Popular Photography Company No Longer Allowed to Photograph AISD
When it comes to high school, there are so many activities that our kids take part in, and most of the time those events don't get captured, and if they do, it's a zoomed camera phone photo.
Wild Skies Photography is a photography company that went to many events including football games, marching competitions, volleyball games, etc. They captured some amazingly beautiful photographs of high school students in their element.
Wild Skies Photography has been doing this for many years. Unfortunately, they will not be able to take pictures at events anymore.
According to a post on Facebook.
Thanks to a complaint to the AISD athletic department, I will no longer be on the sidelines at any event in AISD and will no longer provide free pictures of these events. The website (<a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1fey0fg" tabindex="0" href="http://wildskies.smugmug.com/?fbclid=IwAR0quEhyXIF6Fgdc7FEE_S0TFm15wohadovWsaH4oYOKz8NJa2y9LU8iuOw" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">WildSkies.SmugMug.com</a>) will be purged of all such events beginning on December 1st. Please obtain your downloads before then. It has been a long relationship with Amarillo, and we tried to provide a useful service and give back to the community. Thanks for your past support.
Unfortunately, this post did not set well with a lot of parents who love the fact that their child was captured while taking part in their extracurricular activities. Some of the comments included in the post above state:
I don’t know what would have caused this decision, but it makes me very sad. I’ve enjoyed seeing all the spirited pictures WSP has posted since I became a fan. Thank you for your talent and support for all the AISD schools and activities. Your presence will certainly be missed! I’ve called AISD to give my support on your behalf in hopes this could be reversed. Again, thank you for all of the quality pics you have provided…memories my family will cherish for years.
This is so wrong and I am so sorry that this happened! You have been such a blessing to so many and I hate that future students and parents will miss out on your amazing work!
This floors me. I don’t understand people anymore. You provided such a great service to these young men and women throughout the years. You sacrificed so much to capture memories for these families. I’m just flabbergasted. I thank you for all you have done over the years!!
You have provided an amazing service for all of our kids and this is so disheartening! Can’t imagine what kind of complaint would cause this! Very sad about this!!
Many parents have reached out to the powers that be at AISD to voice their concerns and to see if this is something that can be fixed and continue to allow Wild Skies Photography to photograph events.
My guess is that the complaint that AISD received was privacy/security related.
I have reached out to Amarillo ISD with a few questions about the situation and they said:
Following a recent athletic event, a concern was brought to an AISD staff member. The District investigated the situation, and the decision was made to remove Wild Skies Photography’s sideline pass.
Another Facebook post on Wild Skies Photography stated:
<div class="xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs x126k92a"><div dir="auto">Just a reminder; due to a mistake on my part and a complaint filed to AISD, I will no longer provide sideline photos at any AISD event. I truly regret my actions.</div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a"><div dir="auto">Beginning on December 1st, I will work through the over 800,000 photos on <a class="x1i10hfl xjbqb8w x6umtig x1b1mbwd xaqea5y xav7gou x9f619 x1ypdohk xt0psk2 xe8uvvx xdj266r x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r xexx8yu x4uap5 x18d9i69 xkhd6sd x16tdsg8 x1hl2dhg xggy1nq x1a2a7pz xt0b8zv x1fey0fg" tabindex="0" href="http://wildskies.smugmug.com/?fbclid=IwAR3bLeZy_Y63tdrkboMtDwQffnUQx1N0ScwCMTV4oKZmN9aGRYGApLjpS28" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">WildSkies.SmugMug.com</a> and delete the vast majority of event and portrait photos. Downloads are available at a very reasonable rate. Contact me if you need help</div></div>
I did reach out to Wild Skies Photography and asked for further comment and they chose not to comment.
We may never know exactly what happened, but either way, it's a loss for those students and parents who looked forward to seeing pictures while marching, cheering, stepping, playing the game, etc.