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Hey that picture you took
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Posted by: oldguy---------------------

of me- can you send me a copy.

Dam it must be that everyone is bored now that winter has set in so they are looking at pictures from last season. I am getting at least 3 emails a day asking for pictures. Most are
Hey I saw you took a picture of me. I am number 510 can you send me a copy of it and any others you have from last season. I also have a friend that rides a Yamaha number 210 can you also send any of him?
I usually reply- I need more info like what races and classes did you race? I have over 3000 pictures from this season so I need to narrow it down. 90% of the time I never hear anything back sometimes it is "I was at Aztalan a couple times (we run 7 races each summer) usually I race in XXX class."

last week I got an email "hey I saw the picture you have on the Aztalan website of me and I want to get a poster made up. They say I need the full resolution as big of a file as you have. Can you send it to me?"

I replied "I do not give away the full resolution images since I also make and sell posters. Here are my prices let me know what you want to do.

I get an email back a day later "I have a friend that does the posters for free and i just want the picture. How much would you charge for just the picture?

I send an email back that the price for the image file is the same as the price I charge for a poster.

A couple days go by and he replies " Why should I pay for a picture of me? You put it up on the website without my permission so you owe me the file to pay for using it.'

I sent him a return email. Do not bother me anymore I will delete your picture from the website and my files
Today I get the email "Hey can you put the picture back up on the website I want to show some friends a picture of me racing. I am sorry I pissed you off and would still like to get the file from you"

I replied What picture are you talking about? I don't think I took one of you this year"

Posted by: XRpredator---------------------

good one, Dave.

Posted by: Rich Rohrich---------------------

Nicely done Dave.

Posted by: IndyMX---------------------

I've gotten emails like that..

Sometimes makes me wonder why I even take the camera out with me.

Posted by: Okiewan---------------------

LOL good stuff Dave.

Posted by: whenfoxforks-ruled---------------------

Ever had the urge to run for Governor? Nicely handled!

Posted by: Chili---------------------

Don't get me started...

Posted by: IndyMX---------------------

"Hey, make sure you get some good ones of me man, I will buy them from you as soon as I get home" then never hear from the guy ever again.

Posted by: oldguy---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chili

Don't get me started...

Doug I should have listened closer to you....I remember you saying if you give any away it gets impossible to sell later. I still do it more for fun and give several to Spiders friends (in reduced resolution) for their my space or facebook. Even though I am far from professional I still get some good ones and it helps buy equipment or pay for gas to the races. Despite that everyone expects them to be free all the time just because I have fun doing it.

Indy I hear that at every race to many times mostly from Moms who beg to have more shots. It gets worse if they know I am covering the race for Cycle USA- they all want headline coverage and front page for their kids

Posted by: IndyMX---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldguy

I kinda like when my dad is taking the pics, cause he doesn't really take any of anyone but us.. But.. he really doesn't have a good eye.. and no balls to get close enough to get the good shots. And I refuse to spend a grand on a lens that will get him closer..

Posted by: Patman---------------------

Ask what they do for a living then ask if you can show up and get stuff for free.

Posted by: biglou---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyMX

"Hey, make sure you get some good ones of me man, I will buy them from you as soon as I get home" then never hear from the guy ever again.

Yep. Happened to me at every race I shot "for profit". Never sold a single picture. Not one. Not ever. Not just to the "hey, shoot this guy" guys, but to anyone. Exchanged plenty of (usually frustratingly illegible) emails, but never sold a picture.

The only reason I can think of is not having a setup like chili's where I could proof the shots and take money at the track. My method was to setup galleries online and have folks order from there. Got a few nibbles, no one ever bit. That was maybe 2-3 years ago? Now I just shoot for fun. It's much more satisfying when my expectations are only to impress my riding buddies.

Posted by: BSWIFT---------------------

Funny stuff!

Posted by: RM_guy---------------------

When I raced in the 70's (ie. long before email, digital crap) there was a guy that would take pictures at the races and make up some nice 8x10 glossys and send them to riders COD. You'd get a card in the mail saying you had a COD package at the post office and it was the picture on a piece of cardboard with heavy cellophane over the image. If you liked it you paid the COD charges and if not, it got sent back. I don't know how successful he was (I could never afford to buy one) but there were nice shots. I remember a couple of friends bought them and they kept getting more to check out. I just got the one...probably because I didn't buy the first one.

