Media Accreditation

Alistair Wells

Alistair Wells

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AliWELLS1
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Hapy new year Everyone! I am 14 and a keen photographer with my own website and I produce regular pictures for a local business. Would my age be way to low even if I get all the requirements sorted for media Accreditation for smaller meetings at circuits such as Donington and Oulton Park. Think I already know the answer but would love to know
Regards,
Alistair
 
Though it might be. What would be the minimum ae then. Cheers for the reply anyway
 
I wrote to Oulton about this (for a specific event), the requirements were that I had PLI as noted above, I had to produce some examples of my published work, and I had to produce a letter from a publication editor engaging me to photograph the event on their behalf. Being over 18 the PLI aspect wasn't really an issue (while the £5m sounds a lot, the policy cost isn't really that high) but the other two were more of a challenge, and I do wonder how a beginner would fare, as if you're trying to start out in these things you're not going to be able to produce either.

I had a conversation with a mate about this, and he pointed out that he'd been at Oulton recently and seen people with media bibs aged "around 16", so whether they do some kind of school-related thing or the person he saw was with a parent who had accreditation, I don't know. I can't even say how he established the persons age, but he did seem quite sure.
 
Beginners have to start from the beginning shooting from public areas and cultivating their own contacts with the press & media.

People have been known to lie about their age to get accreditation (not recommended), or it could be an immature 18yr old that appears to be younger than they actually are - or it wasn't an event under the auspices of the MSA or bike equivalent.
 
Fair points. I guess I assumed that some proof of the various things would be required and I just tend to gloss over the fact that some people might actually forge stuff like that.
 
droopsnoot said:
I do wonder how a beginner would fare, as if you're trying to start out in these things you're not going to be able to produce either.
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If you did some less high profile local motor club events with a lower barrier to entry (karting, road rallies, etcetera) and got some of your photos of those in the local paper you'd have published work and you'd be dealing with someone at the paper who might eventually be willing to supply a letter of accreditation for higher profile events.
 
I agree with DazJW; find motorsport that happens away from racetracks and you'll have better chances of getting either a) Accreditation, or b) close enough to the action that you can shoot what you want from the public areas.

I did moto-X (Canada Heights is my nearest track), and its great for access, and its fantastic motorsport!
 
Somebody I know has just started to race in Thundersport GB and after seeing my photos has asked me to be his team photographer for race meetings. If they were to supply an official letter requesting me to do this, would this alongside my PLI be enough to satisfy the requirements?
 
A lot of the karting events in the UK will be MSA, most events that aren't are called IKR or Non-MSA.
 
andrewc said:
It may work, the normal requirement is PLI + letter of support from a recognised publication + examples of relevant published work from last year. A letter from his local paper would be a better thing.
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Thanks Andrew, I'm thinking of sending the editor of his local papers some photos of this weekends race along with a write up. Any thoughts on this approach?
 
droopsnoot said:
I wrote to Oulton about this (for a specific event), the requirements were that I had PLI as noted above, I had to produce some examples of my published work, and I had to produce a letter from a publication editor engaging me to photograph the event on their behalf. Being over 18 the PLI aspect wasn't really an issue (while the £5m sounds a lot, the policy cost isn't really that high) but the other two were more of a challenge, and I do wonder how a beginner would fare, as if you're trying to start out in these things you're not going to be able to produce either.

I had a conversation with a mate about this, and he pointed out that he'd been at Oulton recently and seen people with media bibs aged "around 16", so whether they do some kind of school-related thing or the person he saw was with a parent who had accreditation, I don't know. I can't even say how he established the persons age, but he did seem quite sure.
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I've also been to oulton and noticed people with the MSV bibs under the age of 18 but have never clicked on to the PLI being an issue for under 18's until it's been mentioned here

However I have also thought some media accreditation is a fact of who you know rarher than what you have done/ had published
 
andrewc said:
Could well work, but get on it now. My local paper has a motorsport section on Thursdays but if you don't submit your story by Monday am its too late...
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Well the plan worked, sort of. The local paper published it in this weeks edition, only issue is they haven't named me on either the pics or write up, even though it is word for word my text. Would I still be able to use this as evidence, as long as I had copies of the originals showing copyright etc?
 
ChrisHeathcote said:
Well the plan worked, sort of. The local paper published it in this weeks edition, only issue is they haven't named me on either the pics or write up, even though it is word for word my text. Would I still be able to use this as evidence, as long as I had copies of the originals showing copyright etc?
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In my experience, it won't do you much good. What you really need is a letter from the editor of the publication supporting your application. You're very, very unlikely to get accreditation as a freelancer who is just sending images in on spec even if you do have one or two tear sheets to include with your application.
 
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