World Cup 2014 - lessons learned

I've had ample time to take stock following my adventures in Brazil, and have decided to jot down a few of the lessons I learned before, during and after the 2014 World Cup. OK, it's a bit more like a multi-volume reference, but who knows, someone might find it useful in 2018. Being my first World Cup I thought I knew roughly what to expect, but in reality I wasn't even close. I've tried to divide this into logical sections, so here goes:Preparation

• Commit wholeheartedly to your World Cup mission. Late in 2013 I was thinking "should I really do it" as it is a big commitment from a time and money perspective, but then sanity descended and I realised that I had the opportunity, many would kill me and jump on my body to be in my shoes, and it was possible I'd never have the opportunity again. Carpe diem! Imagine saying to your kids, grandkids or mates "yeah, I could have gone but I couldn't be arsed" - oh the shame of it! If you can't commit to it with everything you've got, don't go any further.
• Start your preparation early. Unless you are working for a larger agency, you will not have your FIFA accreditation confirmed, so it is likely you will have to take a risk on booking flights and accommodation without knowing if you are going to be accredited.
• Most hotels and flights will be non-refundable for the duration of the tournament. By taking a punt and booking my flights early in December 2013 I knew I had one of the big variables nailed down. I knew I'd be covering England for the group stages, so booked the international flights and the domestic ones. It is possible I could have saved some money by booking really close to the flight dates, but would you want to risk that? No way. Book early and get it out of the way.
• Use AirBnB for your main accommodation base if possible (assuming you'll have a main base). It will be much cheaper than a hotel, but be selective. Make sure you work out if your host is a nutter or not. Mine were brilliant. Also AirBnB hold your payment in escrow should anything go wrong so that's another worry out of the way. Book it EARLY! I found it really good having a main base in Rio as I could then cover the flyaway matches with just hand luggage.
• Do your research on where to stay. Don't end up too far out of town that you're spending lots of money on taxis. If following England, find out where there training base is and be near there.
• FIFA Media Hotels can be a bit pricey, but you should have the benefit of the media bus to/from the stadium - good for flyaway matches.
• Aim to get your flights & hotels booked 6 months ahead or more. It's simply a load off your mind and two less things to worry about. I did manage to get hotel rooms and luxo-coaches booked with just a couple of days notice in Brazil, but don't rely on that.
• Find other photographers who are going and get to know them. You can save a lot of money by sharing rooms, taxis, beds (!) etc, and it's brilliant having a mate with you when exploring unfamiliar places. Talk to people who have been there before - a revelation on this trip was the excellent luxo-bus services between Brazilian cities - I could have covered more matches and saved money on flights if I'd known about this beforehand.
• Keep all your emails, ticket confirmations, hotel bookings etc in a place that you can get to regardless of where you are. I use Microsoft OneNote, but you could use Google Docs or similar. By doing this I could get at any detail of my trip on my phone, tablet, laptop or any computer, and using the offline sync facility I could see everything even when not connected to the internet. As your research progresses, keep adding snippets to your archive as there's so much to remember if you don't write it down you'll forget it.
• Make a list of stuff to take and add things as you think of them. Ensure you take a steel cable and padlocks!
• Do you need a visa? Is your passport up to date and valid for long enough. Do you need injections/immunisations? Are there specific customs controls for those taking in lots of valuable camera gear?
• Get loads of movies, box sets and music onto a small tablet for use on planes, buses or wherever.

