(I’ve moved this almost unchanged from my Helsinki daily photo blog because this is more about photography than about Helsinki)
UEFA WOMEN’S EURO 2009 is not doing a very good job communicating the fans whether we can take photos in the matches or not. They are unfortunately not the only event organizers who have trouble communicating the paying customers what is allowed and what isn’t. The UEFA photography story is different
- when buying the ticket (photography allowed)
- when reading the ticket (photography not allowed)
- when entering the stadium (photography allowed but not with a DSLR )
- DSLRs are used by many hobbyists like me and professionals
- DSLR = järjestelmäkamera in Finnish
I don’t think this is acceptable. An experienced organization like UEFA should have a firm opinion about this years before the games! Those who are not interested in the details can skip to the last paragraph to see my main point.
While the event’s official website provides a lot of good information to many different stakeholders, football fans have to read a long and difficult to find legal mambojambo to see whether umbrellas or cameras are allowed inside the stadium. Would you really want all of us to email or phone you to ask whether item x is allowed?
Since UEFA wants to mambo with the fans, let’s mambo: Photography for private use is allowed (see 8.2 in the mambojambo) and the long and detailed list of prohibited items (see 7, e.g. they have defined how tall a flagpole can be) does not include anything about DSLRs or even about cameras. But when you reach the stadium, you learn that UEFA has given conflicting instructions to the security despite promises of updating the mambojambo (see 15.2) and mentioning that the mambojambo prevails if there is a conflict with the rules in force at the stadium (see 7.6).
I didn’t go there to take photos of the game but to enjoy the game. I had a DSLR mainly to take photos of the athmosphere outside the stadium for this blog. I have a DSLR with me practically always. For sports I would have taken a bigger DSLR and bigger lenses but they would have disturbed other spectators. UEFA’s big sponsor MasterCard is right when they say that the moments inside the stadium are priceless and naturally I would have also taken a few snaps from the game. Just like the many compact camera owners who now have their priceless memories also as photos.
One of the good things was that the head of security at my gate was both professional and pragmatic. They also had thought about what to do with the “prohibited” items so that people could still enter the stadium and go home with their stuff. DSLR stuff is just a bit expensive to be left in the care of strangers.
My untaken photos are a minor issue here. In the future I expect that UEFA and other event organizers clearly and correctly communicate the most common prohibited items before the event. Photography is not an issue that comes as a surprise for the organizers at the gate! If photography is not prohibited, it is allowed. If DSLRs are not explicitly prohibited, I’m going to record my memories with a DSLR in the future as well. I prefer clear memories over fuzzy memories.
1 Response to “You Can Take Photos at UEFA EURO 2009 Football. No you can’t! Yes you can, maybe….”