Glasgow Commonwealth games

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daztan

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Hi folks
I am looking for some advice.
Has anyone been to Glasgow for the commonwealth games? I have tickets and was hoping to take some shots (I have cat 1 tickets) but they say the rules say "all photographic equipment over 30cm in length, including tripods and monopods" will not be allowed.

So this gives me a little dilemma -
I have a 7D and a sigma 70-200 f2.8 and canon 100-400 and a canon 2x converter.
I have tried the converter on the sigma and it works - should it?
On the camera the sigma is almost upto 30 cms (12inches) with the converter it takes it over. The 100-400 (at 400) is over 12 inches (but not at 100)

What would people use?
Are these rules normal?
Would they take the camera off me or not allow me in.
I haven't seen anyone (on TV) use a slr?
Any suggestions

Many Thanks in advance.
 
they had the same or very similar rules for the 2012 games - there was lots of checking but no-one showed any interest in camera stuff - over different days I took a small tripod (for night shots) and a largish 80-200/2.8 lens without problems.
 
Your photos will be rubbish because your seats will be designed for watching the event not capturing it.

As another poster said, just go and enjoy watching the Games.
 
I went yesterday. I doubt they would worry about the size. The maximum size bag is supposed to be 12 x 9 x 9 ins. There were many much bigger bags and rucksacks going through. They are obviously more interested in dangerous content than size. The screening is done by police rather than staff or private contractors so their focus is very much about content rather than size.
Carrying any weight yesterday would have been another matter. We had booked Park and Ride some 9 miles from the stadium. Bookings were in 15 minute slots and we were the 4th or 5th slot. When we got there - no buses and the queue snaked round the car park in the rain. We were advised that buses were on the way but the drivers didn't know the route and had got lost. Lots of tweeting, phoning, and complaining. Eventually a large gaggle of buses turn up and we manage to get on one. Half an hour's driving later the bus pulls over and the driver speaks to some passengers at the front. He is lost. One of the passengers stands and gives him directions. Of course the passenger doesn't know the designated set down area. We get somewhere near the stadium and the driver pulls into a bus stop that is coned off scattering the cones in the process. We decamp and because of the system of channelling spectators to the stadium we have to walk what felt like the marathon course. It had taken over two hours from arriving at the car park to our seats.
 
inkiboo said:
Your photos will be rubbish because your seats will be designed for watching the event not capturing it.
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To be fair.... so are some of the photographic positions! Like the 'behind the posts' position at the rugby. Three rows back, behind a wall and high advertising boards. Then, when a team does a lap of honour, all the kids come down from the stand to get stuff signed/take photos/does bloody selfies!! which means we can't see half the dead ball zone. Missed several tried due to this last night. Utter joke.
 
Sounds like the same rules (as far as I can remember) as the Olympics in 2012, so to save hassle, I just took a compact superzoom with me.

I cant understand the people on here pretty much saying not to bother to be honest. Like the Olympics, this is an event that not everyone gets to experience very much, and I cant see the issue with someone wanting to take photos as mementos of their day. Id never been to an Olympics before 2012, and I doubt (unless there is another one in this country), that ill ever get to attend one again. What I do have, are some photos of a really enjoyable day. I managed to enjoy the games AND take photos :eek:
 
Just on the train back from the games - spectating not shooting .... cracking event. Had tickets for the Athletics on Thursday and Saturday night.. I have to say the whole city really has put on a fantastic games .. really great organisation with lots going on in the city ... Even managed to catch some of the road cycling before hopping not he train ... Felt for some of the photographers working their ass off in the rain last night ... proper miserable weather which seemed to also impact some of the competitors (Poll Vault especially) .... Looking forward to catching up with the shots over the coming days .. already a few stand outs filtering through .. my favourite so far is from Getty Photographer Alex Livesey ... "The Light Fantastic"
 
Trouble is Nigel, there are ;oads of great photographers who dont get great photos as they are herded with the masses, you could give a monkey a camera but provided he works for Getty he will get the pick of the best locations to shoot from, Diving springs to mind, Getty were given a cradle suspended from the roof above the 10mt board, no one else got that priveledge
 
With respect to my previous employers, none of the sports photographers are "monkeys" and better sports photographers than all but a few here.
 
inkiboo said:
With respect to my previous employers, none of the sports photographers are "monkeys" and better sports photographers than all but a few here.
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I didnt say a single one of them were Monkeys!!!! nor inferered that either, i just said that Getty get preference and if they did happen to employ a Monkey that Monkey would also get preference, im more than aware that to work for Getty your work needs to be of a more than acceptable standard but if you put an average shooter in that cradle above the 10mt board likelyhood is he will capture a great shot, mainly because it will be from a very unusual angle and totally different to what anyone else captures, like i say, its more about the preferential treatment and shooting positions than actual skill
 
Working for an agency in the lower tiers I regularly accept that the prized positions will go to the big boys - if I'm honest I originally had a mis-conception about some of the Getty photographers (for example) .. with the view that they were happy to turn up .. snap and go home. Over the past year however I've had that perception totally blown away ... I've seen first hand how hard they work (okay sure they may not need to wire pitch side etc) .. but most have not gotten to the top table by being average joe .... I'm a lover of all things photography .. I love the passion of other photographers and I've been blown away by the amount of work most of the guys I come across from the big agencies put in to stay there .... And for me it's always something to aspire to ... I guess if you asked most Sports photographers today an agency they would like to shoot for Getty would be up there ...(then they would be the ones dangling above the 10m board) ...
 
