All should be outraged by IHSA photo restrictions

Lots of capital letters in any story often cause my eyes to glaze over. Much of what happens between big groups often has nothing to do with those of us just living our lives in the suburbs.

But don't make the mistake of overlooking the recent lawsuit filed by the Illinois Press Association against the Illinois High School Association. This is something that affects any of you whose children participate in school activities.

It affects others as well. This lawsuit is about whether the IHSA has the right to control photographs taken at state events. As of now, the group restricts use and re-sale of photos taken by journalists at these events to those printed in traditional newspapers.

But part of the justification of doing so is that professional sports associations do the same thing. I, as a taxpayer and parent of Illinois students, would like to announce to the IHSA -- which, it seems, should be working in the best interests of our children -- that my children are not professional anything and I'd prefer to keep it that way.

The creep of everything in life going lower and lower each year has got to stop somewhere and this is as good a place as any to start.

High school events are not professional sports. The children and young adults who participate are not paid to do so and their parents -- and, by proxy, the newspapers whose photographers can get close enough to take great photos -- should be able to do so without restriction.

Someone I respect enormously -- Sue Schmitt, publisher of the State Journal-Register in Springfield -- was quoted in the Daily Herald's editorial about the subject. She said, "The high school sports we cover, to me, is something we do for the community and definitely not something we do as a financial windfall for us."

The papers want to be able to provide readers with what they know we want -- coverage of high school activities. The IHSA, as a public, non-profit entity, should understand and encourage that, not restrict it.

My own recent encounter with this subject enhances my outrage. Last spring, as I wrote at the time, my son was on a high school team that went to state.

This is a long-hoped-for and never truly expected event in any family's experience and, of course, the photo opportunities are precious.

(OK, anyone who knows me is laughing at this point. I find precious photo-taking opportunities on a daily basis, but I'm talking normal people, not camera addicts, here.)

Many of us took photos from the stands before, during and after the games. But at this indoor event, when my son and his team were being honored at the quintessential moment of Americana -- the medal stand, where each boy had a medal placed over his head -- the lights in the gymnasium were turned off.

Turned off.

I was dumbfounded. It was too late to re-situate myself closer and, indeed, there was no available place to stand near the ceremony in the dark, except for the "official" photographer.

There was one light on, where the "official" photographer stood and took photos of the boys on the stand, and of the group as they held their trophy. I took photos, but they are very dark and somewhat blurry; the best I could manage on short notice with a long lens.

The only consolation was I assumed I'd eventually be offered these photos at some exorbitant price. The kicker was, while many photos were available at a hefty cost online, none from the medal stand were even there. Perhaps even the "official" photographer didn't get any usable photos under those lighting conditions.

Whether the local photojournalists got any photos of the boys on the medal stand, I don't know, because the use of their photos is restricted.

I was and am appalled at a public entity whose non-profit purpose is to "regulate interscholastic competition in 13 sports for girls, 13 sports for boys and seven non-athletic activities."

Moreover, the IHSA board consists of taxpayer-paid (at least the public school ones) principals of the 750 public and private schools who are members.

I know from comments received from parents whose boys were on my son's team that all most parents want is a simple photo of their child at the final moments of a state competition. Doesn't seem to be too much to ask.

Let this public group know how you feel about them regulating the photographic opportunities of your, or any, children.