Photo Day Organizer Job Description

This document describes the position of Photo Day Organizer (PDO) and includes a timeline of the activities that must be performed. This information has been written down so that this can serve as a training manual for future PDO's or PDO Assistants. The PDO can always be contacted at photos@montclairsoccer.org

The PDO makes all of the arrangements for the Montclair Soccer Club Photo Day. This includes:

The following sections describe each activity in detail.
Finding a Photographer
In 2005 we signed a a 3-year contract with Shooting Stars Productions. We will be using them again in 2006 and 2007. The terms of this contract allow us to have prime Photo Days (i.e. early September) and a small amount of sponsorship.

If you are happy with the photographer that was used the previous year, then it is usually easiest to use them again the next year.

When evaluating potential photographers, be sure to ask a lot of questions. Ask for samples of their work, including sample photo envelopes. Expect the following from the photography company:

  • 2 free team photos for each team (for the coaches)
  • photographs returned within 2 weeks
  • one free Make-Up Photo Day
  • no costs to the club

From 2000 to 2002, photos were taken by Gentile Enterprises. From 2003 to 2004, photos were taken by Shooting Stars Productions.

The photographer should be found by the end of March.

Photo Date
Scheduling the photo date can be tricky. Here are some of the constraints involved with picking a date:
  • Pick a Saturday so that families can have all of the soccer activities for the weekend completed in one day.
  • Don't pick a date that coincides with a religious holiday.
  • Don't pick a date that is so early in the season that the rosters of some teams may still be in flux.
  • Don't pick a date that is so late in the season that the photographs aren't delivered until the season is over. The players and their families usually prefer to be able to pick up the photos during one of the games or practices.
  • Since the photographer's availability is crucial, work with them to find an open date.
  • The 5th or 6th Saturday of the season is usually best for Photo Day. The first game of the season is usually the weekend after Labor Day. Typically, only the first 3 games are scheduled at the beginning of the season. Then, when the results are in, teams are re-flighted (so that the stronger teams play the stronger teams, and so forth). At this time, the schedule for the rest of the season is usually determined. However, it might not come out until the Friday before the 4th game.
After the Photo Day date is determined, the Photographers will usually require for some sort of contract to be signed.

The Photo Day date should be determined by the middle of April.

Photo Shoot Location
Photos for as far back as I can remember have been taken at Montera Middle School. Until 2003, they were taken on the asphalt next to the grass fields. In 2003, the fields were available so we took photos there. This worked out very well. In the future, we should try to schedule a grass field in advance (before the season begins and they have all been scheduled for games).

For the 2004 season, we used the U10-sized field at Merritt College. This was my first experience having Photo Dat at Merritt. Below are some suggestions from the Sherriff, passed on by Kim Bonacum, to consider should we hold them there again next year:

  • Call the school ahead of time that photos were being taken and they could communicate to the Sheriff that additional parking would be allowed (such as on the basketball courts).
  • Put out cones with no parking signs on all the illegal parking spaces to prevent parents from parking on the NO Parking areas (Such as the side of the road that leads up to the upper parking lot).

If there are no restroom facilities at the photo site, work with the Club leadership to arrange for portables for that day.

Regardless of where the photos are to be taken, if access to the area is through a gate that may be locked, make sure that the gates are unlocked early enough in the morning so that the photographers can get set up on time.

PDF and PEP Distribution
The Photo Envelopes are supplied by the photographers. Ideally, they will come bundled in sets appropriate for the sizes of most teams. Arrange with the Photographers to have these sometime during early August.

The easiest way to distribute these packages is to have the MSC Registrar distribute them to the coaches along with the rest of the paperwork for each team. Keep a few extra for those who misplace theirs later on.

Everything should be ready to deliver to the Registrar sometime in August.

Get Contacts for each team
The most difficult and time consuming task is to find out who to contact from each team. The contact is usualy referred to as the Team Photo Coordinator (TPC). I start by building a spreadsheet that has columns for:
  • Team code (example: M10G02)
  • Coach's name (last name, first name)
  • Coach's e-mail
  • TPC name
  • TPC phone
  • TPC e-mail
Initially, the TPC information is blank. The team code and coach names can usually be provided in spreadsheet-form by the Registrar. The e-mail addresses can be more difficult to obtain, but perhaps this will change with online registration. In the past I have scanned all of the teams listed on the JLYSL web site looking for those from the MSC and updated my spreadhseet with the e-mail information listed there.

I send an e-mail to each coach asking for contact information of their TPC. As this information arrives, I fill in the spreadsheet and build up a mailing list. After a couple of weeks has passed, I send out another message, this time to just those coaches for whom I still need a TPC. Eventually, for those teams without a TPC, you need to assume that the coach will be the TPC.

If there is an PDO Assistant, that person could take responsibility for some of the teams. The PDO Assistant would collect all the information necessary for each of their teams and provide it to the PDO. In the past, the PDO Assistant has collected information for the U8 teams.

Because this process is so time consuming, it is best to begin it the first week of the Fall season.

Photo Day Schedule
The Photographers schedule the teams for Photo Day. They must take into account the game times and, for traveling teams, how much travel time is required to get to the games. Before they can do this, the PDO must provide them with the list of teams and their game times. As soon as the game schedule for the weekend of Photo Day is determined, I fill in another column in the spreadsheet for game time.

Once I have all of the game times, I send the information off to the Photographers. They should be able to produce a schedule within 24-hours. By delivering the schedule as a spreadsheet, posting it to the MSC website is much easier.

Here are some observations related to scheduling:

  • The older teams are less likely to be interested in participating in Photo Day.
  • The Clippers team should know their game schedule for Photo Day the first week of games since they are not effected by the re-flighting. Send mail to the Clippers coaches as soon as the season begins asking for their game time and location and who will be their TPC.
  • Sometimes schools have fund-raising events, such as Walk-A-Thons, on Photo Day. When this is the case, expect some teams to ask for specific photo times.
  • Schedule change requests should all go directly to the Photographers.
  • The last weekend of the month is when the Clippers teams (Class 3) generally have their tournaments. If Photo Day is held on such a weekend, those Clippers teams participating in a tournament should have their pictures taken on the make-up day.

Determine the Photo Day schedule as soon as the game schedule is available.

Photo Day Setup
On the morning of Photo Day, the PDO gets up early and visits the site to make sure that the gates are unlocked. I try to get there before the photographers and greet them when they arrive. Usually, this is the only time where you will have face-to-face contact with the photographers. The Montera Field Coordinator might be there as well.

At Montera Middle School, we try to string ropes or cones to provide a safe pathway around the back of the school for pedestrians. Parking is very chaotic on Photo Day. It is important that cars are kept separate from the walking children.

Distributing the photos
In the past, the photographers have delivered the photos directly to the PDO. They are delivered in a number of boxes, with each team packaged together. The packages should be sorted by the coach's last name. Since I have a sheltered porch, I leave the boxes there so that people can pick them up at their convenience. Send e-mail to all of the TPC's letting them know that they can be picked up.

After about a week, check to see which team's photos have not yet been picked up. Send e-mail to those teams to remind them again that the photos are ready.