Friday 29 April 2011

Cameras banned from Olympics... no they're not... er...

Did you apply for tickets to see the shooting at the London 2012 Olympics? If you get lucky, it seems you will be able to take a camera - just a small one, mind. Without a flash. And don't think you'll cover the price of your ticket by flogging pictures to the shooting magazines.

The media office of LOCOG, the organising committee for the games, has been leading Amateur Photographer magazine a merry dance over their 'guidelines', first telling them that even compact cameras with powerful zoom lenses would be banned, then retracting it and blaming one of their PR team for making a mistake: "She got confused. She is not a camera expert."

The latest official statement is that the guidelines are still under discussion, but "Like many other large sporting events and previous Games, one possibility is that there may be restrictions around spectators using large (in size) lenses and tripods, simply because of the impact this can have on the viewing experience for other spectators sitting close by."

There has also been a suggestion that flash photography may be banned at certain events, including shooting.

As for making any money from selling photos from the event, sports photographer Bob Martin, who is head of photography for London 2012, said: "Ticket conditions will say that pictures cannot be used commercially – that's no different to any other sporting event."


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