Accreditation

• The FIFA accreditation process is a bit daunting if you've never gone through it before. I had to call FIFA a number of times to check on my application progress.
• Ensure your agency (if you are working for one) has all the necessary documents and backup info for the accreditation request.
• As I was going to be managing my own match requests, I did all the accreditation legwork but your agency may do this for you. I enjoyed doing it myself and it also ensured I knew how to book matches and where to look for news, the calendar etc.
• All accreditation is done online on the FIFA Media Channel.
• Firstly your agency needs to be approved on the FIFA Media Channel so you get a login. Once you have that you can then start to request accreditation for the tournament. FIFA check each agency's application to confirm it is a bona-fide media organisation. Also note it is your agency that get accreditation, not you as the photographer so the agency can send a different photographer if they need to.
• Focus Images' accreditation was confirmed in January. We had a few scary moments when I couldn't see any progress online, and as a first time for me and my agency we didn't quite know what to expect. The FIFA media guys in Switzerland were great though and happy to take a phone call or three and talk me through it.
• Once your accreditation comes through, print out multiple copies of the email and the accreditation details - you will need it when you arrive in-country and it's handy for blagging more hand luggage allowance on the way in.
• The FIFA Media Channel will have loads of really good into in it, including details of all host cities, culture, transport, hotels and so on. Very valuable is the FIFA calendar which says who is playing who when, what press events are on etc, and you can subscribe to this and get daily email updates.
• Match accreditation is done through the Media Channel. You can only apply for matches when both teams playing are known. This means that initially you can only apply for the Group games. The knockout games can be applied for once both teams are confirmed, usually on that evening. The Media Channel will be clear about how long accreditation is open for.
• Don't bother applying for parking - it will probably be a long way away and you're easier parking at/near a media hotel and getting a media bus in.
• Your match accreditation application will be pending until it is either confirmed or rejected (dur!). If rejected, you can still go to the stadium media centre and try and get in on the wait list. Even in the final in Rio there were plenty of photographers getting in via the wait list, though mostly to the tribune (in the stands) but at least 10 got pitchside.

Which matches to shoot

• During the Group stages there are lots and lots of matches taking place. Which ones should you shoot and why?
• I elected to stick with England and follow them. Reason - Focus Images' main market is the UK newspapers, and football internet sites that are very UK specific. Also, our budget was limited so flying and hotels would have added too much to the cost (though overnighting on the luxo buses was by far the cheapest option if you don't mind not showering and getting only a few hours kip).
• This gave me an obvious choice for matches, but as I also wanted to shoot every open training session and press conferences my schedule was dictated by how the FA were to run those.
• In general, there is an training session at the match stadium (or nearby) the afternoon/evening before match day, usually followed by a press conference, so travel to arrive that morning or the night before. The day after a match is a rest day so travel back then (or the evening before if it's an early game). Then it's usually an open training and press conference the following day. This creates a simple schedule, and made Rio an obvious base for me as that's where the England HQ was.
• I also photographed any other matches, training or press conferences that were happening in Rio.
• If you are after maximum match coverage, then you're in for a hard slog but it is possible to do a match a day if you are prepared to travel overnight. If the stadia are quite close together then it'll be much easier, though I can see Russia 2018 as being very challenging.
• This can be a good strategy as a lot of the coverage on the run up to the knockout stages uses pictures from the group matches. Also, post tournament the transfer window is very lively and lots of the World Cup players are in high demand and picture use is high.
• Once the group stages are over it calms down a lot, so your match selection will be based a lot on geography, but also who you think might do well. Mine was mostly geography based, with games in Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte (nearish to Rio so 6 hour bus rides were easy) and obviously Rio itself.

Arrival

• The likelihood is that you'll arrive in the city where your first match is taking place (assuming you've got your prep right!). Get to the stadium 2 days before if possible (as the day before there will be training & press conferences on most likely anyway) and use that first day to get your bib and accreditation badge sorted (needs your FIFA accreditation letter and passport/ID), as quickly as possible so its done and out of the way. Don't try and do this on match day - you'll be too busy.
• If you have radio triggers like Pocket Wizards, they will want to test them to ensure they aren't going to blow anything up. Allow time for this. They will point gadgets at them and measure wavelengths, then put little stickers on them.
• Every stadium has a media centre. Get to know how it works, wander around, figure out the lockers, where the food is etc. They are all pretty much the same from one stadium to the next.
• The first group games are fairly quiet calm affairs compared to the semis and final. There will be plenty of space, don't fret too much. Settle in, check out the pitchside positions and note the seat numbers (the layout should be the same in every stadium), look at where the sun is, check the backgrounds, are the lights bright (they will be fine) and so on.
• Check how the internet works - is there pitchside LAN, what are the cables like, does your laptop/dongle fit. What's the backup if it goes wrong?
• Is there power? Did you bring the right adapter? The media centre people can probably lend you one if not.
• Get friendly with the FIFA photographer liaison people - let them know who you are, where you are from etc. The volunteers will be more baffled than you, so will remember those who are kind, professional & helpful.
• Get friendly with the Canon or Nikon guys if you are thinking of borrowing gear. They are great and will be very helpful, but again be kind, professional & respectful. They will be busy and harassed so try and make their lives easier. They tend to travel from stadium to stadium so you'll meet them numerous times in different places.
• Get a local SIM. One of the local network providers will have done a deal with FIFA and will likely have a presence in the media centre. Get a SIM with a good data allowance. It'll come in very handy.

