One thing with what little spare time I have is act on the executive board for a local youth soccer club (Lonestar Soccer Club, San Antonio) which has grown from 64 players in the first year to now over 1,000 players ranging from ages 6 to 18. Over the past 7 years of building the club, I’ve honed my photography taking pictures of games and doing team/individual shots.

Once a year, we host a tournament as a club fundraiser and I’ve always struggled to get good team shots of the winners wearing their medals or holding up a trophy.  Even if I was able to wiggle my way to be in front of parents to get the shot of a team, you will always get those one of two players looking at their parents instead of me, so getting that nice shot of the kids all looking at the camera was always a frustrating thing.
Today it’s even more difficult with every parent having a smart phone, iPad, or DSLR. They all want to get that shot so they can post it to the social media outlet of their choosing.  Frustrating for tournament officials wanting to get a nice shot, but also it’s the parent’s right to get that shot since they pay the money.

Yep, (above) this is what you fight against, but you don’t want to stop it either. It’s part of the fun of a tournament.

Now that we’ve grown into a major soccer club, our tournament has also grown and to keep it growing I really wanted to make sure I got some great shots of the winners. So, this year, I tried a new tactic.

First, when the first presentation was happening, I was taking some practice shots to make sure all the settings on my camera were set and ready to go.  Once you get in front of the little ones, their attention span is short and won’t wait for you to adjust settings.

Once the team is assembled, our tournament director does the congratulations and hands out the medals and finally the team trophy.  As soon as the trophy is given, I stepped in between the players and the parents, lifting both of my hands up an wide (one with my camera of course) and very loudly state, “parents, please let me get one good shot for the website first, then they will be all yours.” Then I turned to the kids, again with my arms open wide, and state, “Ladies…let me get the official picture first, so look at my camera and my camera only…this is one time you get to ignore your parents!”

At this time, there are still a couple kids looking at their parents, because the parents of course are getting in behind me to get the same shot. Still, I keep the kids attention by continuously saying, “my camera…my camera” until eventually they all look my way…then I get the shot.

How cute is that? You would never know there were 20 parents behind me with phones , DLSRs, and IPads trying to get the same picture.  Someone looks at this and thinks I’m the only one taking the shot. 

Finally, I had successful tournament trophy pictures! Here is what it took:

1. Be aggressive and in between the parents and players.
2. Let everyone know you are going to get the shot first.
3. Use the word “website” or “official” in describing the picture you’re going to take.
4. Let the parents know they will get their shot… “I’ll set them up for you, then they are all yours”
5. Have fun with the players and again, use the “official Champions photo”
6. Say continuously, “my camera, my camera…”

So there it is…not anything amazing or new for folks, but this was a story I thought I would share. Although a small success, it was a big jump in confidence as I venture more into the photography world. What I’m learning is a photographer has to have some leadership traits in able to step in and take control of the situation. You also have to be directive and when done in the right way and with confidence, you can get that shot.