coach doesn't let play in a real game?  I've seen players never come off the bench.

My take is that parents want pix of THEIR KID, they don't care about the other kids.
So sometimes a TIGHT shot of their kid is more relevant to them, than an over all action shot that a sports photog might go for.
I've shot high school volleyball and basketball games, in the gym, and there are parents with a 70-200 lens     For reference, I am shooting with a 35 (normal lens on a DX camera).  So they are going for the TIGHT shot of THEIR KID.

The pix that I'm doing now for the AD and coaches, reflects some of that; a shot is cropped 2 ways, #1 a wide overall shot so you can see the action/play (what I used to do), #2 a tight shot of the player (where it makes sense) to get the action up close for that one player/student.  Where I used to do a full body crop, now I'm doing tighter half body crops.  With the tight crops, the facial expression becomes more visible, and the shot has more impact, for the parent.

For some of the teams, I sort the pix files.  This helps me to balance the number of shots per player, so one player does not get toooo many pix, which is very easy to do.

By their jersey number; so the file name would be 07-XXXXX.jpg.   07 being the jersey number. 

For tennis, it is by match position.   S1-XXX.jpg for 1st singles, D2-XXX.jpg for 2nd doubles. 
Yeah the sorting and renaming takes time and effort, but I think the resulting balancing of number of pix is worth it.
Someone that did not get many shots in one game, I will try to get more shots on the next game.

Again, you have to do it for YOUR OWN self satisfaction


----------



## Designer

MetroRuss said:


> It sure does make a massive difference, and then 7pm turns into 11pm in moments.


Instead of burning yourself out over the gratis photography work, just start being really no, REALLY selective, and pick out only a few of your very best shots to post up.  

One; you'll spend less time editing, 

and Two; maybe someone will appreciate a photo or two once in a while.

As for me; ALL of my photography is "for free".  Mostly family, so I wouldn't presume to charge them, and they actually do appreciate the photos I give them.  

One year I printed up a bunch of 8x10s and framed them and gave them as Christmas gifts.  Everybody got at least one, and some got two, depending on who all was in the shot.  

I am not nearly as generous as you are, so there is little chance that I would volunteer to take a bunch of photos of the local sports teams or children's groups and post them up for all to have.  That's not going to happen.


----------



## ac12

The other thing is the parents want the pictures, for free, and not even offer to give you a donation to help cover your expenses and cost of gear.
And when you get into low light indoor and night sport photography, we all know that gear gets expensive.  They think it is a $500 Costco kit, not a$4,000+, FF camera + f/2.8 lens.

As @Designer said, maybe cut down the production, and only put up a FEW selected shots.  Quality over quantity.  Then see if anyone appreciates your pictures enough to talk to you and thank you.
But be ready for the "where is the picture of MY kid!!!"


----------



## MetroRuss

I have decided that I will only post photos of people who have acknowledged the efforts and time I put into the craft.



Dave442 said:


> I have found that just putting up one photo at a time is usually the best option for receiving a response on a group forum. Sure it is nice to have a record of action from the game, but posting all the images is like having your aunt start showing you every image from her last trip.
> 
> Designer did a couple nice edits and any single image similar to those that you edit and post from your kids game would have people looking forward to your image from the next game.
> 
> A few thoughts...
> People don't have time to look at a bunch of images, much less comment on them.
> Eliminate as much distraction from around the subject as possible to grab the viewer.
> Good composition to keep the viewers attention.


----------



## MetroRuss

Sad but true 


Derrel said:


> When it comes to free photos, people are generally ungrateful.


----------



## MetroRuss

Thanks for the support Sharon



SquarePeg said:


> Derrel nailed it.  I take a ton of photos of our rec softball league and of my daughter's high school field hockey team.  All are shared on social media (Facebook for the parents, Instagram for the kids).  If I were doing it for thanks or appreciation I would have stopped a long time ago.  As for sharing on the team app - that could be part of the lack of response.  Maybe save up the best ones for a slide show during the end of the season banquet if there is one...
> 
> Do it because you enjoy it and/or because it helps you improve your skills and to have your scrap book that your family will cherish.


----------



## ac12

_Entitled_ _Expectation_ was the words that I was looking for.
The people/parents feel that they are entitled to the pictures as part of their kid being in a sports program.
They don't recognize that _someone who is not paid_, had to do all the work.

