I know a fair number of photographers whose main body of work is covering motorcycle racing, and the one tune they all sing in perfect harmony is how difficult it is to cover the expenses of traveling to races and then make some profit on top of that.
Some of these photographers do outstanding work, as many of you have seen here on the pages of Asphalt & Rubber, and yet they are trying to survive in an economy where the supply far outpaces the demand.
The demand that exists doesn’t often pay a premium price for premium work, preferring instead to get photos as cheaply as possibly.
This is understandable given that many teams and sponsors in motorcycle racing are themselves operating on shoestring budgets, with some fighting on a race-to-race basis merely to stay involved at their current level of competition. In this, they share something in common with many photographers.
One friend of A&R is the first we know of to use a crowdfunding site called Patreon to help stay involved in MotoGP. Scott Jones is bringing some pretty cool new content to his fans who support him in this way.
Patreon is a crowdsourcing site with some differences from Kickstarter and GoFundMe. Instead of one-time contributions, Patreon supporters make small donations on a monthly basis, in exchange for which they become patrons of the creative people the want to see continue working They also receive rewards based on the level of support they contribute.
Scott’s rewards are what caught my eye about his Patreon presence. While you can see Scott’s photographs on various websites, in order to build fans on Patreon he’s offering some unique content and opportunities that as far as I know do not exist anywhere else.
For example, where else can you get a professional MotoGP photographer to spend one-on-one time with you editing your own photos? Where else can you hear behind the scenes stories of what it’s like to travel to races as a credentialed photographer?
He’s also producing in-depth tutorials on photography, either explaining his own techniques behind the camera or showing how he uses software tools to create individual images. He’s giving away shirts, hats, and other swag he’s collected in the paddock over the years in a lottery for his supporters.
What’s really interesting to me about this is how people like Scott are responding to the internet’s influence on traditional markets by coming up with new ways to get paid for the unique things only they can produce, and which only a certain group of people will appreciate.
If you like Scott’s work and want to help keep him doing his thing, and especially if you are an aspiring photographer who wants to learn directly from one of our favorite shooters, check out his Patreon page here.
Source: Patreon
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