Today was my first time photographing a sport bike race. I am a big fan of motorcycles and have participated in a handful of track days. Today turned out to be a great day for picture taking. I met a lot of the staff involved in the event and the owner of the track whom I have met briefly a couple times before but, he did not remember me. The corner workers were great to assist with spots to shoot and talk with in between races. Unfortunately, one gentleman really stuck out.
As a friend and I were leaving the track we were stopped by this gentleman and questioned about our pass. Apparently if you are photographing for a profit you have to pay a vender fee, which we did not pay because we were photographing for fun. Basically this gentleman did not believe that this was possible. He made the comment that there was no way that we would have all that equipment for a hobby and that we were not being honest with him. I explained myself, gave him a card to my web page and insisted in the most respectful way that I could that he was wrong.
Unfortunately, the race ended and he told us to not come back the following day. He also would not refund our money for the two day pass. I do have to say the gentleman was very professional except for the sarcastic comment on the equipment and then being asked not to come back. On our way out we found the owner of the track and explained our situation. The owner asked if we knew the gentleman and offered to go talk with him. We found him and the owner explained our intent and it was resolved. The gentleman stated that he did not know our intent and whether or not we were being honest but the professional photographers were upset, because they paid the vender fee.
Apparently, other photographers have misrepresented themselves in the past. So to end my rant, what I would like to say is: be honest with the people putting on the events, if you’re making a profit pay your dues. The professionals are doing this for a living, we don’t want to ruin any chances of not being able to photograph in the future at the track or anywhere else. The Talladega Grand Prix track is an awesome place to photograph sport bikes without having to obtain credentials to get in, which are nearly impossible for the average Joe to get. You hear it all the time; photographers are losing all kinds of rights to photograph around the country and around the world. So do everything you can to get the shot but be respectful and follow the rules.
Photo Taken By: Michael Heston
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