The HS tennis team that I shoot, only the coaches and ONE parent has thanked me for the pix that I shot last year.
None of the other parents have sent thanks via the coaches.
For me, that the coaches thanked me, was sufficient to get me to shoot this next year, and next year.


----------



## Designer

ac12 said:


> For me, that the coaches thanked me, was sufficient to get me to shoot this next year, and next year.


You guys are WAY more generous than I.


----------



## jeffW

Allow me to play devil's advocate.  How do you know the kids really want you taking pictures and posting?  I played a lot of sports in school, was never going to make an Olympic team but had a lot of fun.  In today's world I don't think I would of wanted the self conscience pressure that some dad might have captured me tripping over the ball, missing a save, etc.. that can be so easily published. "Hey Steve does your dad have a picture of Jeff flipping over the boards?  I want to show it to Stephanie"

 Working as a PJ I photographed a lot of high school and college sports honesty there's not a lot of grace out there and you could see how published images changed the team's inner dynamics. (who the star was/n't)  Had to sit through a couple of meetings why wasn't my kid on the front page! 

In college there was a class V river we'd kayak down that sat next to a road.  A lot of motorist would stop and get out the camera.  Even in the middle of a class V rapid we are self conscience that someone is taking our picture.  

Again just playing devil's advocate maybe not everyone has the same enthusiasm for being recorded photographically.


----------



## The_Traveler

MetroRuss said:


> I have decided that I will only post photos of people who have acknowledged the efforts and time I put into the craft.



IME, people don't give a rat's behind about an effort that they aren't aware of and th time that you are choosing to put into it.
If you're not doing it for yourself but for the praise you can wring from others, your efforts won't be very rewarding.
Besides the very occasional event, i've never shot for money or praise. I don't compete and don't enter shows, consequently i shoot what I want and still love photography because it is meaningful to me.


----------



## SquarePeg

jeffW said:


> Allow me to play devil's advocate.  How do you know the kids really want you taking pictures and posting?  I played a lot of sports in school, was never going to make an Olympic team but had a lot of fun.  In today's world I don't think I would of wanted the self conscience pressure that some dad might have captured me tripping over the ball, missing a save, etc.. that can be so easily published. "Hey Steve does your dad have a picture of Jeff flipping over the boards?  I want to show it to Stephanie"
> 
> Working as a PJ I photographed a lot of high school and college sports honesty there's not a lot of grace out there and you could see how published images changed the team's inner dynamics. (who the star was/n't)  Had to sit through a couple of meetings why wasn't my kid on the front page!
> 
> In college there was a class V river we'd kayak down that sat next to a road.  A lot of motorist would stop and get out the camera.  Even in the middle of a class V rapid we are self conscience that someone is taking our picture.
> 
> Again just playing devil's advocate maybe not everyone has the same enthusiasm for being recorded photographically.



Some really valid points here.  You do need to be careful if you’re sharing the photos that you’re not embarrassing someone.  

Because my daughter is a teenager (15) and it’s such a tough age already, I make it a point not to share any photos of her teammates that are really unflattering or that show anyone slacking, lacking or hacking.  This eliminates a lot of photos in field hockey because the goggles and the mouthpiece are particularly unflattering.  Softball season is so much easier!  But even then, I don’t share photos of strike outs or dropped balls.  

I’ve found that most of the girls like seeing the photos and many will repost on their Instagram if it’s a photo of them scoring a goal or sliding into home or celebrating with a team mate after a good play.  

The parents who can’t make it to the games (they are midweek 4pm start and many are still at work) do occasionally acknowledge the photos and are thankful to get a look at the games.  

At the request of the coach and boosters I took photos on the field at Senior night last week of the seniors and their families and published them on the boosters Facebook page.  It was misty raining and there were the usual issues with the lights.  I had to work hard to get good images and was cursing myself for agreeing to do it when I had to edit every photo.  The end results were well received and the families of the seniors were very appreciative which, in the end, made my efforts worthwhile.


----------



## ronlane

Lots of good opinions and thoughts on here. Some I would agree with, some, maybe not so much.

I would agree with the ideas of cropping. Here is a crop of the first image that I quickly did. I did not care for the stick in the foreground and the crowd is a little too much in focus for me as well. (I'd suggest shooting as wide open as you can, example f/2.8)

Sports is not as easy as some will think, even photogs can think it is easy to "spray and pray". But average people do not realize that it is work to get good images.