Pre-match

• It's just like any other football match. Do what you usually do - captions, player names etc etc. I'm not going to tell you how to do that!
• Getting to the stadium - a good approach is to walk/taxi/metro to a media hotel (assuming you aren't already in one), and then get the media bus. It goes right to the entry to the stadium past all the security. You'll need your credentials to get on it, but it saves a load of hassle. I quite often paid a couple of quid for a taxi to the nearest media hotel then got the bus to the stadium and vice versa. Trying to taxi to the stadium on match day will be a disaster as the whole area will be in lock-down and you'll likely be dropped a long way away and face a boring walk. Also you can work on the bus ride.
• You might want to do a last minute weather check. I went from woolly hat and coat in the pouring rain in Sao Paulo to baking in direct sunlight in Belo Horizonte. Be prepared!
• Position selection is key. In Brazil as you'll have seen in earlier posts, there were 4 groups of photographers in the following order of priority - those from the countries of the teams playing, those from the host country, those from other countries in the tournament, and everyone else. Positions are allocated in that order (except for Getty/AFP/Reuters who have already nailed the best spots). Within each group, your allocation position depends on how early you are in the queue. In Brazil, it was a bit chaotic, but queue positions were dished out by the FIFA photographer liaison guys on your arrival in the media centre, so the earlier you got there the better your queue position would be so the better your choice of position within your group.
• The most popular spots are the managers' side corners. The vast majority of celebrations went that way in Brazil (aside from the final of course - ha ha). Failing that, the far corners. The tribune is good for some different-looking pictures - nice clean backgrounds of grass, and I saw a lot of tribune shots being used from Brazil this year.
• Be prepared to queue a lot. You'll find you may need to be in 2 or 3 queues at the same time (e.g. pitchside position selection and Canon loan gear queues).
• If you can, eat. Eat whenever possible. Get drinks, put bottles of water in your pitchside bag. We weren't allowed to take any food or drink into the stadium zone - you had to buy it all on site (though various smuggling methods developed as the weeks went on). Go to the loo before you go pitchside - you may be there a long time!
• Lock up anything even when you are sitting next to it.
• Lock up your case pitchside, to your chair or anything else.

Match

• You'll want to shoot the team lineups and the manager/subs. This can get a bit hectic. The managers & subs tend to come out ahead of the players. In the early group games it's not such a bunfight so you can usually shoot both managers and then do the individual player shots during the national anthems, and get at least one of the team groups after the national anthems. In the later games with more photographers it gets much more crowded.
• It's just like any other football match. Do what you usually do. But...press the shutter more often and for longer. Get plenty of individual player shots as you never know what will happen. If like me you usually shoot bursts of 3 or 4 shots, shoot 7 or 8 instead. Shoot everything even if it doesn't look interesting. Seeing my fellow snappers at work they shot a lot more than I did initially. Just buy big memory cards. Send the obvious pictures in as usual, but be ready to trawl your shots for a picture of Suarez biting someone that you just may have captured.
• If it goes to penalties, probably the best place to be is to the left of the goal that the penalties are being taken towards. This is because the inactive goalkeeper stands there, and all the players tend to rush in that direction when the shootout reaches a conclusion. You will be able to move your position before penalties take place. You may be able to service your remote if you have one before the penalties start, but be quick!

Post-match

• Eat if you can. Drink stuff. Keep quiet as everyone is working.
• After doing your normal picture editing and sending, back up all your memory cards. I took a 1TB portable hard drive with me and dumped all my cards onto it after each game, so I had a copy of each image on my laptop, a copy on the hard drive, and a copy of the wired images at the agency. You may want to go paranoid and have two hard drives and keep one in your case and one on your person.
• If using Lightroom, backup your catalogues as well as (or including) the images. Do a catalogue a day otherwise you'll get behind and lose track, especially when shooting non-match feature content.
• Are you writing a blog? I found it very rewarding to do so as my own diary of what I did and what happened on each day. If you are doing a daily post, it's best to do it as quickly after a game as possible. You can have an open document on your laptop and add to it during the day, then you've only got a bit to do after the game itself. People are more interested in the behind the scenes stuff than the match itself which they probably saw on the TV.

