All-Star Industry Photographer Arrested For Child Indecency

SilverDP · Jul 25, 2017

HappyGirls said:
Question: Who hires the photographers that take pics at competitions?

My kids get photographed during their routine, so it's not like there is a lot of parental choice as to who is doing the photographing... I hope that there is some sort of background check done before photographers are hired for comps...yes?

The official event photographers vary from event to event. Each event photography company has their own policy regarding background checks. Some do them, some don't. I shoot dance competitions for a national event photography company and have never been required to have a background check done.

notimeforthat · Jul 25, 2017

Question... why are mommas even taking their young girls to photographers? This is Cheerleading. Last time I checked head shots weren't required.
We have a photographer that comes to the gym and takes TEAM photos and then individual poses much like they do in school.
Bottom line is to many thirsty parents in this sport willing to drink any kool aide that is being served.
There's always JC Penny and Sears for portraits!

Ijustgo4thedipndots · Jul 25, 2017

notimeforthat said:
Question... why are mommas even taking their young girls to photographers? This is Cheerleading. Last time I checked head shots weren't required.
We have a photographer that comes to the gym and takes TEAM photos and then individual poses much like they do in school.
Bottom line is to many thirsty parents in this sport willing to drink any kool aide that is being served.
There's always JC Penny and Sears for portraits!

Bc every cheerleader is a model and an ambassador of some sort [emoji6]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

catlady · Jul 25, 2017

notimeforthat said:
Question... why are mommas even taking their young girls to photographers? This is Cheerleading. Last time I checked head shots weren't required.
We have a photographer that comes to the gym and takes TEAM photos and then individual poses much like they do in school.
Bottom line is to many thirsty parents in this sport willing to drink any kool aide that is being served.
There's always JC Penny and Sears for portraits!

Many photographers will provide certain kids with business cards and ask their parents to contact them about doing a free shoot for use of their photos in advertising. My niece is a photographer in Oxford, MS and said she can get 100+ appts for Weddings, Sororities/Frats, Proms, Sports, Christmas Cards and High School/Ole Miss graduation if she can contract a few popular kids to agree to post pics from their shoot on social media. Advertising has changed, and many businesses will exchange service for advertising on social media. JC Penney or Sears wouldn't even cross my mind if I were looking to get portraits done, I haven't seen one of their studios in years. But, I also haven't seen one of their ads in years, because I get my news online instead of a paper, use a dvr and fast forward through TV ads, and don't get their mailers because I don't have their credit card.

DanaBurkey · Jul 25, 2017

notimeforthat said:
Question... why are mommas even taking their young girls to photographers? This is Cheerleading. Last time I checked head shots weren't required.
We have a photographer that comes to the gym and takes TEAM photos and then individual poses much like they do in school.
Bottom line is to many thirsty parents in this sport willing to drink any kool aide that is being served.
There's always JC Penny and Sears for portraits!

YES!! I had this conversation with a friend lately who owns a small cheer business. She was saying she had to drop a lot of ambassadors since they only wanted to do model shoots and not promo products anymore. It's so strange to me. I can get doing shoots for athletic companies, but so often it's just beauty shoots. So strange to me!

HappyGirls · Jul 25, 2017

catlady said:
My niece is a photographer in Oxford, MS and said she can get 100+ appts for Weddings, Sororities/Frats, Proms, Sports, Christmas Cards and High School/Ole Miss graduation if she can contract a few popular kids to agree to post pics from their shoot on social media.

I like a female photographer to take pics of my girls. I hired a female for family portraits and Chistmas card pics...might be something to think about for those that do cheer pics as well....

Official OWECheer · Jul 25, 2017

notimeforthat said:
Question... why are mommas even taking their young girls to photographers? This is Cheerleading. Last time I checked head shots weren't required.
We have a photographer that comes to the gym and takes TEAM photos and then individual poses much like they do in school.
Bottom line is to many thirsty parents in this sport willing to drink any kool aide that is being served.
There's always JC Penny and Sears for portraits!

DanaBurkey said:
I can get doing shoots for athletic companies, but so often it's just beauty shoots. So strange to me!

This. It seems to be about 'building Suzy’s brand'. I feel like 'Product ambassador' is often used as the shoddy bridge to Fame Island.

dawgshow · Jul 25, 2017

HappyGirls said:
I like a female photographer to take pics of my girls. I hired a female for family portraits and Chistmas card pics...might be something to think about for those that do cheer pics as well....

