Im usually way too eager but its been two days soooo... Were any brave photographers at Beaver this weekend?! Or if anyone else knows who was there definitely pass their info on.
Photos at XXXX event? ok, I am going to preface this with the fact that I know I am probably going to get slapped around here on the board for saying this, but here goes I have been shooting within WERA for a few years now, many of you have seen me at the track, my photos in the magazines, or are added on my Facebook to check out free photos (I highly doubt there are 2300 of you on my Facebook to see pictures of my kids or listen to me complain about the 50+days of 100 degree weather we had in Texas this year). My plan was to attend all the Nationals this season as well as as many regionals as I could but that plan failed early due to what I can figure as simply, no interest. I know I am not the only photographer that has attended WERA rounds and has expressed disappointment as time after time we drive a long distance for a weekend, camp to save money and walk out of an event in the red even after photos are posted and a thread pops up on the board about "Who took photos at XXXX event". Many events I have even put up a discount on the weraclassifieds site to sweeten the deal but still with no interest. Race photography is all I do for a living, period. No baby photos, no weddings, no cars even. My schedule is full of enough events between AMA, WERA, CMRA and the occasional MotoGP or WSBK round. If you want photos from your race weekends folks need to start realizing that you need to buy them. Likewise, you might want to hit up your local photographer before an event and either pay in advance or make sure they realize that you do indeed intend to purchase photos instead of just stealing PROOF images or complain after the fact that "You only got a few photos of me", I'm not a mind reader, I don't know who is interested in photos, I shoot 2000-3000 photos in a day AND offer a discount before a race weekend...act on it. I'm more then willing to go to Banned Camp here but seriously folks, I am out there all weekend in dangerous areas, with $15k worth of camera gear, wandering around all over the place for 2 to 3 days all day to provide you with high quality photos in a variety of locations, not photos from an iPhone or a starter DSLR that came with a lens. I think it is safe to say that if you stopped buying your tires at the track the tire vendors would no longer come out, it's the same with everyone else that is there and working. Don't take this as a rant, and I do not mean this to any one in particular. But if you want photos, tires, video, hell even WERA to be around make sure to support them
I have no clue how much it costs to do what you do, I just dont. But when I see someone asking me to pay $50 for a CD of myself, and it's all from the same corner, and half of them are when on the warm up/cool down lap, a purchase isn't going to happen. I've seen your stuff, and it rocks!! I've just never had the pleasure of meeting your camera. I do agree about paying in advance though. Jig and Kov always took good pics too, but again, a heads up works wonders... And it helps that they are racers and know what looks cool. But since Jig doesn't do WERA and Kov has moved onto baby showers Poke, the pictures have kinda sucked. At least in my opinion they have. But i'm just a jerk, so what does that matter?
Congratulations, your quote made my day. and as far as head's ups go...I am not sure what else I can do. I post up on the weraclassifieds site for the discount, post a schedule of events I am attending on my site, post up on Facebook that I am on my way to XXXX event. I'm all ears if someone has an idea, I do honestly love shooting with WERA, as Sean has said before, "I could go to the AMA races, but I see great racing every weekend"
I completely understand where your coming from and I know you said this isn't a directed statement but I can honestly say I've purchased photos from beaver almost everytime I've requested them. The SB image was great but they moved to jersey and I got a few from Jamie Leigh a few months back from a trackday I always search Google and the bbs a few days after the events but I usually come up with nothing. I'll definitely start checking the classifieds and paying in advance is a cool idea for me because I love getting pics as keepsakes, especially since I'm still very new to WERA and racing.
I apologize for jacking your thread. My statements are by no means directed at you but are rather a broad generalization to what I often see here after a race weekend. I should have made my own thread to address this. Sorry
Gotta take what we can right Ray from SB image used to get seriously awesome shots at beaver and nelsons. I haven't had the pleasure of dealing with brandon yet but I did bug him about summit national pics.
Yup, every shot of me from that link is from the outside of T10. Which is exactly the same as the 6/19 round. I'm still going to buy some though.
Jamie needs to talk to Ray and ask him for more/better spots. The shots ray got of us coming over the hill in T7 were amazing. Knee on the deck, and nothing but sky behind us... I almost get chills thinking about it. If you look at her site, I don't believe she's terribly experienced at taking race pics. Better than nothing, and my know-nothing-about-photography opinion is that she's gotten better since April, but she's nowhere near the skill level we were spoiled with when Ray was shooting there. I've bought pics from The SB image a few times, but even then, how many pics of myself do I need at the same track, in the same turn? I have 1 print from T10 my first trackday ever, and a couple of CD's from other events. I may have also bought digital rights to some select shots I liked, and wanted to post online...
I also don't think Jamie knows that there are (usually) more racers on Sunday than Saturday. She seems to skip a lot of the Sunday track days too.
