Photographers in British Speedway

[GreenLightGo]

I was appalled to learn of some disgusting behaviour of a group of speedway photographers against a 17yr old kid. At Glasgow we have a young man learning his trade and producing some fantastic stuff. He has been subject to an appalling bullying campaign by jealous photographers who are subjecting him to a hate campaign. They were recently busted by someone who screen shotted their WhatsApp group.

The guys in question are the Leicester photographer, the Edinburgh photographer and 2 from Belle Vue. 

I appalled to say that 2 from Glasgow are also involved.

i understand that this is being investigated by the BSPA. 

Personally I will no longer be purchasing any pictures from these guys until I see a public apology.

i suggest you do too. 

[Cj69]

Taylor is producing some cracking shots and has the support of many riders.  Some of these older photographers just don't like a young gun stepping on their patch.  

[GreenLightGo]

He’s a nice kid. Always pleasant when I see him. If these other photographers are jealous of him and his work perhaps they need to give it up. They have accused him of not originating his own work saying it’s his fathers! They’ve developed their own hashtag on twitter #amow (all my own work) as a bitchy dig at the kid. These ‘men’  by the way are 50+ years old! Times change and move on - Speedway Photographry has too and it’s about the youth. The old guys need to go off and do something else if they can’t hack it. 

I just hope this bullying doesn’t have any adverse effects on the boy. As a pensioner myself I love to see youth prosper and wish him all the best. 

[Aces51]

There may be others I haven't seen but I know that Craig Cook is being very supportive of Taylor on Twitter and Instagram. Good to see and typical of Craig.

Those photographers involved in the disgusting behaviour should be ashamed of themselves. It says a lot about them and about the quality of Taylor's work if they're jealous of the competition.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Aces51

[Uluru]

Given the service his family have given to speedway, it is very sad.    Especially so if (as the opening post suggests) Glasgow-based snappers are involved, as their club has benefitted greatly from the family involvement for years.      

[GreenLightGo]

1 minute ago, Aces51 said:

There may be others I haven't seen but I know that Craig Cook is being very supportive of Taylor on Twitter and Instagram. Good to see and typical of Craig.

Those photographers involved in the disgusting behaviour should be ashamed of themselves. It says a lot about them and the quality of Taylor's work if they're jealous of the competition.

I totally agree. He must be doing something right if he’s scaring them! I do hope the promoters at Leicester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belle Vue take action here. Bullying cannot be tolerated in our sport in any level. 

[SteveLyric2]

Totally unacceptable behaviour BUT why is this in the Premiership section and not the Championship section when three of the 4 apparent culprits are from Championship clubs?  Just asking....!

[Phil The Ace]

12 minutes ago, GreenLightGo said:

I totally agree. He must be doing something right if he’s scaring them! I do hope the promoters at Leicester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belle Vue take action here. Bullying cannot be tolerated in our sport in any level. 

While I dont condone bullying at all. No place for it anywhere.  And I dont condone what the photographers did. And they should be ashamed of themselves about getting jealous of a 17 year old kid who is doing great things. 

 

But this is not bullying. All they done was have a bitch about another photographer in private. That as unfortunately for them found it's way into the public eye. I'm sure everyone has bitched about someone behind there back in your work place or private life. I wouldn't class that as bullying

 

 

[stevehone]

it starts out like that Phil, but gets far worse, trust me

[Phil The Ace]

1 hour ago, stevehone said:

it starts out like that Phil, but gets far worse, trust me

No doubt it does. But when it starts getting public then it forms into bullying. That was just my point 

[GreenLightGo]

I understand it has gone way past bitchy comments behind his back. It’s serious enough to be discussed at the BSPA.

i am very surprised at our 2. One is an active member in the supporters group.

In this day and age, bullying cannot be tolerated and hopefully we will see action taken against the people concerned.

[Trees]

I think whoever is doing the BSPA media is to blame in all this for using Taylor's photos ALL of the time. Yes, new kid on the block, lovely, good boy etc, but why is ALL his stuff being used, has he got monopoly or is it a case of who you know not what you know lol

[GreenLightGo]

2 minutes ago, Trees said:

I think whoever is doing the BSPA media is to blame in all this for using Taylor's photos ALL of the time. Yes, new kid on the block, lovely, good boy etc, but why is ALL his stuff being used, has he got monopoly or is it a case of who you know not what you know lol

Could be that his stuff is just so much better. It seemed good enough for the Daily Star last week and I’m sure they have a high bar. 

Not sure how you can excuse trolling and bullying behaviour from grown men based on their pictures not being used. 

[Trees]

23 minutes ago, GreenLightGo said:

Could be that his stuff is just so much better. It seemed good enough for the Daily Star last week and I’m sure they have a high bar. 

