This ongoing health crisis have impacted my career and honestly, it’s for the absolute worse. All because of my attempt to keep myself present at the racetrack and since hardly anyone wants to hear from me, I’ll share my story here.
Consider this blog as a stance on how I feel about COVID-19 because after this post, I won’t personally discuss about it on social media anymore.
I don’t really ask for sympathy because all of us are impacted. Let me make it clear, ALL OF US are impacted by the crisis.
I’ll let other people share their stories, which you’re more than welcome to inform me because I hope others tell their tales in some capacity.
That’s my goal when I started Luis Torres Mutlimedia last year, not just for me to give you updates and share my works, but have others be a part of something special in the long run.
With that being said, I wrote this last week meant for a publication which never came to be. It cannot be ignored, so here’s why the lack of racing have negative implications on my media career:
Not being at the track certainly hurts any opportunity of doing what I love which is being versatile in motorsports media. I thrive being at a race track and the upcoming races I was going to do were St. Pete, Texas, Long Beach and COTA have all been axed. Due to this, I have nothing to show for as a freelance journalist and photographer.
Being from the state of Washington, it’s been hard trying to make it in the industry. Outside of what I do for Motorsports Tribune, I’m only a part-time camera operator and full-time worker that I’ll keep private. Those two jobs are what solely gets me to the racetrack.
I’ve made a lot of sacrifices to keep my career going since covering race in 2018. More times than not, my parents want me to give up the dream and I constantly argue with them about this subject. I don’t think we’ll ever agree which it sucks to not have true support.
That’s why when I’m covering the races and being away from home, it brings genuine happiness. It’s what keeps me alive because it’s all I really know and still hope to make motorsports media my main source of profit. That’s why I’m extremely hell bent to multitask. Not because I love it, but it’s a way to see which craft of work sticks for the long haul.
Without any chance of doing on-assignments until hopefully the Indianapolis 500, there’s no way I can expand my craft where people may notice.
Last month in Florida, I spent 10 days working my butt off with my articles, coming up with straight forward questions, shooting photos and for the first half of Speedweeks, taking Ubers and walking to the track – Monday’s activity at New Smyrna included. All that effort was for nothing because the Daytona 500 was postponed due to rain and I had to go home following Sunday which was really discouraging.
Yes, it sucks unable to do the rest of the 500. Yes, it sucks I can’t do anything until the Month of May.
However, I must move on and make my next on-assignment even better than the last and I trace that back with not letting autism define me. I let my dedication and hard work do the talking.
Right now, covering esports is a necessity to keep myself and Motorsports Tribune relevant in the eyes of racing fans. I’ll be honest, it’ll get me by until we get back into real racing.
At the same time, the reduction of my racing trips puts me in a bad spot to keep my media career alive. It’s impacted any opportunity to get my name out there and while I’ll still write some news articles when it becomes available, there’s not much to keep me active.
I don’t have the biggest budget or the ultimate laptop to do fun things like iRacing, Adobe After Effects, etc. I got bills to pay and at 25 years old, I can’t have much fun without fearing of not having enough to get by financially.
What’s worst about being in a state that’s on “stay at home” lock down, any opportunity of shooting photos with people to expand my portfolio is dead in the water until late 2020. It’s the only reason why I’ve pushed my “List of Promises” to go through 2021 because there’s no way I can fully accomplish my 14 goals with 2-3 months being ousted.
My optimism is crushed, but I’ll try to fight through these rough circumstances and when the crisis is finally over, hope I can deliver my best works to date.
Whether it’s on the track, doing a documentary about leadership camp (something I still want to make a reality ever since graduating from Idaho in 2016) or local events, now more than ever I need any ounce of support and seriousness when I want to collaborate on projects.
Over the next few weeks, I hope to share your stories. It doesn’t matter what you do, my brand is open to hear from you and why this health crisis have impacted your livelihood.
I only have one that’s set to come out over the next few days, so hopefully you stick around and hear from others.
Time will tell if these small projects comes to life, but at this rate – I’ll do what I can do and not let this setback hurt any bit of spirit I got left.
Hopefully, until we meet again, stay safe and healthy.
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