Sadly, that doesn't mean that they'll be safe from predatory behavior. Parent involvement is all that can help, I think.

SilverDP · Jul 25, 2017

dawgshow said:
Sadly, that doesn't mean that they'll be safe from predatory behavior. Parent involvement is all that can help, I think.

True, but I do think it would be a lot less likely to happen with a female photographer. And for what it's worth, as a photographer in the cheer industry, all of the female cheer photographers I know (and a few of the male cheer photogs) have legitimate ties to the sport. Either being a current or former athlete themselves, or having children in the sport. The photographers that raise red flags for me are the ones who have no real ties to cheerleading. (Especially grown males.) Just makes me wonder how and why they decided that taking pictures of cheerleaders was what they wanted to do.

notimeforthat · Jul 25, 2017

catlady said:
Many photographers will provide certain kids with business cards and ask their parents to contact them about doing a free shoot for use of their photos in advertising. My niece is a photographer in Oxford, MS and said she can get 100+ appts for Weddings, Sororities/Frats, Proms, Sports, Christmas Cards and High School/Ole Miss graduation if she can contract a few popular kids to agree to post pics from their shoot on social media. Advertising has changed, and many businesses will exchange service for advertising on social media. JC Penney or Sears wouldn't even cross my mind if I were looking to get portraits done, I haven't seen one of their studios in years. But, I also haven't seen one of their ads in years, because I get my news online instead of a paper, use a dvr and fast forward through TV ads, and don't get their mailers because I don't have their credit card.

I understand. The chosen special snowflakes that have 35k on instagram are "the certain kids" I'm sure. I have no problem with parents "getting paid" for all the thirsty ground work but when it leads to some seedy speculation then yeah... I'm judging you. Leave the cheer out of your hunger fame and see how you fare.
I'm just over the exploitation of this sport.

alpaca · Jul 25, 2017

SilverDP said:
The photographers that raise red flags for me are the ones who have no real ties to cheerleading. (Especially grown males.) Just makes me wonder how and why they decided that taking pictures of cheerleaders was what they wanted to do.

Locally there was a guy who I had contact with because he volunteered with the Girl Scouts. He participated in a few of non-cp's troop activities. He was young and had no ties to GS. I found it odd and just decided to keep non-cp close when he was around. He also volunteered/had part time jobs at places that put him around children. Again, no real training in the area he was working (child care, gymnastics etc). The only common thread was that he was in close contact with young children.

Eventually he was arrested for sexual abuse of a minor. Here's the thing : people refused to believe it. Adults that I am friends with insisted that there must be a mistake, even blamed overzealous police investigating. If parents react this way to an arrest, then they are likely to ignore the warning signs.

Official OWECheer · Jul 26, 2017

HappyGirls said:
I like a female photographer to take pics of my girls. I hired a female for family portraits and Chistmas card pics...might be something to think about for those that do cheer pics as well....

Women can sexually abuse children as well. It's not about gender.

HappyGirls · Jul 26, 2017

Official OWECheer said:
Women can sexually abuse children as well. It's not about gender.

I agree with that...being female does not rule someone out as a pedophile. However, statistics show the odds are less, as a significant majority of those convicted are male. So for me it is one factor that makes me feel a bit more comfortable, but is still certainly no substitute for parental supervision.

Official OWECheer · Jul 26, 2017

It's interesting what comes up when you search his name on Twitter. Seems like people have been suspicious for a while.

https://twitter.com/search?q=don sparks&src=typd

catlady · Jul 26, 2017

notimeforthat said:
I understand. The chosen special snowflakes that have 35k on instagram are "the certain kids" I'm sure. I have no problem with parents "getting paid" for all the thirsty ground work but when it leads to some seedy speculation then yeah... I'm judging you. Leave the cheer out of your hunger fame and see how you fare.
I'm just over the exploitation of this sport.

Unfortunately, it's our judgement and the fact these offenders get very little time that make people hesitate to come forward and report these crimes. This isn't about a mom exploiting cheer or a photographer, it's about an individual committing a crime and a victim coming forward. Do you allow your child to go to their friends house? Relatives? Stay after school? Go on retreats? The truth is there's a good reason why we judge, and it's because we are hoping deep down since "we would never do anything like that" we will somehow be protected from this ever happening to us or our family. I don't care if that child was the snowiest of snowflakes and this woman was the most hungry for fame, they were victims, HE's the offender, and kudos to her for reporting it. I'm just over people judging victims instead of criminals.

All-Star Industry Photographer Arrested For Child Indecency

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