----------



## ac12

+1 to @SquarePeg 
I also edit out the BAD/unflattering shots.  That is just part of my edit routine.
I only pass pictures that I would want to see if it were me or my kid.

I found catching the scoring play difficult.  In many sports, the action (hit, kick, toss, etc.) occurs a second or so before the goal, and it is VERY difficult to get both in the same shot.  
The example I usually give is in basketball, the player jumps up to shoot the ball to the basket, but by the time the ball is in the basket, the player is either back on the ground or headed down in a not so flattering pose.​Also lining up the player, the ball in flight, and the goal, is a matter of luck, of being in exactly the right spot to line up the three.  But when you do get that lined up shot, it is soo cool.

What I find sad is that at MANY of the sports, there is very low attendance, by both students and parents.  In the case of parents, I understand that parents work, so can't make games during their work day.  The pictures are a way for them to see their kid in action.


----------



## SquarePeg

ac12 said:


> What I find sad is that at MANY of the sports, there is very low attendance, by both students and parents. In the case of parents, I understand that parents work, so can't make games during their work day. The pictures are a way for them to see their kid in action.



Football and hockey seem to be the most highly attended.  I think because most of the games are at night!  Other than a few scattered parents, the field hockey games are very underattended.  Softball and baseball do much better.  I don't know about soccer...  but yes, the parents work and many of these games start at 4pm in another town.  Impossible for most.


----------



## ac12

Our field games start at 4 or 430 then about 6-730 for the 2nd game.  Start time of the 2nd game depends on the sport.
Football and lacrosse JV is the 1st game, and varsity the 2nd game.
Soccer is the reverse, varsity is the 1st game, and JV the 2nd game.
Baseball and softball start at 4 with no 2nd game.  Because there are no lights on those fields, they have to finish while the sun is still up.

For viewing, tennis is an odd one.  Of all the sports, there is very little/no place for the parents to view the kids playing.  This seems to be common to several of the high schools in the area.  

As for football, it is attended when it is a home game.
Friday was a road/away game where if we won (and we did) we would have cinched the league championship for the first time in 28 years.
Yet there were few in attendance  
So importance and history did not make a difference in road/away attendance.


----------



## ac12

jeffW said:


> Allow me to play devil's advocate.  How do you know the kids really want you taking pictures and posting?  I played a lot of sports in school, was never going to make an Olympic team but had a lot of fun.  In today's world I don't think I would of wanted the self conscience pressure that some dad might have captured me tripping over the ball, missing a save, etc.. that can be so easily published. "Hey Steve does your dad have a picture of Jeff flipping over the boards?  I want to show it to Stephanie"
> 
> Working as a PJ I photographed a lot of high school and college sports honesty there's not a lot of grace out there and you could see how published images changed the team's inner dynamics. (who the star was/n't)  Had to sit through a couple of meetings why wasn't my kid on the front page!
> 
> In college there was a class V river we'd kayak down that sat next to a road.  A lot of motorist would stop and get out the camera.  Even in the middle of a class V rapid we are self conscience that someone is taking our picture.
> 
> Again just playing devil's advocate maybe not everyone has the same enthusiasm for being recorded photographically.



Yes, when I am shooting on the field or court, the kids definitely know that I am there.  Though I try not to get in their face and distract them.
But if they want a chance of a pix in the yearbook, they have to learn to ignore me.
The good ones can tune me out, the others will unfortunately have me in their head as they play.
And if I were really distracting, I have no doubt that the coach and refs will tell me.
The soccer refs have already told me to not shoot from behind the net.

As a result of some (valid) parent dramatics, the yearbook staff is more aware of how many pix of one student is on a particular sport page, to give balance to the rest of the team.  It is up to the page editor to pick the few photos on the page, to represent the sport, and unfortunately most of the kids just won't be in them.  That is what the team picture is for. 

One of my guidelines to the editors is to pick photos that will NOT embarrass the student, neither when they pick up the yearbook nor in 40 years.

As for not wanting to be photographed.  In hind-sight, I understand that, the paparazzi effect.  Difficult to do in sports, but definitely easier to control in student life pix, where if the student says no, the kids do NOT shoot that student.