Ahhh...such a simpler time

Posted by: biglou---------------------

Seems like it cost about $5 for an 8x10 back in the mid-90's when I shot a couple pro MTB races. Mind you, these were just for me, not for sale. I suppose if a guy had his own dark room, that cost would be considerably less and he could afford to send out samples like he did.

Posted by: Chili---------------------

Just before Christmas I got a call from the Photo Lab that does all my work, they had a "customer" there with 32 images that he wanted made as 12x18 prints. All the images were 800x600 @ 50% quality and had my watermark across the image. When challenged that these were not his images he got indignant stating he was the owner of HoleShot Photography and these were for one of his customers and how dare they challenge him. The clerk excused herself and brought over the manager who then stated if he'd like to wait they'd get Doug Engstrom the owner of HoleShot Photography on the line to see if I had sold the business, he departed without his prints although I imagine he found someone to print them.

Posted by: Ol'89r---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by RM_guy

When I raced in the 70's (ie. long before email, digital crap) there was a guy that would take pictures at the races and make up some nice 8x10 glossys and send them to riders COD.
Ahhh...such a simpler time

We had a track photog back then that would take pic's and then the following week would display them on proof sheets. We could pick out the one's we wanted printed into 8x10 glossys and he would bring them out to the track the following week for us to buy. I think we paid about $ 1.50 each for B&W 8x10 glossys.

Yeah! Really.

I bought enough of them to send his kid to college.

Posted by: rmc_olderthandirt---------------------

Ah, the good old days.

Back before digital a photographer would shoot many rolls of film at an event. The film wasn't cheap, and processing the film cost more, but the biggest expense was making prints. To minimize the cost the "proof" was often a postage stamp size picture that was sent to the contestant by mail, along with an order form. A printed page is not exactly free today and before computers the cost of a printed page order form was significant. The contestant would get the proof a week or more after the event, and then the actual picture would take a week or two after that.

Between the cost of the order form, envelope, postage, developing and film there was a significant cost in getting a proof to a potential client.

Now days I ride an event and by the time I have the bike put away and have dusted myself off I can walk over to the on-site trailer where I can preview the shots via computer. If I like what I see I walk back to my rig carrying my freshly printed pictures.

I do wish, however, that they would sell me the digital image for a reasonable price. I really doubt that a picture of me is ever going to be worth anything to anyone but me.

Rod

Posted by: Patman---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by rmc_olderthandirt

I do wish, however, that they would sell me the digital image for a reasonable price. I really doubt that a picture of me is ever going to be worth anything to anyone but me.

Rod

I guess "REASONABLE" is sort of a relative term. Some people might pay big bucks for a piece of toast with the burn marks looking like Elvis on a spotted pony and feel it was reasonable while I think it's stupid. Microstoft thinks their software has a reasonable price associated with it yet people pirate it on a regular basis. Now I'm not saying I want a pic of ya' but I'm just sayin...

Posted by: XRpredator---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patman

. . . Some people might pay big bucks for a piece of toast with the burn marks looking like Elvis on a spotted pony and feel it was reasonable while I think it's stupid.

Hey, it was worth every penny . . . too bad the kid put peanut butter on it and ate it.

Posted by: whenfoxforks-ruled---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by XRpredator

Hey, it was worth every penny . . . too bad the kid put peanut butter on it and ate it.

And then?

Posted by: biglou---------------------

He crapped a turd that looked just like Elvis and Pred sold it on Ebay for $47!

Posted by: whenfoxforks-ruled---------------------

Good clean cash profit!

Posted by: High Lord Gomer---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ol'89r

I think we paid about $ 1.50 each for B&W 8x10 glossys.

Yeah! Really.

I bought enough of them to send his kid to college.

...and they were well worth it! That was one of the best parts of digging through your garage.

Posted by: Sawblade---------------------

Hey Oldguy, I raced at Aztalan a couple times last year, you remember me. I was the dude on the bike with black numbers and green backgrounds and I was wondering if you had any pictures of me I could have…

Posted by: oldguy---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sawblade

Hey Oldguy, I raced at Aztalan a couple times last year, you remember me. I was the dude on the bike with black numbers and green backgrounds and I was wondering if you had any pictures of me I could have…

Backgrounds lime green or babypoo yellow?

Posted by: juniordragster123---------------------

Lol thats pretty funny how far people will go to get something for free XD

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Hey that picture you took

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