monkeyleader said:
Working for an agency in the lower tiers I regularly accept that the prized positions will go to the big boys - if I'm honest I originally had a mis-conception about some of the Getty photographers (for example) .. with the view that they were happy to turn up .. snap and go home. Over the past year however I've had that perception totally blown away ... I've seen first hand how hard they work (okay sure they may not need to wire pitch side etc) .. but most have not gotten to the top table by being average joe .... I'm a lover of all things photography .. I love the passion of other photographers and I've been blown away by the amount of work most of the guys I come across from the big agencies put in to stay there .... And for me it's always something to aspire to ... I guess if you asked most Sports photographers today an agency they would like to shoot for Getty would be up there ...(then they would be the ones dangling above the 10m board) ...
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A case in point look in the Times! A fantastic creative image!, well done Alex :)
 
Alex Whitehead is doing some good stuff for SWPix since Vaughan left to go back to Canada, he was just another good RL photographer but since going full time under Simon his work has massivly improved and he's almost as good as Vaughan was, big things ahead for Alex but he might need to break from SWPix to acheive it

http://simonwilkinson.photoshelter....4-July-2014/G0000RoPXdf3oGq4/I0000RuQIckk7X9I

http://simonwilkinson.photoshelter....6-July-2014/G0000.QW23d68rOM/I00003gZzg9K4Tgg

http://simonwilkinson.photoshelter....01-Aug-2014/G0000UvLTEAiZltM/I0000HEGNyZxAqOk
 
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Gary Coyle said:
Trouble is Nigel, there are ;oads of great photographers who dont get great photos as they are herded with the masses, you could give a monkey a camera but provided he works for Getty he will get the pick of the best locations to shoot from, Diving springs to mind, Getty were given a cradle suspended from the roof above the 10mt board, no one else got that priveledge
Click to expand...


The shot quoted ( http://t.co/806HDlN1h3 ) isn't from a pool position. It's a photographer using his brain, skill and judgement of the light to produce a stunning photo that any photographer in the stadium could have got.

Alex just had the brains to put it all together. And for what it's worth, I reckon that the shot would have been picked up whether or not it was from a subscription. It's an image that needs to be used large & all credit to the Times for using wraps again.
 
The "prized positions will go to the big boys" also because the big boy at these events are the official photographers. Don`t know if this is the case for the Commonwealth games, but football, rugby, cricket world cup they are.
At the rugby final in 2011 getty had a couple on top the stadium roof.
 
Oh a ne whilst I'm at it, Getty were the official photography partners of the a games. They had 14 photographers working including 4 dedicated to producing images specifically for the Organising Committee rather than editorial use.
That's why they had positions and remotes where no other pool agency did. The blokes on the ground also worked their arses off.
Say what you like about their business methods but there's a reason that they win bids like this, and its not because they put in the cheapest tender ( that was another well known wire agency).
 
Fecking hell, NO ONE has slagged off Getty photographers and NO ONE has said the photo isn't a great one and NO ONE has questioned their methods, it is what it is, Getty get time to put themselves in positions like that photo was taken from simply because they were mob handed and had "spare" guys looking for he arty type shots, do you think if they only had one photographer covering that race he would have been high up in the stand, no, he would have been at or around the finish line like the rest

Its exactly the same with the big RL finals here, SWPix are the RFL official photographers, week in week out they cover 1 maybe 2 games with just 1 photographer but come the Grand Final of Challenge Cup Final they have 3/4 guys working the event, 2 covering the actual game and 2 looking for that "something different" shot.

Out if interest SWPix covered the Commonwealth games with just 1 guy Alex Whitehead and looking at what he covered he must have worked 20 hours a day.
 
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It's a middle/long distance Gary. Plenty of time to shoot that and still get to the finish.
 
DemiLion said:
It's a middle/long distance Gary. Plenty of time to shoot that and still get to the finish.
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Possibly, but possibly not, do you seriously think Getty would leave it to chance and just have a solitary guy there, no, me neither.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Possibly a bit of zoom in the mix as well, its not your usual thing though
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I'd have guessed a L-to-R pan plus a bit of zoom - but there doesn't appear to be any zoom effect at all on the riders.

Two shots combined perhaps.
 
I'm thinking it might just be a L-to-R pan with UWA or even a fisheye lens.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Out if interest SWPix covered the Commonwealth games with just 1 guy Alex Whitehead and looking at what he covered he must have worked 20 hours a day.
Click to expand...

Think they had at least two. Two Alex's. Alex Whitehead and Alex Broadway.
 
You're right mate, just checked, tend to just see the first name and assume its the Alex i know (Whitehead) as he's Simons full timer.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Fecking hell, NO ONE has slagged off Getty photographers and NO ONE has said the photo isn't a great one and NO ONE has questioned their methods, it is what it is, Getty get time to put themselves in positions like that photo was taken from simply because they were mob handed and had "spare" guys looking for he arty type shots, do you think if they only had one photographer covering that race he would have been high up in the stand, no, he would have been at or around the finish line like the rest

Its exactly the same with the big RL finals here, SWPix are the RFL official photographers, week in week out they cover 1 maybe 2 games with just 1 photographer but come the Grand Final of Challenge Cup Final they have 3/4 guys working the event, 2 covering the actual game and 2 looking for that "something different" shot.

Out if interest SWPix covered the Commonwealth games with just 1 guy Alex Whitehead and looking at what he covered he must have worked 20 hours a day.
Click to expand...

My previous employer only has one chap at the Commonwealth Games and he had exactly the same shot as discussed, from up high in the stand :)
 
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