Other stuff

• Don't wait until the day the FIFA fan shop closes to buy some souvenirs as it will be chaos and there will be nothing left. Get them early and post them home - another job done.
• Don't forget to peel your seat number off your seat after the final and stick it on your Peli case as an excellent souvenir (doh!).
• Do have a break halfway through. It is very hard work. Very very hard work. Between the group games and the knockouts there is often a pause of 2-3 days. Go somewhere, see the country you are in, relax. I went to a gorgeous tropical island for 3 nights and returned fresh & rejuvenated. If you don't, you're fully 200% on the go for nearly 6 weeks and will feel crap.
• Do expect to become sick. You will be tired and run down and your defences will be low. Like everyone I had Media Centre Virus, second only to Ebola in it's contagiousness. Everyone will get it. Have a decent medical kit. I also got a stomach bug from drinking tap water.
• Do Skype your loved ones as frequently as possible. They WILL think you are on a massive jolly/holiday. They will not understand you have been reduced to a weeping, starved, stressed, sick wreck. Don't try to tell them how hard it is - they won't believe you. They will never believe you. You are just there taking snaps and sitting on the beach watching girls in thongs. They know nothing. Don't try to be defensive, just ask how they are and what's going on in their life.
• Do have some sort of packing method - you'll be repacking kit & clothes many times. It's easy to forget things - try and have a consistent approach to what goes where.
• Do try and learn some of the local language - peoples' faces light up when you mangle their language in amusing ways.
• Do check in online for internal flights and get someone to print your boarding pass (or use the airline's app), thereby avoiding an overeager check in agent asking to weigh your carry-on, and instead going straight to the gate.
• Do carry your FIFA media credential with you everywhere, but don't keep it on show - just use it to blag your way into cool parties, press events, the VIP security check at the airport  and other stuff.
• Don't lose your bib or credentials - it was something like $200 for a replacement in Brazil.
• Try and travel as a pair or threesome in taxis. When getting in, one of you gets in while the other loads the gear in the boot so the driver doesn't drive off with your kit. When getting out, one pays while the other unloads the gear. Watch for spoof "puncture" or "breakdown" heists where the taxi stops due to a problem and your gear is filched from the boot while you are distracted. Watch for distraction thefts at airports - someone getting in your face and arguing with you about something while their accomplice filches your gear. Basically, have your situational awareness on overdrive.

Packing list

Tech gear

A7R

A7R camera

21, 50, 90 lenses

A7R charger cable

Spare batteries

OMD-EM5

OMD camera

Lenses 9-18, fisheye, 45

Charger

RX100

Camera

Canon

1D x 2

70-200

400

24

Canon flash

Yongnuo flash

Polariser

Remote cable

Charger & cable

Memory cards

All those in cameras

All spare cards

Pocket Wizards x 3

Lithium batteries for Pocket Wizards

Footswitch

Special Olympus Pocket Wizard cable

Canon Pocket Wizard cable

Flash sync PW cables

Filters + filter holder

Cables

Chargers

Canon charger & cable

Phone

Large tripod + mounting plate

Small tripod

Monopod

Laptop + charger

Mouse & USB

3G dongles

4G dongle (check SIM free)

LAN Adaptors

Card reader x 3

Card reader cables x 3

Asus tablet & charger

Reverse USB cable

Leatherman

Tape

Torch

Head torch

GPS

Car lighter USB adapter

Tracker device

Speedchanger mini bag

Mini TP-Link router & spare battery

Spare TP-link router

Headphones

Plastic bag for lens

Clothes

Baseball hat

Kuhl trousers

Shorts or Craghoppers

Sun hat

Jeans

Socks - thin & thick

Pants

T-shirts

Wicking shirts

Rain jacket (Merrell)

Trainers

Fleece

Rucksack

Other

Contact lenses

Passport

Printed flight confirmations

Printed hotel reservations

Printed FIFA accreditation letter

Sunglasses

Spare glasses

Toiletries

Shower Gel

Portable towel

Driving licence

Nondescript shoulder bag

Metal lock cable & combination padlocks x2

Throwaway phone

Throwaway wallet

Insect repellent

Brazil plug adapters

Adapter for multiple plugs

Medical kit inc immodium

Compact washing line