Monday, May 23, 2011

Lights....Cameras.....Action.....

In life it is unfortunate that one bad apple can spoil the bunch.

After 10 long weeks of shooting and over 6000 images taken, edited, printed and matted, our gang of shooters, editors and sellers are damn glad to be finished.  We have a 1 month break until the next event giving us time to recharge not just the batteries but the souls as well.
For some people photography is easy, for others it offers a basic click of the index finger and poof there it is.
For the action sports shooter life is fast and furious, constantly moving with the game shooting angles and positions that the average mom and pop can't get with their cameras. Shooting 6 year old's playing soccer football might just be the hardest thing I have attempted, like shooting a pack of mini hyenas all chasing a ball. Trying to separate individuals for re-sale is bloody impossible.

The last  two weeks of the season we set up a sales booth at the fields to sell our action shots, the feedback was overwhelmingly good and the only complaint we had was that parents wanted more pictures.

We received a call at the shop on Monday from a mother of a boy in the league, she said the she was not at the game on Saturday so her father went with her son and he bought the action shots of his grandson. He was waiting for the match to start and was approached by a father who asked where he got the pictures. "Over there by the massive tent with the signs that say ACTION SHOTS SOLD HERE TODAY!" According to the grandpa the man wandered over to our tent to look at the pictures of his son. A bit later on the grandpa saw the man and asked him if he bought any pictures, the man told the grandpa the the action shots of his boy were very good but instead of buying them he pulled them off to the side and took cell phone pictures of them. The grandpa was well disgusted with the other man but unfortunately he bit his tongue not wanting to start any trouble. Later that night the grandpa was so upset that he called his daughter and told her to pass the story on to us.

well well well..... after standing in the heat and taking action shots of over 600 children from March to May I was furious, my wife was disappointed and my father (Who is one of our shooters) was on the brink of violence (Old school Dundee) We were all there on closing day but the thief was not.....lucky pilferer.
Dad promised me he would not violate this bastard in front of 600 children and I don't know what I would have done to him.
Times are tough I know, we ended up giving away hundreds of dollars worth of product to people who bought just a little and If asked I would have given the thief a discount if needed. This bastard so boldly took from me and my family not some giant corporation. I have 2 kids in this league and I missed most of their games this season so I could be out there shooting action of other children. While my 2 boys played at one end of the complex I was shooting at the other end, I know that this is not  the end of the world and the revenue lost is not life altering but the thought of someone taking from me just paces away from my position irks me to the point of violence..... So here it is, we have about a month before we shoot again and will spend much of that time finding out who you are, then I will give you the real professional action shots gratis, how does that sound? Then you can explain to your son where the other pics came from.
I kind of promise to keep my fists by my side since I need them in a month or so. Good luck thief......I make you no such promise if my father catches you before I do.


Ray, the 70 year old ref can still run all day.


This kid played with boys twice her size but gave away nothing. A future star.
Float Like A Butterfly Sting Like A Bee






28 comments:

  1. That last picture is truly amazing!!!!

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  2. Some people are unbelievable.

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  3. OT - thanks
    Lurker - the world is littered with assholes..

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  4. The nerve of some people!!! Let your dad at him, I say.

    Love the look of effortless concentration of that young lady's face. ;-)

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  5. Pon - Pops is on the case, the wee lass is the daughter of the coach and will be a star someday.
    cheers...

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  6. Beautiful shots.

    Do NOT give him the photo! In your mind, you will think he's feeling shame. We all would. But to him, it'll feel like a reward for being crafty. Don't do it.

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  7. I love taking pictures, but I don't think I could be a professional. I like to do things MY way and in My time!

    I won't give an opinion of what to do if you see this guy...just remember that Karma (I call it God) always evens things out!

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  8. that sense of entitlement rankles me to the core! as if he was almost proud that he scammed you!

    but your photos are amazing. as a former football coach for my son's teams, i would have LOVED to have had this available for the kids... lifetime memories! caught on film. or pixels...

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  9. UB - Shame that people like this are able to procreate!!!!

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  10. Bettyl - Karma is my father and he carries a big stick. By the way I love your shooting....keep it up
    Sausage.

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  11. Daisy - the grandpa was bristled at the pride of the father as if he had accomplished something worthy of fatherhood. Thanks for the compliments it makes it worthwhile.
    cheers, Sausage...

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  12. In a way I feel sorry for that guy. I mean what kind of childhood did he have, what kind of people does he mix with, what kind of life must someone have to make them feel depriving someone else of their livelihood is an admirable thing to do?

    If I were you I'd hand him a photograph with a flourish and say as loudly as possible: "If you'd told me you were so broke you had to steal I'd have given you this earlier. Let me know if I can help you with anything else, we have some spare cans of peas at home." Or something.

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  13. Eryl - we gave away hundreds of dollars worth of product and I would have gladly pulled this man aside and offered him a deal if necessary, now he is on the wrong side of our charity. I wish his children luck in the future and hope they do not emulate their father.

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  14. The photographs are quite ravishing.
    Don't waste your time and energy even thinking about the thief. What goes around comes around and he will get his desserts - without custard.

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  15. Pat - I guess you call that KARMA sans custard
    cheers...

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  16. That's shocking SF.

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  17. Mike - shocking indeed...

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  18. so, i read this to the MITM and showed him your photos and his reaction? same as your da's! we both agree with Ub on this one, don't give the guy (or as the MITM said, "fucking asshole") a thing, he has no shame! BUT, you are stellar! xoxoxox

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  19. Sav - thanks, I just feel bad for the bairn that the asshole is raising, what type of man will he turn out to be. A con man I guess.
    Cheers, Sausage...

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  20. Send the auld man round to dish out some Dundonian justice.

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  21. I know a couple of baldies you can hire to keep thieves away from the next shoot! :¬)

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  22. Map - gather the hoardes and bring some Celtic justice to the thieving soccer dads of America....

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  23. Ahh! Finally back to the commenting world!

    Hello, Sausage!

    Digging your response to Map. :-) There are some "sporting" parents out there that I wouldn't mind seeing getting shoved around...

    Pearl

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  24. Pearl - Yup it's been a while but glad to be
    back.
    Dads living their own sporting failures through their bairns - not cool...
    Cheers, Sausage.

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  25. I wouldn't give him a picture... I'd take his picture... post it here... then give him the link... tell him he's found fame; he seems self important enough to believe it... that'll be the second post of yours I'll comment on :)

    Nice photos, cool blog!

    Found you on Best Posts of the Week by the way...

    -Scoop

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  26. Scoop - nice one, it's worth a shot.

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  27. AWESOME photos!

    You must ask Ray, for me....how does he stay so damn youthful?

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  28. Boobies - he told me he eats bacon and eggs for breakfast then nothing the rest of the day. He finishes up the evening with several glasses of whisky. I tried the diet for a while but I accomplished nothing - wife not amused, children ignored and bathroom scale in need of new batteries. It must be the fact that he refs about 10 games a week.....
    cheers(hiccup)Sausage...

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