FIBA says "no photos"

uncx1

I recently attened the FIBA world basketball championships in Japan and I was told that I was not allowed to take photos inside. After consulting somebody who worked for FIBA they not only couldn't tell me why this is a rule and went as far to say that I could not even take a photo of MYSELF inside the gym.

Anyone got any ideas why FIBA would have such a rule??? I mean let's be honest, it is not like FIBA has the recognition of FIFA or even the NBA throughout the world so wouldn't any free publicity be good for them? I mean security guards were even yelling at small children asking them to stop taking photos...Maybe I just care more because I am a photographer, but at the same time, if when I was a child (or if my child) was told they couldn't take photos of their favorite player (even during warm ups or after the game) after I had dropped about 50-100 bucks on a ticket, I would def leave with at bad taste in my mouth.

Any ideas on this one?

Shay Stephens

Greed, plain and simple.

uncx1

yeah i guess greed.... but let's say I take some photos from my seat and sell some photos, does that really hurt FIBA at all?? do they lose money?? to me I just see it as being helpful to them if photos of FIBA games are being circulated...

mercphoto

uncx1 wrote:

yeah i guess greed.... but let's say I take some photos from my seat and sell some photos, does that really hurt FIBA at all?? do they lose money?? to me I just see it as being helpful to them if photos of FIBA games are being circulated...

The same argument could be said of any of our photos getting cicrulated, such as on MySpace, etc., through piracy. Doesn't it help us photographers to have the exposure? Does it really hurt us at all? In the end it is their sand box and their rules. They don't have to be justified. They don't even have to make sense.

uncx1

mercphoto wrote:

The same argument could be said of any of our photos getting cicrulated, such as on MySpace, etc., through piracy. Doesn't it help us photographers to have the exposure? Does it really hurt us at all? In the end it is their sand box and their rules. They don't have to be justified. They don't even have to make sense.

i agree it is thier sand box and their rules, and if my photos are being circulated on myspace or other sites I don't really care as long as I am getting credit for it, bc like you (and I said) the circulation leads to exposure. Now if somebody is selling my photographs, of course that is a different story; however, selling somebody elses work (photographs) is different to me then selling your own work that you made at somebody else's "sand box."

Jeffro

try selling shots from a major league baseball game, comercially, without getting permission. their "sandbox". why should you, or i, or anyone, profit off of someone else...for free? you don't want someone else selling your pictures, they don't want someone else selling pictures of them. simple really.

uncx1

Jeffro wrote:

try selling shots from a major league baseball game, comercially, without getting permission. their "sandbox". why should you, or i, or anyone, profit off of someone else...for free? you don't want someone else selling your pictures, they don't want someone else selling pictures of them. simple really.

so what is the difference between somebody from the press taking photos and selling them and a fan taking photos from the stands and keeping them for themselves or even selling them? if they allow press to take photos, why can fans not do the same?

i think there is a HUGE difference btwn selling your photos as mine and selling my photos i took of an event.

but selling photos aside...the fact remains that I have never been told not to take photos from the stands at any sporting event, NBA, NCAA, MLB, NFL.... maybe I haven`t been to enough games as a fan, but FIBA is the only time that myself and little kids were told that they couldnt take photos by security guards.

Jeffro

uncx1 wrote:

so what is the difference between somebody from the press taking photos and selling them and a fan taking photos from the stands and keeping them for themselves or even selling them?

editorial....commercial.

even a shot, that a beginner takes at a major league baseball game (for example), if good enough, can be sold for editorial purposes without permission of MLB, but try selling the pic commercially, and watch out.

the advent of the internet, and sites like smugmug, may have made some event organizers realize the potential of event photo sales, therefore they may limit the number of photogs that are allowed to shoot their event, and are able to get a cut of the sales.

uncx1

Jeffro wrote:

editorial....commercial.

even a shot, that a beginner takes at a major league baseball game (for example), if good enough, can be sold for editorial purposes without permission of MLB, but try selling the pic commercially, and watch out.

the advent of the internet, and sites like smugmug, may have made some event organizers realize the potential of event photo sales, therefore they may limit the number of photogs that are allowed to shoot their event, and are able to get a cut of the sales.

yeah deep down i know you are right... i guess to be honest i am just bitter from usually being on the sidelines and nobody telling me what i can and cannot take photos of and as a fan it was the first time being told that i couldnt take photos. still think it is bs tho!

Jeffro

uncx1 wrote:

still think it is bs tho!

i never said i liked it either......:D concerts are notorius for not allowing photo's. i once went to a KISS concert and they were taking the film out of cameras as people entered, unless they turned around and went back to their car with it. Yes I said film...it was a "few" years ago.

uncx1

Jeffro wrote:

i never said i liked it either......:D concerts are notorius for not allowing photo's. i once went to a KISS concert and they were taking the film out of cameras as people entered, unless they turned around and went back to their car with it. Yes I said film...it was a "few" years ago.

haha, yeah concerts are really stricht about that. for some reason tho, concerts doesnt bother me as much as this tho. not sure why. anyway, FIBA didnt stop me from getting atleast one good shot.

mercphoto

uncx1 wrote:

i agree it is thier sand box and their rules, and if my photos are being circulated on myspace or other sites I don't really care as long as I am getting credit for it, bc like you (and I said) the circulation leads to exposure.

I wasn't clear in my phrasing. I wasn't actually agreeing with you. I was putting up a counter-point from the photographer's prespective. Photographers like to control the use of their photographs for a variety of reasons. And circulation w/o compensation but "with credits" for the purpose of "exposure" is often not as valuable as people would beleive it to be. The league may be taking a similar stance with fan photography.

Sorry, but recent direct experiences of mine with a commercial client over the past 18 months on this topic has soured me. I don't put much value in "exposure" any longer.