On Friday i traveled to Yakima to cover the Chelan and Manson volleyball teams at the state tournament. It slips my mind over the summer months but shooting pictures at state tournaments is very different from local matches.

The good change is that lighting in state tournament sites is usually much brighter and so I can shoot at higher shutter speeds. But the huge downside is the restrictions the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association puts on news photographers.

At the volleyball match, news photographers were only permitted to sit or stand either behind the service line or behind the players along the side lines, and then only as close as ten feet from the net. A normal position throughout the season for me - so I can get reaction from the bench and photographs of players from the front side - is to be at the net behind the referee. But at the state level, that position was given exclusively to a contract photographer who sells images to players.

Some other examples:

Wrestling - In some matches you can sit anywhere around the mat but at others, you can only sit on one of two sides - depending on the official at the match.

Basketball - The normally open and best shooting locations near the corners of the floor are given to sponsors of the team and non-working referees who watch the game.

Football - Sidelines are only open for shooting from about the 30-yard-line to the end zones while during regular season games the run of the sideline is open.

Baseball/softball - A box is drawn for the photographer to sit or stand while during regular season games, a photographer can shoot from a team’s dugout or anywhere past the first or third base line.

It is all very frustrating.