Back in harness again shooting pro sports in Toronto. Our NBA, MLS and MLB teams all relocated their home games to Florida or New York (MLB) the past two seasons. Only had NHL hockey to shoot in that time with last season being only Canadian teams (7) playing one another with the border closed.
In July, things began to change and the teams migrated home. Since returning, I've shot baseball, MLS and the men's pro tennis tour event. By far, the best run event was the tennis. Absolutely buttoned down protocols for media. Had to show record of full vaccination, get tested every other day and fill out daily questionnaire in order to keep your chip-embedded credential valid. Miss out on daily duties and the pass is nullified.
Baseball's a joke. Media need proof of double jabs in order to attend games. Fans? Pfff. Anyone can get a ticket. A hoard of mouth breathers bellowing away with no masks on, sitting in close proximity to where we photograph and where the players benches are.
MLS is pretty lax, too. We have one colleague who won't get vaccinated and has shot two games. Don't want to be in the room with him. Happily, most of the pro teams in Toronto - and Canada - have announced that anyone attending must be fully vaccinated. Our colleague has just plunked down several tens of thousands of dollars to switch his camera gear over to the new Sony mirrorless system (20 frames per second) and now can't use it unless he gets jabbed. Arrivederci, bello.
Nice, do you shoot for the press as well as hobbies then?