It was a cracking night, with plenty of opportunities for me to show myself up on the dancefloor, only with a little less energy and ability than I used to! Glyn looked the part completely, right down to the purple checkered bumflap. I, on the other hand, looked like Dennis The Menace during his troublesome teenage years....
On to Sunday's game....
It had come to light during the week that the Manchester Phoenix organisation, fresh from the successes of winning the EPL Championship title the previous weekend, were facing problems away from the ice. The problems in particular took the form of what we'll class as 'knock-off merchandise', with a couple of entrepreneurial souls deciding to cash in with a small range of products that the Club hadn't approved and had no revenue from. Fellow photographer Lauren Freeman and myself were informed by the Club management that some of our photos (amongst others) had been used on the merchandise, and that one of the supporters in the stands had been taking photos and selling them on to a merchandising company. As a result, the Club went into damage limitation mode, protecting its image rights and trying to stop the knock-offs. I won't bore you all with the details, but suffice to say that after hours on the phone during the week, the photographers were called to a meeting before Sunday' game.
Now, before I go on, let me say that since joining the Phoenix as a photographer, I have repeatedly said that we need to have a proper structure in place for the outputting of images from the photography pool. Other teams have a photo gallery on their websites, but this is something that we don't have. Our routes of distribution for photos aren't clearly defined, the infrastructure just isn't in place. Other clubs photographers have their own Flickr feeds, and so do we, but the infrastructure at Club level just hasn't come about fully yet. It is needed, it always has been, and this recent episode with the unauthorised merchandise has highlighted this. Lauren and I have talked on the subject several times, and we're both in agreement that a distribution system is essential. But until that system is fully developed, we've been publishing our shots on our Flickr feeds. The supporters love the shots, the players love the shots, and there's no problem with that. The shots are watermarked, they're copyrighted, and the ability to download them is removed. So in that respect we're doing all we can to make sure they're not nicked and used without authorisation. But alas it's not just us who are shooting at games, and when a fan in the stands sells their shots on to a third party, there are going to be repercussions. Expect changes next season, ladies and gentlemen, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what one of those changes will be...
The actions of the minority have certainly ruined it for those who want nothing more than to shoot their team and share in the photos, who seek to publicise the club and not hurt it, who want to see more people coming to games and don't want to see people ripped off. I think it's fair to say that in terms of the outside world, very few people have given a damn about this team all season, but once there's a trophy won, a title claimed, and a little press coverage, everyone wants a piece.
Anyway, the meeting happens. Without going into details, it doesn't go particularly well on all fronts. Certainly, the need for infrastucture review is the forefront, and that's great, it's what I've been saying all along. The need for fairness in photo distribution is recognised, the need for a proper system is agreed by all sides. We're all coming from the same angle, we're all on the same side, the same team, but the concerns of all parties can't be worked through in an impromptu meeting at the rink before a game. Knee-jerk measure are brought in, which instantly limit the processes that we normally enjoy the freedoms of. The phrase "We don't really want you to upload anything yourselves from tonight's game" doesn't go down well with Lauren and myself. We can submit pics for the match report but that's it. No self publishing outside of a maximum of five or six shots, that's all the Club will allow.
So, Lauren and I head down to the bench to shoot the warm up. The mood on the ice is great, the players are happy, they've just won the league and are going into the second leg of the Quarter Finals with a 6-2 lead over the Steeldogs, but the mood on the bench is far from happy. Both of us are feeling like we've been sent to the naughty corner, regardless of the intentions of the meeting, and neither of us are feeling much like shooting anything much. I tried to generate the enthusiasm to shoot, and to be honest the appearance of James Neil did help. James was proudly showing off his Play-Off 'tache and was keen to have a photo taken, so I duly obliged!
After the warm up, it was time to head to the stands. I kept my camera ready, but the enthusiasm was still completely gone. After half-heartedly shooting for a few minutes at the start of the game, I decided that it was time for a night off. I kept the camera out just in case Andrew Sharp got his hands on Kriss Grundmanis, but since that didn't happen the camera pretty much got a night off too. I did however spot something that made me smile, and I duly snapped off a few shots to make sure I'd captured it. Lauren is an old friend of Steeldogs coach Andre Payette, from when he played with us last season, and during the second period the pair of them caught up with each other on the stairs opposite my seat:
I daresay that that particular moment was the highlight of Lauren's evening!
With the 'ban' on self-publishing and the frankly non-existent enthusiasm for shooting on Sunday, there's no album of shots from the game. Phoenix went on to comfortably beat the Steeldogs and secure a place in this coming weekend's Semi-Final game against Milton Keynes in Coventry. I'll be there, camera in hand, shooting like there's no tomorrow. I won't be there as an official Phoenix photographer, as the EPL only allows one snapper per club and Nick's got the accreditation for this event, but instead I'll be there as a supporter, shooting from my seat through the netting (which is always fun). It's going to be Yol's first Play-Offs, it's also going to be my friend Jim's birthday, and I'm determined to have a weekend of fun, hockey, and shooting like a man possessed!
Since the weekend, there has been more time spent on the phone with the Club, and the mood is a little more positive now. But there's a lot of work to be done, a lot of restructuring to take place, and a lot more procedural polishing to happen before all parties are fairly looked after, protected, and coordinated.
In the absence of a hockey gallery this week, instead here's a photo of Lucy in a bag from after the game. She really does choose the most uncomfortable places to find comfort!:
There's a saying that goes "Don't let the cat out of the bag", but frankly when she's nodding off on a pile of school books, sometimes you've got to go against popular wisdom!
Definitely, the highlight of the night.
ReplyDeleteI think the situation was handled all wrong and turning on your own staff isn't the way to go. Berating people like that might work in the locker room but alas, we are not hockey players so it had the complete opposite effect on us. Nothing really was gained and I'm guessing there is a small amount of photographs from that game. I took an amazing 7!
You are both amazing photographers and I have loved buying the programmes to see which photographs have made it on to the cover, or in articles. Sounds to me that somebody somewhere (apart from me!)is a bit green-eyed!
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