question about selling photos

Fred - When I said I joined up with a pit crew, I mean that I am a member of that crew that works on the car weekly both on and off the track. Because I joined up late I didn't get licensed, but next year I will be full-time all season so I will be officially licesned by NASCAR as a crew member. And your idea about trading pics for other team merchandise is a good idea. I never thought about that.

Manny - Yes, there is an official contract between the photographer and the track. From what I had previously found out from the track is that even a media outlet has to get approval from not only the track, but from the photographer as well to get media/infield access on race day. So, I hate to assume, but I would have to assume that he is the only person allowed to profit from photos taken at the track. This is the reason why I had brought up the topic. But I will definitely have to look into it.

Steve,

Sounds like the photographer is "hooked up" pretty good if he is approving credentialed media access for a NASCAR Event.

As far as being part of the pit crew that must be awesome, GOOD LUCK!

Also if you are with the car & team outside the track you should be able to shoot whatever you want. Maybe you could offer the other drivers shots outside the raceway even if it is just the driver & the car or the driver/car/crew.

What about practive days? Is the Official Photographer there on practice days? If not maybe you could get shots of all the teams racing and use and distribute(sell) those images to the other team.

Again it is probably going to come down to what access the facility is going to allow you to have.

As Manny said all pro sports are extremely restrictive over what they allow and don't allow.

Two years ago the editor of a newspaper that I contribute to contacted the NY Islanders about having me cover a "service appriciation night" for the paper. The editor put me in touch with the Media Director after she spoke to him and I explained to him that I would like to get a few shots of the opening ceremony, no problem offered me ice level access, the puck drop, again no problem ice level and then I asked about a few shots of the game and the Ice Girls who were to be wearing outfits that were from this particular branch of public service.

Big fat NO! He informed me after the pictures of the opening ceremony and puck drop I would not be allowed to take any pictures of the game and would be escorted back to the media area and then out of the arena. I explained to him that I actually had tickets for the game and asked if I copuld just go up to my seats.

NO!

I was told that I would have to leave the building and put all my camera gear in my car and then I could re enter the facility using my purchased ticket.

Another time I was hired by a magazine to shoot pictures of Citi Field during it's construction. I had an escort from the Mets with me the entire time, which was fine, but he had a list of what I could and could not photograph.

At the time they were demolishing the old Shea Stadium. When I stopped to get a few pictures of the demolition I was told to please stop no pictures of Shea allowed.


Even if you can't sell your images I would still make an effort to share them with the other teams as it will allow you to meet other drivers and teams which I am sure will only help build relationships wit hthe other teams.

Good luck!

I also forget to mention that it cases where there is a huge area to cover, you need a team and ONE photographer at a Race Track of any size is impossible to properly cover by yourself. So, perhaps they are in need of an assistant or a team meber (a member of the media team) etc. That is also a way to get noticed, paid, recognized, accepted, allowed.. whatever it takes to be official :cool:

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Originally Posted by fk6065

As far as being part of the pit crew that must be awesome, GOOD LUCK!

What about practive days? Is the Official Photographer there on practice days?

Even if you can't sell your images I would still make an effort to share them with the other teams as it will allow you to meet other drivers and teams which I am sure will only help build relationships wit hthe other teams.

Good luck!

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Yeah, even though it is just a small town short track, it is fun and exciting being a part of a weekly Saturday night race team. Its also cool to get to meet and know some of the guys in the bigger series that we have at our track and meet some national stars that show up to race from time to time. Not sure what names you know from the NASCAR circuits, but Johnny Benson stopped in this memorial day weekend to race an ISMA Super Modified. Pretty cool having a name that big at our small track.

As far as practice days go, we do all our practice on Saturdays, the day we race.

And since I have been posting my weekly captures on my Facebook page, many of the drivers have been noticing them, which has seemed to have spread interest in my page as I have been getting requests from drivers at the track that I have not yet personally met yet. So, yes it is a good way to build relationships with the other teams and drivers.