More Thanks Due ...
Sunday was not my day. It started with a visit from the cops who stopped at my scooter and slipped a €35 parking ticket onto the windshield. Funny thing but during the week they tell people who park on the wide pavement "You can't park here. It's not a Sunday you know ..." Yet Sunday rolls around and wallop ... ticket. Thanks, tosspots.
Then I'd like to thank 'Lariviere Organisation', the company responsible for the staging and press handling of events like La Ferte Alais airshow and the annual Supercross at Bercy. For the Supercross you have to apply for a photographers vest in order to get onto the track - that's where the best action shots are to be found and there's not much point in taking a shot of the back of the winners head (see photo opposite). I wrote and email to them on the 2nd November requesting a vest. By the 10th I had not received a reply, so another email went out. Yesterday, I arrived on-site at 2pm (an hour before the show began), picked up my press accreditation and asked about the vest. "There are no more vests", I was abruptly informed. I explained that I had requested one on the 2nd of this month. They denied receiving my email so I gave them the copy of both the original and the automated response from their server. Naturally, being French, they didn't feel even one percent embarrassed. "It's not our fault" (standard answer from anyone French, trust me). I won't even begin to tell you the trouble they caused during the airshow ...
I wandered down to the press 'seated' section bordering the track, mixed in with the public and was met with a sight which confirmed my suspicions. Japanese, American and another British photographer had been banished to these seats like naughty schoolboys. It would appear that all the photographer vests had gone to the French. I took half a dozen shots and went back to the press office and confronted the old bitch who was explaining her version (in terrible English) as to why a Spanish sports photographer wasn't going to get a vest.
As I listened to the Spaniard, I gathered that he had done the same thing as me. An email, weeks in advance, had been sent to the organisers. They denied all knowledge and told him that no more vests were available (there was a pile behind her and the event had already started). He threw his arms up in frustration and turned round towards me. "Look," I said to him in loud, precise English, "they do this year after year. If you're French you get a vest, if you're not then not then there's no point coming. An English word you should learn is 'xenophobic' ..."
My final thanks go to the wanker who, at 5am, woke me up by pushing my scooter over and into the road. A nasty sounding crash had me leaping to the curtains. He did the same to another one further up the road.
Isn't this city great? Come and join me ... there's always room for 2 in my own personal hell.
Stu
Sunday was not my day. It started with a visit from the cops who stopped at my scooter and slipped a €35 parking ticket onto the windshield. Funny thing but during the week they tell people who park on the wide pavement "You can't park here. It's not a Sunday you know ..." Yet Sunday rolls around and wallop ... ticket. Thanks, tosspots.
Then I'd like to thank 'Lariviere Organisation', the company responsible for the staging and press handling of events like La Ferte Alais airshow and the annual Supercross at Bercy. For the Supercross you have to apply for a photographers vest in order to get onto the track - that's where the best action shots are to be found and there's not much point in taking a shot of the back of the winners head (see photo opposite). I wrote and email to them on the 2nd November requesting a vest. By the 10th I had not received a reply, so another email went out. Yesterday, I arrived on-site at 2pm (an hour before the show began), picked up my press accreditation and asked about the vest. "There are no more vests", I was abruptly informed. I explained that I had requested one on the 2nd of this month. They denied receiving my email so I gave them the copy of both the original and the automated response from their server. Naturally, being French, they didn't feel even one percent embarrassed. "It's not our fault" (standard answer from anyone French, trust me). I won't even begin to tell you the trouble they caused during the airshow ...
I wandered down to the press 'seated' section bordering the track, mixed in with the public and was met with a sight which confirmed my suspicions. Japanese, American and another British photographer had been banished to these seats like naughty schoolboys. It would appear that all the photographer vests had gone to the French. I took half a dozen shots and went back to the press office and confronted the old bitch who was explaining her version (in terrible English) as to why a Spanish sports photographer wasn't going to get a vest.
As I listened to the Spaniard, I gathered that he had done the same thing as me. An email, weeks in advance, had been sent to the organisers. They denied all knowledge and told him that no more vests were available (there was a pile behind her and the event had already started). He threw his arms up in frustration and turned round towards me. "Look," I said to him in loud, precise English, "they do this year after year. If you're French you get a vest, if you're not then not then there's no point coming. An English word you should learn is 'xenophobic' ..."My final thanks go to the wanker who, at 5am, woke me up by pushing my scooter over and into the road. A nasty sounding crash had me leaping to the curtains. He did the same to another one further up the road.
Isn't this city great? Come and join me ... there's always room for 2 in my own personal hell.
Stu
posted by Stu at 8:26 am
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