Been working this industry close to 15 years, 10 odd fulltime freelance. It's a topic that's been done to death, and many have covered all the points quite well in their posts already. Someone will always know better though and try to dictate their opinion to you even though they've never actually worked the business of photography. There's two distinct differences though, The snaps of each and every participant who require an image. To do this, your creativity will suffer and thus the 'cover WOW' shot expected. The more tailored, better lit and composed shots, but there's no guarantee of capturing everyone. Yet technology is helping to bridge this gap, but it's still a balancing act. There's a good pool of photographers who get this right; C- Sharp (Lee-Anne) XtreMedia (Zoon, Jacques etc) although they are more media focussed than participant Oakpics Fotograf Jetline-Action Photo of late.
