What is the name of the professional sports photographer organization?

<p>Last year, a professional sports photographer shown me a card of a professional sports photographer organization during a local sport event. He said that only those hold the card can be considered to take photos for a large sports event such as Olympic games. I can't recall the name of the organization. Does anyone know the organization?</p>

<p>maybe 'sport shooter'<br>

sportshooter.com<br>

???</p>

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<p>He said that only those hold the card can be considered to take photos for a large sports event such as Olympic games</p>

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<p>Well I shoot sports and have never heard of anything like that, in fact, based on how media passes are allocated, it sounds all wrong. The only organizations that are big that I know of are SEP and SPAA, and neither offers access as a member benefit. Sportshooter.com doesn't offer anything remotely like that, it's a web site.</p>

<p>There is at least one deal that I am aware of that claims to be able to get you into "any and all" major events for a low annual membership fee. Their claim / point is that by "joining" them - you are actually shooting on assignment for them. Thus the in. </p>

<p>I forgot the name of the site now, but no, it's definitely not "Sport Shooter" ; SEP; SPAA - I don't remember it off the top of my head... I do remember looking at the site a couple of times and looking into how it worked - supposedly.</p>

<p>Basically you pay them a fee (forget the dollar amount) but let's say $200 per year for argument's sake. In return you get a card (necklace style) with your information and their name on it - in big letters it says PRESS PASS - The site claimed that 99% of the time you could show up day of the game, concert, event and go up to the media entry and get in with just that and shoot to your hearts content. All you had to do was send the company 1 - 10 images from the event for them to use / sell. For that 1% that wouldn't let you in / popular event (Think Super Bowl) they would "assign" you to the event via a letter that said you were working for them as a freelancer. The catch on that was that you had to be one of the first in that city to request that event...</p>

<p>I thought about joining for a while - then common sense took hold and said - no one is going to honor that thing.... The major sports certainly won't, and probably not even major college or high school... Concerts typically limit photographers to one or 2 shots - then they have to bail, so not worth it for that... Basically I came to the conclusion that the only events that might honor that pass were the ones that weren't worth going to in the first place...</p>

<p>Just wish I could remember their name....</p>

<p>It certainly isn't the "ONLY" way to get into events to shoot...and I don't believe that is even a valid way 99% of the time. I highly doubt that SI / AP / Getty photographers are members...</p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

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<p>There is at least one deal that I am aware of that claims to be able to get you into "any and all" major events for a low annual membership fee.</p>

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<p>These are completely bogus. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of media passes that are recognized. One is a police or "municipal" pass, in other words, one that comes from the government. It requires a letter from a sponsoring press organization. Here in San Francisco, there is a limited number of them, so you can't just get sponsored and receive the pass. The second type of pass is event specific. This requires getting credentials from the event promoter/sponsor. I have been to some events where these are pretty much handed out to anyone with a good story, and I have been to events where I had to sign all sorts of stuff to explain what I was doing. None of them were interested in arbitrary credentials. It helps to have some published material. These "pay us and you'll get in" passes are neither and are useless.</p>

 

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<p>Concerts typically limit photographers to one or 2 shot</p>

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<p>The usual restriction is the first three songs, or, sometimes, the first two songs. You can shoot as much as you want during the allotted songs. Generally, this only applies to photo passes (I have gotten VIP passes to get around this) and is only for larger venues.</p>

<p>Thanks for your inputs, everyone. I believe that organization is an international one. So, it isn't SPAA. For shooting in a large sports event, you might be asked to present your photography works to be qualified.</p>

<p>Maybe your thinking of Reuter's? Or Getty Images? </p>

<p><a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS310&q=international+press+photography+organizations&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=">Try a Google search</a>. :)</p>

<p>Dan</p>