It’s New Year’s Eve, 2012, and I’m feeling fantastic that I’ve (just barely, I admit) met a very important goal, that of launching the Marco Simoncelli Archive at PHOTO.GP this year. I brought the collection online yesterday morning and announced it to my newsletter subscribers just now. It feels like a great accomplishment and is something I’m really proud of.
The main element of this satisfaction is due to the fact that 50% of the proceeds from any print sales made through the online order system will go directly to the Marco Simoncelli Foundation. For a long time I searched for a way to offer these images with a clean conscience to those who wanted them, and once I’d decided that donation a portion of any print sales to the Foundation, it took months to get the OK from the Foundation to proceed with the Archive.
Some Background
Ever since Marco Simoncelli’s death in 2011, I have been, along with many of my fellow MotoGP photographers, in an uneasy position regarding photographs of this controversial rider. Being in the business of selling our photographs, we found doing so suddenly complicated when it came to images of a recently-deceased subject.
While some customers immediately wanted to remember and honor Simoncelli with a photographic print that helped them recall some favorite aspect of his character, a handful of other people volunteered vehement criticism of any photographer would charge money for a photograph of the deceased.
I received emails saying things like, “I can’t believe you sell prints of Marco now that he’s gone. Shame on you!” I heard from other photographers about similar experiences, as well as their having received their own emails of appreciation from customers grateful to have a print that had extra significance and meaning to them now that Simoncelli was gone.
This bitterness about mixing commerce with the death of a public figure is understandable, since as a culture we have a distinct unease about it. I think this comes from the behavior of some among us who are willing to exploit solely for their own profit the feelings of loss that accompany a death such as Simoncelli’s. Marco Simoncelli’s fatal accident at Sepang last season brought into the motorcycle racing community a certain number of these people when it came to things like t-shirts and other memorabilia, items that suddenly cropped up in what appeared to be simple attempts to capitalize on the community’s sense of loss.
I suppose it is only the individual who can know for certain what his or her motivation is in such a situation. As I read the few (and I’m grateful it was only a few) hateful emails I’d received, I could only look inward and know by my own unease about the situation that I was not someone trying to exploit the tragedy for my own profit. I continued to offer prints as I had done before, did not raise prices, draw particular attention via specific marketing, or otherwise try to make more for myself from a situation that preyed on the sorrow of others.
I’m glad to say that I didn’t see many of my colleagues doing this, either. I think it was much more a case of people outside the GP community who saw an opportunity to be taken advantage of. Those of us on the inside felt as bad as Simoncelli’s fans did, perhaps even worse because many of us were lucky to get to know Marco at least a little bit on a personal level.
For me, as time passed after Simoncelli’s death, I continued to struggle with this conflict. Each time someone contacted me about buying a print of one of my images, I simultaneously wanted to help that person hold on to his or her memory of Simoncelli as only a meaningful still image can do, yet at the same time had to look at the situation from a business perspective. I could not declare all Simoncelli prints to be free to whomever desired one as some seemed to expect me and all other photographers to do. But neither did I want to declare that the images in my collection were not for sale, not available to anyone who found among them one that truly helped maintain a connection to Simoncelli on the part of the viewer.
(On a side note I’d like to point out that some of those who have been most critical of the selling of Simoncelli prints, shirts, replica helmets, etc., seem to be those who fell little or no connection to Simoncelli on a personal level. I often hear from this group something like, “He’s gone, let him go! Stop all this merchandising that profits from his death.” A valid opinion, certainly, but for my own part I do not wish to let go of my memories of a very special rider and person. Just the opposite, I hope never to forget him or what I loved (and to be frank, didn’t love) about his style and personality. I can understand that others feel similarly, and as I’m in the position of a photographer with images of Simoncelli in my collection, I choose to make them available to others who also wish to remember. Those who disagree with my decision are free to do so. But I know from experience that they are outnumbered by those who feel as I do.)
At some point I had the idea that a solution to my troubled conscience might lie in working with the Marco Simoncelli Foundation. I thought that I might thus find a way to accomplish several goals that seemed in conflict. First was to help Simoncelli’s fans remember and honor him through one of my images if such served that purpose for those individuals. Second was to allow the time and expense of meeting the first goal not harm my business and my ability to support my family. And finally, I might use each sale as a way to support Simoncelli’s memory financially, at least in some small part, while I helped to raise awareness of the Foundation created after his death.
Those of you who follow my work may know that I am an avid supporter of Riders for Health and regularly donate prints and my time to raise money for this amazing organization. My experience with Riders was very helpful in making my plan to approach the Simoncelli Foundation, and to propose ways in which PHOTO.GP could help promote the Foundation’s own fundraising goals.
At Silverstone, I began a long process of talking to Carlo Pernat, Simoncelli’s former manager and close friend to the Simoncelli family. The Foundation was Pernat’s idea, and he continues to advise Paolo Simoncelli on many affairs related to its operation and activities. I wrote a proposal for what I had in mind, and my good friend Andrea Raddi translated my words into Italian so I could present my thoughts in both languages to Pernat and in turn to Marco’s father.
This was the first step in a process that lasted until our final discussion at Phillip Island, wherein we agreed that PHOTO.GP will pass on 50% of the proceeds from prints sold through the archive directly to the Marco Simoncelli Foundation. I will also do what I can to promote the Foundation as I do with Riders for Health, via my various marketing and social media activities.
For months I have been collecting the images that now make up the Archive, preparing them for online ordering and shipping worldwide, with payments accepted in several currencies. I have also approached other photographers about contributing their work to this collection according to the terms worked out the the Foundation, and am very pleased that my friend, Dan Lo, has been the first to do so. The prices for my images in the Marco Simoncelli Archive are exactly the same as my standard rates and each photographer who wishes to contribute images to the collection available at PHOTO.GP must agree to do the same, that is, not mark up images of Simoncelli above his or her normal rates.
I understand that in spite of the considerable effort I’ve made over the past several months to arrange this partnership with the Foundation, and to include other photographers who want to contribute their own work to this cause, some will still criticize me for offering these images for sale as prints. But I’m trying not to think about that too much, because I’m really excited that so much hard work has resulted in something that serves Sic’s fans, helps the Foundation, and allows me to spend the time required to manage the archive without harming my business.
This is my final project for 2012, and I hope it will be a benefit to many people for years to come.