Not sure how you can excuse trolling and bullying behaviour from grown men based on their pictures not being used. 

Not excusing it, more suggesting why some of the others are feeling it maybe .... 

[SharpenRake]

My immediate reaction is the same as others - why have a go at a youngster. But I then wonder who are the photographer's. We have a number at Glasgow with a couple being particularly prominent and I'm sure they have helped Taylor when he was starting. Is it them, surely not or some the other ones. It would be interesting to know otherwise every photographer at these tracks will be assumed to be those that had a go at him 

[GreenLightGo]

6 minutes ago, Trees said:

Not excusing it, more suggesting why some of the others are feeling it maybe .... 

I think only they can explain themselves but seems like they don’t have the cajones  to come out from under their rocks. 

[GreenLightGo]

28 minutes ago, SharpenRake said:

My immediate reaction is the same as others - why have a go at a youngster. But I then wonder who are the photographer's. We have a number at Glasgow with a couple being particularly prominent and I'm sure they have helped Taylor when he was starting. Is it them, surely not or some the other ones. It would be interesting to know otherwise every photographer at these tracks will be assumed to be those that had a go at him 

He may have received help in the past but all people involved are prominent track photographers at their respective tracks. In fact, I am pretty sure they are all named club photographers. Go to twitter and search on #amow and It reveals some interesting info. 

 

[edmon]

Reading with interest but surely that is the problem with social media.  Things get hidden in names etc. A bit like the author of this thread GreenLightGo. 

The accussed may like to explain themselves but I would imagine that their real name would not be used nor any other form of identification. 

Bill Purnell

[SpeedyOne]

Are we perhaps not looking at this from the right perspective?

Speedway these days is not a big sport, and doesn't give many people an income.  In fact most people investing time and money in the sport do so knowing they're going to get very little back, and probably not even cover their costs.

Say for instance you ran the track spares van at Leicester.   It's hardly a money-spinner.    Or say you had the burger van concession at Leicester.  Probably not going to make you a millionaire.

So how would you react if someone rocked up at Leicester selling fuel and oil etc and taking away the official spares man's meagre earnings?  How would you react if someone parked a burger van outside the Leicester car park, taking the business of the guy who had paid for an official concession?

Why should the Leicester official track photographer be any different?   As far as I understand it, all of the official track photographers across the country usually provide all the pictures to the clubs free of charge.  in return they might get a few quid back to cover their expenses by flogging pics to outside media outlets or the track shop for supporters to buy.

Now an enthusiastic 17-year-old might not be any real threat to professional photographers, but if we give carte-blanche to people to just turn up at any track taking snaps, how long before the professional photographers decide it's no longer worth the cost of fuel to cover speedway?  And the sport loses out?

It might just be enthusiasm, but it does sound like this 17-year-old has encroached on the work of official photographers at half a dozen tracks.   Perhaps the answer is for him to concentrate on his own local track and learn the trade there, with a view to becoming that track's official photographer? 

 

(N.B.  I only used Leicester as an example in the above.  I don't know who the photographer, spares man, or burger seller is at Leicester, but you can change Leicester for any other track name.  The point is the same).

 

[Trees]

28 minutes ago, CottonOn said:

Are we perhaps not looking at this from the right perspective?

Speedway these days is not a big sport, and doesn't give many people an income.  In fact most people investing time and money in the sport do so knowing they're going to get very little back, and probably not even cover their costs.

Say for instance you ran the track spares van at Leicester.   It's hardly a money-spinner.    Or say you had the burger van concession at Leicester.  Probably not going to make you a millionaire.

So how would you react if someone rocked up at Leicester selling fuel and oil etc and taking away the official spares man's meagre earnings?  How would you react if someone parked a burger van outside the Leicester car park, taking the business of the guy who had paid for an official concession?

Why should the Leicester official track photographer be any different?   As far as I understand it, all of the official track photographers across the country usually provide all the pictures to the clubs free of charge.  in return they might get a few quid back to cover their expenses by flogging pics to outside media outlets or the track shop for supporters to buy.

Now an enthusiastic 17-year-old might not be any real threat to professional photographers, but if we give carte-blanche to people to just turn up at any track taking snaps, how long before the professional photographers decide it's no longer worth the cost of fuel to cover speedway?  And the sport loses out?

It might just be enthusiasm, but it does sound like this 17-year-old has encroached on the work of official photographers at half a dozen tracks.   Perhaps the answer is for him to concentrate on his own local track and learn the trade there, with a view to becoming that track's official photographer? 

 

(N.B.  I only used Leicester as an example in the above.  I don't know who the photographer, spares man, or burger seller is at Leicester, but you can change Leicester for any other track name.  The point is the same).

 

Quite .....