They wont let me shoot!

[303villain]

Im having a bit of difficulty here folks! The shop I work for is planning on starting an E-magazine/online forum dedicated to racing and car enthusiasts here in Denver within the next six months. We have two big events coming up at the local track(bandimere speedway) and I would like to shoot these events to do articles on them. I emailed the Media/marketing person at the track and asked him what i would need to do to get a media pass to shoot the event and they wont give me one. Because it is not yet estabilished they wont count it as "media". i also tried playing the im a photography student card, and he offered me a class they have on shooting racing, which is totally useless to me!! Do you think theres any way i can beat the system???

 

[j_mcquillen]

Try getting (at least part of...) your forum / E-mag up and running before the event - at least then you'll have something to show the people at the track - "this is what we do - would you like to feature in it?" probably sounds a bit more impressive than telling them what you hope to do with the shots.

Other than that, you might be a bit limited, as you'd be shooting on their property, and they may already have deals / agreements with other photographers.

 

[303villain]

We already have started getting things rolling on getting the site up, it should at least be partially running in the next few weeks so hopefully that will work. They dont put a limit on how many media companies shoot at the events as they are not held by the track, but rather companies renting the track, so its not unusual to see a ton of photographers running around. hopefully something works out though. if not ill just have to get a nice fast tele and sit close

 

[Big Mike]

So do you work in a racing/auto shop? Maybe you could find out if the products you sell are sponsors of the race. Then maybe you could contact the sponsor directly and ask them to request a press pass.

Maybe you could contact someone who does have a pass and ask to be their tag-along assistant.

 

[303villain]

Both very good ideas mike! I will try to see if any of our vendors are sponsors. I dont actually know any other local photographers so finding someone to follow along with would be pretty tough.