As the college athletics landscape evolves constantly, one of the biggest evolutions has been the demise of team photographers with a professional backgrounds and replaced with a revolving door of student photographers. Gone are the days of team photographers mentoring their interns on how to dress professionally, how to act professionally with other photographers and most importantly, how to capture content on game day. Instead it’s a bunch of 20 year old kids being told by their fellow twenty something grad student SIDs (Sports Information Director) that they need to get the shot no matter what. If the point of an intern and student photographers is to learn from professionals, then who is mentoring student photographers when there are no professionals on staff, just kids?
If there isn’t a professional on staff to teach the basics, these kids are basically fed to the wolves. I’ve seen student photographers use flash at games. I’ve seen them taking selfies with players instead of taking photos. Some have their asses hanging out farther from their shorts than they hold the camera away from their faces. I’ve seen student photographers stand in the middle of tunnels blocking shots from every other photographer and I’ve seen them standing outside of the dugout shooting a game not even paying attention to the guy up to bat with an aluminum bat.
It’s not their fault if there is no one there to teach them how to act, dress and behave as a photographer. Mentoring student photographers shouldn’t be a noble idea, but something every school or college should be doing.
Free Labor With Professional Expectations
Photography is viewed as a profession where anyone can do it. You don’t need skill, the camera does all the work for you. The proverbial my cousin has a camera and can take our photos for free. Colleges and universities are no different. Why pay a professional to be a team photographer when we can just hand a twenty something student a camera and go tell them to be creative?
Colleges and universities argue that they don’t have the budget for a team photographer, but will magically have the budget to give head coaches millions of dollars in buyout money when they get fired. Student photographers are throwaway employees for schools. Just a rotation of students happy to be on the field season after season and the best part is that they’re happy with a team polo and a team meal afterwards.
Who is Teaching Student Photographers on How to be a Professional?
With no one mentoring student photographers, who is teaching them on the ins and outs of being a professional photographer? Who is teaching them about not walking in front of others while they’re shooting or standing up to get a touchdown celebrations and block everyone behind you? Who is going to teach them that social media managers aren’t photo editors and that they need to nail the exposure in camera? Or tell them that crooked photos aren’t artistic.
And that is the crux of the problem. There is no one mentoring student photographers.
And let’s be honest, a lot of these people in positions of “power” don’t know what it takes to be a photographer let alone the etiquette for sports photographers. Their only mandate to these kids is and has been, to get the shot and get it out as quick as possible. The photo is crooked, who cares? It’s artistic. Slightly out of focus; add a filter to make it more creative.
They’re not getting these kids ready for the real world unless they’re teaching them they need to either produce results the way they want or they’ll find someone who can. And it’s not like there isn’t a line of kids wanting to feel like they’re a part of the team.
I Don’t Want to be the Boomer in the Room….
First and foremost not every student photographer is a problem. I’ve met and interacted plenty who want to improve and be the best they can, but they don’t have any guidance. I’ve talked to some on the sidelines, dugouts and plenty have reached out on social media and while I do feel a sense of it’s my responsibility to be helpful I’m also not getting paid by these schools to be a mentor. Now I’m more than willing to be paid for my services, but we all know schools don’t pay for that.
The boomer part comes in during game days. There are plenty of people who’ve been doing this for a lot longer and have no patience for student shooters. They yell and curse at them in an abrasive manner and for me, I understand where both sides are coming from. Some of these kids think a camera and a school polo gives them carte blanche to do what they want and when with no regards given to the working professionals. The pros are trying to get the shot because each photo that sells is money in their pocket and when some 20yr old is blocking a game winning celebration because they’re pointing their camera 10″ away from their face blocking the proverbial money shot, some pros tend to get upset.
SIDs don’t care because they’ll tell the kids not to worry because they “work” for the school and come first. And that is the thinking that is leading to a huge rift because any sports photographer will tell you that while yes, we’re “competing” for the shot, that if we all work together, everyone can get an equal chance to make the photo. What these SIDs and the rest of the these young kids in charge don’t realize is that the wire services, the freelancers etc. all help with the school’s brand and getting the proverbial reach extended just beyond the social media channels of the school.
Schools think they’re bubble encompasses this vast vista but it doesn’t extend any further than just past the student population and local fan base. The professionals on the sidelines working for major wire services and media outlets are the ones that send the photos from the game to a wider audience. And once schools realize this, they’ll start working more closely to ensure that the pros and students work together in a symbiotic relationship so that they can achieve the likes and views they’re all consumed with.