Joey Saldana Redecorates with Princess Imagery

At the end of February, 2009, I got some very exciting news! It would turn out that three of the pictures I took at the World of Outlaw season opener at Volusia Speedway Park would be used as backgrounds on Joey Saldana's new and improved website (www.joeysaldana.com).

Having the chance to go to Florida and being treated so kindly by all who were in charge of the DIRTcar Nationals event was one thing . Finding some sort of validation in the fact that my pictures were "good enough" to appear on the website of one of the best sprint car drivers in the world was another thing. I don't know. As silly and unlogical as it sounds... the experience felt like this little bridge that moved me from being just another fan taking pics at the track to someone preserving the memory of sprint car racing through visual imagery. A "self-awarded" badge of achievement by all means, but something to be pround of regardless. After all, for many of us the recognition of personal successes comes far and few between, as compared to being recongized by others for our successes. :)

I know for some, "all this" is really no big deal. I'm sure there are veteran photographers out there that would laugh at my excitement with the idea that "it's just part of the job." Hopefully I never fall into that way of thinking. Hopefully each little achievement will be just as new and exciting as the last. 'Cause there's nothing worse than having something (like a hobby) that you love and are excited about turn into "just another job." I think sometimes people try so hard to squeeze some sort of profit out of their beloved hobbies... that eventually they also squeeze the passion right out along with it. For ethical reasons and a mutual respect for the motorsport photography profession, I have turned my little hobby into a business. But the business and finance parts of it all mean very little to me... and that's the way I intend to keep it. I want to keep my excitement where my heart tells me it should be kept, in the little achievements like the Saldana example described above. Because I know when it gets right down to it... when I'm old and reflecting back on my life... those little achievements are going to be the ones I'm most proud of. How much money I made at the end of the year will mean next to nothing when taking that final inventory of my life. :)

I can't wait to see what else I'll be able to accomplish in 2009! Keep your fingers crossed for me! With the divorce and all the other changes in my life last year... I thought 2008 was going to be the year for new beginnings. But it turns out 2008 was a year of healing and rest. 2009 is going to be my year. I can just feel it. I had to rest and replentish in 2008 so I would be ready to do everything that I'm going to do in 2009... whatever that may be. :)

The moral of this blog:
Don't let outside influences (money, power, people, etc.) take away the excitement of the things you love. 'Cause in the end, only the stuff you loved and loved doing in it's simplest and purest form is going to matter.

Take care,
Stacy