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
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