That gig is something I tried to do w/ my daughter's sports for the past 5-ish years. I loved shooting her games and distributing the photos both teams. It was so much fun.
I had a nasty altercation with a parent last fall and now I can't pick up the camera w/o getting PTSD-like symptoms. I'd love to know how "pros" handle dealing with that kind of thing. I had a similar situation years ago w/ a guy who got in my face for shooting on the street at a festival. My solution there was to just stop doing it.
In Munich in 1999 I almost got my ass kicked by some guy at a rave for taking a picture of his girlfriend with a frickin' Game Boy Camera. (Got GBC shots featured in Nintendo Power!)
My current style is centered around getting posed group portraits at events and is low risk. My act seems to disrupt people's patterns and drag them along with my script, I suspect a lot of people who might want to mess with a foxographer might think twice about messing with a huli jing (rabies, fleas, ticks, cantrips, curses, ...) and if they aren't afraid of a dangerous beast they might be afraid of a dangerous and delusional therian. I think I run a tiny risk of the sort of violence you might be targeted for if you go out in drag but so what...
I do get harassed by some people online who keep asking if I have consent for my photos and it bothers me more than it should and for now I reply like "notice that they posed for me" or "that person was carrying that protest sign on a busy road with thousands of cars going by". It's a matter of time before they lecture me again that it boggles their mind that I'd take pictures at a No Kings protest and I am plotting how to bait them so that they embarrass themselves enough that they give up.
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It depends on the type of experience that altercation was. If it was you being confronted about photographing their kid without a model release, that's one thing, but if it was a more general unease of a photographer being present at the event, that's different.
For the latter, make sure you don't need a media credential (you probably don't) and get one if you do.
For the former, if your kid is competing, the odds are good that you already are acquainted with their teammates' parents so you can just ask directly, especially if you intend to share your album with them afterward.
My experience is that, with littler kids, if a photographer is not in the parent sideline/area, parents may wonder who they are. With older (high school) kids, they expect some media coverage so that part isn't a big deal. What they do care about is being able to reshare your shots to their socials or use them for other personal reasons. Depending on the high school or club, you may or may not need a media credential. If not, it's usually up to the coach (for high school) to decide whether you're allowed on/next-to the field/track/court. It's helpful to build a rapport with the coaches. It's also helpful to be able to show that you're a legitimate business and not just some rando.
In my case, I do events for free and provide full-res post-processed albums via Google Photos. This is a labor of love because I know athletes and their families (not to mention yearbook staff!) appreciate it. Maxpreps, SBLive and others contract with local photogs to cover events, too, and those sites aggregate and host the albums... but downloads average ~$20/image. It's not hard for a decent local photographer to favorably compete against those freelancers. Then it's also easier for me to upsell on portraits and media days. Media Days for school teams I typically charge ~$35/kid. For club teams it's usually $50/kid. For that they get a guaranteed 3 poses each plus leftover time for fun poses. Unlike a lot of commercial photogs, I charge this flat rate per athlete instead of a booking fee + per-image download or print packages. My experience is that they really just want digitals most of the time anyway, and even if I net less I don't really care because this is just a labor of love where I can cover my expenses and earn some spending money (~$10k/yr is acceptable given the time I'm putting into it).
Make up an official-looking "Event Photographer" vest, hat, lanyard with "Photographer Pass" on it, etc?
People generally ignore or even help workers with a bright vest, carrying a ladder, etc. So I imagine you would get a lot less suspicious looks doing something like that versus looking like an Average Joe.
Maybe with a polo shirt and embroidered made-up photography company logo and name on it.
You need to be extremely careful about taking photos of children without explicit permission from the parents.
You need to know the law. That is being careful, but it doesn't mean it's always illegal to photograph children in public.
For sure, but it didn't help me because I don't have the fortitude to stand my ground. I'm very non-confrontational.
(Yikes-- I feel my pulse in my neck and chest just writing about this.)
I likely need to see a therapist about it. Wow.
At least on the street and in sports my experience is people using purpose-built cameras get harassed.
People using cell phones as cameras get a pass (at least in sports).
It's common that they don't even let you into the venue if you have a interchangable lens camera. I wouldn't even try going into a pro game with a camera if I didn't have a credential.
At my Uni I usually go right in without any trouble, the only case I got hassled was a woman's hockey game and that time I kept repeating "I've never had trouble getting into a game before" (true) until they gave up and let me in. (Which doesn't leave me inclined to try again, but I'd already bought a ticket and didn't want to back and stash my gear in my office) I hear in hockey they are really worried about wildcat video streams.
Some of the sports at Cornell are exceptionally laid back. We are one of a few schools that plays sprint football which is 100% the same as regular football except players have to weigh less than 178 lbs [1], I know the head coach, I know people in the parent's association, they leave the gate unlocked and i go right down to the sidelines.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprint_football