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Topic: Inquiries about doing sponsor graphics Email this topic to a friend | Subscribe to this TopicReport this Topic to Moderator
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StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
February 04, 2015 at 06:33:06 PM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
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I just got my first inquiry about sponsor graphics in five years so I thought I'd kind of let everyone know where I'm at on that kind of thing.  I dabled a little in graphics up to about five years ago when I was following the UMSS but that was the last time I did any.  Since then I have converted all of my computers over to the Linux operating system and all of my graphics software was Windows based.  I can still run the Windows programs on Linux on a Windows compatibilty layer but it's slower and can sometimes be buggy so I could never get up-to-speed to compete for graphics business.  By graphics business I mean the hero cards and sponsor thank you photos.  I have done a few things for personal use that weren't time sensitive but my productivity wouldn't be fast enough to compete for the graphics business.

Here's a quick list of reasons that I gave up on competing for photo and graphics sales:

I'm 63 years old and I work all day on dual monitors staring at numbers in an office so I don't feel like burning the midnight oil doing racing graphics after I get home at night.  These folks that do the graphics don't get a lot of sleep during the racing season and are often up all night doing photos during two day shows.  Not for me (refer to m age in first sentence - I need my rest).

I have no desire to be at the races two or three nights per week all season taking photos of everything on wheels (all classes) and canvassing the pits selling.  I like to go out to see Sprints mostly and a couple Late Model and an occasional Modified race. 

I have trouble with my back and neck in cold damp weather and photo salesmen have to be at the openers no matter how miserable the weather is.

Photo equipment is in rough shape.  I realized that if I wanted to continue to be a racing photographer that I would have to upgrade photo gear to the tune of several thousand dollars.  Seeing as I probably don't make more than $50 all season selling pics I couldn't justify the investment.  I'm trying to pay a charge card down before I retire in a little under three years so I don't have to eat cat food and pass out carts at Walmart.  Investing thousands in photo gear at this stage in my life would not go over well with my accountant aka my wife. 

In conclusion, most of these photo salesmen and graphic designers are 10, 20 and even 30 or more years younger than me.  I learned where my place in the pecking order was five years ago and pretty much gave up on the idea of selling photos as a way to help finance my racing.  If anyone is interested in a 4x6, 5x7 or 8x10 then yeah, I can make prints available.  I'm not setup to take online orders or accept credit cards or anything like that.  I just sell a few pics by word of mouth now and then and defer the heavy lifting to my friend Vince Peterson.


Stan Meissner


StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
February 04, 2015 at 06:58:58 PM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
Reply

PS, as I mentioned in the post about stepping down from writing and cutting my racing schedule I'll still be getting out to a handful of races.  I'll be bringing the cameras along and taking photos during hot laps, time trials if applicable and probably Heat races as well.  If I get some shots I'll still post them on gotomn.com as I can find time to do it.  I mean, why bother taking photos if I'm just going to store them in a shoe box on a CD and never look at them again? 


After that I'll probably retreat to the stands and watch the Features with family and friends so I can't see myself doing a lot of victory lane shots or subbing as track photographer anywhere.  All those years I did the writing and photography I had a media pass for the paper so I felt obligated to hang in there all night.  Now that I'll be doing it on doing it on my own dime I think most of people would agree that makes sense.  If I'm paying to go to races I want to see the races from the stands and not from behind a camera lens. 


This is shaping up to be a fun year and I think that when I look back at the end of the summer I won't have any regrets.  My son Les and I are already talking about making some runs down to Knoxville for their weekly shows.  We have only done that a few times since I became a writer back in 1999 and it was always a great father and son moment that we used to enjoy up to that point.  He wasn't too fond of traveling to races together and having to sit by himself in the stands while I spent the night in the infield taking pictures and notes for the column.  After 1999 we would travel to races and I'd spend my motel and drive time working on my next story.  He didn't like that.  wink


Stan Meissner

StanM
MyResults MyPressRelease
February 05, 2015 at 06:11:50 PM
Joined: 11/07/2006
Posts: 5548
Reply

In case you haven't guessed I like to type stories.  I think that's what got me by as a writer for sixteen seasons.  wink 


Stan Meissner



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