----------



## MetroRuss

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, it is well taken and very appreciated.
It helped me sort out a few things.
1. I shoot because I like to.
2. It is a great place to practice and improve.
3. Posting an embarrassing photo is a no go. All photos go only to a private app that the general public cannot get access to.
4. Inspiration from a set of photos is my objective.

This set was very inspirational to the team. (Faces blurred for privacy)
It was a 2 on nothing break away for the blue team. They came in hard, I got them in focus as they crossed the blue line and was so lucky to get this set of about 12 shots all in the frame and not that bad in focus.
 Often this goalie does not explosively move and make NHL style saves. But for some reason he went for it with gusto, he stopped the breakaway shot with his blocker, it popped up in the air about 10 feet, as it fell to the ground he stuck out his heavy goalie stick and batted it away from his goal line. The scoring chance was high for the second blue player to bat in the rebound.

The coach did use this goalie save post game in the locker room to inspire the kids to never give up on a play even when you think you cannot keep up or stop the shot. Keep going hard and try your best. Don't let the other teams player skate the puck by you without trying to poke the puck away or get in his way etc.


----------



## ac12

All you need is one GOOD shot (or sequence) from the game, and that makes the shoot worth it.
Some times it happens, sometimes not.  If it does not happen in a particular game, I don't stress it, I just try again at the next game.

I try to learn from each shoot, something to make the next shoot better/easier.  
I also learn from things that go wrong, like the ref going in front of me when the football player ran across the goal line.  Maybe next time, I should stand a yard or two away from the goal line so that I won't get blocked from the TD shot.

I had a few people ask me why I was shooting so many soccer games.  And yearbook students asked me why I was shooting soccer, after the deadline had past.  I told them, practice makes perfect, and I was still working on getting better.  Unfortunately, it did not seem to have registered with the students, as I rarely saw them at any game, once the yearbook deadline for that sport was over     Then they wonder how I can get so many good shots.  Duh, I practice a lot.
This practice was especially important for sports that I had not shot before, or shot very little of; soccer, lacrosse, water polo, and tennis.  I did not even know what lacrosse was, until last school year.
To the end of the soccer season, I was regularly getting shots of most of the goals.  That only came as a result of a LOT of practice.

One neat thing about working with the coaches, is that you can work with them to get otherwise impossible shots.
The baseball coach brought be out onto the field between innings, to get a shot from behind the pitcher, of a pitch to the catcher


----------



## Dikkie

The_Traveler said:


> people don't value what they don't pay for.


People can behave weird on free things.

When people pass a shop’s showcase with 2 buckets: one with free apples and one for $ 4, most customers will have weird doubts for the free bucket and will pay for the other bucket instead. Not knowing that these are exactly the same apples. It has been tested in customer experiments before.

It's like free software, people seem to be willing to pay because they think it's better.


----------



## BillM

If you love doing it keep doing it. Lots of people show up and post a handful of photos and are never heard from again. Trust me, it was almost 2 years before a parent or a player even spoke to me. Once they realized I was there because I loved doing it as much as they loved looking at the results it all changed. I went from being a hack with a camera who loved photography and sports to a part of the community, and a freelance photographer for the local papers. I was even awarded a state championship ring when the girls won the title last season  Missed a basketball ring by 3 points this year  But it was fun shooting from the floor of the Boston Garden for the semi finals. A 3 from the corner with 1.5 seconds to go for the win.

And yes, his mother thanked me for this photo lol


----------



## BillM

As as stated earlier, never make any player look bad. Your team or the opponent. And put down the camera when someone is injured.


----------



## Tropicalmemories

Every post in this thread is a valuable, good read.

But I think there's also something else in play here.  These days everyone is a photographer and the selfish gene also runs deep in all of us.  People like to receive comments on their photos, but few people take the time to comment on other people's photos.

Look at Flickr - millions of people trying to get attention, but not one functioning Group with real discussion.

Even in our Furum, where we are all keen photographers, you can see posted photos with few or even in no comments.

I try to comment on other's photos at a much higher rate than I post my own - and I see some other people doing the same, especially on this forum, but this is a very rare way to behave as it runs counter to the inherent self-centered nature built into all of us.


----------



## Fujidave

All my gig shots I take I do for free and the enjoyment of the vocalists thanking me and telling others Get Rohan Dave to do it.  They are always saying thank you very much as not one person takes the time to do the images and talk as well.


----------

