Photography at Soccer Games | rules of the stadium
Naturally, with your enthusiastic photography hobby or professional career, you are envisioning yourself taking high action, well composed, crisp, bright pictures that not only capture the moment but also the atmosphere in the stadium and the incredible feeling that you have at the moment of taking the photograph. You want to be able to look at that picture a year later and remember everything you experienced!
This is really easy to achieve if you don’t play the Lama and arrive with your 30cm long tele-photo lens, your wide-angle lens, your flash big enough to clear the way for an off road 4×4 trail and your 2 meter high tripod all housed in that massive, well padded camera equipment carry all…
WHY?
You may be asking?
Because after standing in the queue to enter the stadium and finally reaching the door where the security team searches you, you will be devastated to find out (all too late!) that you are not allowed to take that equipment into the stadium. You will be left with two choices – leave your very expensive equipment with stadium security (a risk I’d rather avoid) OR march all the way back to your car (heavens know where you parked!) and leave the very expensive equipment in your boot. Then to make matters worse, you have to stand in line to get into the stadium, again, AND your entire FIFA experience will be without one photo! To a photography enthusiast this is like telling a car to run without petrol!
…OR you can be the Lion! And make sure that ahead of time you read up on the restrictions and regulations regarding photography and recording equipment in the stadiums during the 2010 soccer matches.
I am referring to one point in particular, listed under the Prohibited Items rule, and even though we are only pointing out this point which directly relates to the topic at hand, you really should read through all of the rules to make sure you don’t get caught off guard.
The Prohibited Item rule I want to point out is:
•) NO cameras (except for private use and then only with one set of replacement or rechargeable batteries), video cameras or other sound or video recording equipment;
No cameras except for private use and no video cameras or sound recording devices at all!
Yes, I know what you are thinking but you need to understand that even though your DSLR and that big tele-photo lens ARE only for private use, the stadium security guards don’t have to believe you. Chances are that they know very little (if anything at all) about photography, so when confronted with your very professional looking camera equipment they are going to assume the best at the worst of times.
They have been told that under no circumstance is a photo-journalist allowed to bring their equipment into the stadium and that is what they are going to enforce.
Another thing to realise is that there is NO point arguing with the stadium security about the intended use of your photos; they are dealing with between 68,000 and 104,000 over-excited, hyped-up people per day. They are guaranteed to take a no-nonsense approach and just send you packing.
So what should you do?
1) Take ONE camera. Advanced digital cameras with super zooms that go beyond 500mm (35mm equivalent) are your best bet to get good quality sports photography shots and capture all the atmosphere in the stadium too. If your want to take a DSLR, fit it with ONE lens – nothing larger than a standard to mid-telephoto - and do not take any extra lenses.
2) Leave your bulky camera bag at home. It is not going to be easy to manoeuvre the crowded stadiums with a bulky bag. Camera bags also scream “I’m carrying expensive equipment” and up your target-factor for being a potential victim of robbery. You won’t be able to put that camera bag down, even for a second, during the entire game as it is just not worth the risk. Take a bag that’s small enough to just fit your camera and is easy to keep on you.
3) Don’t bother with a flash, it won’t reach the players from where you are sitting anyway and will increase your chances of being bounced by security.
4) DO take a spare battery. It would be really disappointing to run out of battery life in the excitement!
5) In case you didn’t notice I will point it out: NO video cameras at all.
If you don’t own a camera and are planning to purchase one that will deliver excellent results during your once-in-a-lifetime FIFA Adventure but still fit a budget that doesn’t reach the DSLR camera ranges then take a look at our review of the Canon SX20 IS which is an Advanced Digital Camera.
Advanced Digital Cameras are a great option for taking you a good few steps above Point and Shoot cameras and giving you a lot of the control over your images that a DSLR would offer.
[...] of taking an Advanced Digital Camera with you to the stadium in our article discussing the Rules of the Stadium. If you don’t own a camera and are planning to purchase one that will deliver excellent results [...]