freelance editorial work

[frozendins]

February 5, 2008 at 12:37 pm

Hi,

I want to get into editorial work and Iam presuming freelance is the way to go but I am not sure of the way this works or how I get my work used.

Should I email all the relevant picture desks with my details and sit back and wait for the phone to start ringing (in utopia maybe :wink: )

or

Do I go out cover the events and keep sending in work till I eventually get used and build up a reputation with the picture desk staff?

If the former is the most popular route then who do I address the correspondence to? Is it just the generic picture desk address or should I get the picture editors details and go directly to the them?

My intention so far (obviously depending on any advice I get from those with experience) is to draft a short mail saying I am looking for freelance work, provide contact details and www address and pretty much leaving it at that. The short n sweet approach.

I wil then send this to all local, regional, national, international and intergalactic publications.

any comments appreciated (within reason of course :lol: )

thanks
Bren.

[paul]

February 5, 2008 at 4:26 pm

There are a number of smaller publications (Gazette, People, Echo, (some of those freepapers), etc) who use a good few freelance photographers. They’re a good way to start out and get your stuff published. Look up their details, give them a call, send them samples of your work, and see how it goes.

Best of luck.

[BarkerPhotographic]

February 5, 2008 at 8:55 pm

Hi Bren,
Best of luck with publications. Don’t expect to get rich in Press Photography, the pay ranges from very poor to adequate to comfortable! Those who succeed work hard and unsociable hours, if you are not prepared to do this choose another avenue NOW (PR?). Those who do suceed in Press Photography usually do so because they love the job, and it is a rewarding job – new every day.
In my experinece, the following works (Assuming your Photography is up to scratch for the relevant Publication):
Send a short introductory e-mail to the appropriate Picture Editor (Editor for smaller publications) Outlining your experience, Interests (Sport, Current affairs, Features etc.) along with either a link to your Website / And / Or some low resolution images. Also include your full contact details, including your address so they can see your Geographic area. If you have a suitabole portfolio, carefully target the images you send to each recipient (Cheque / golf presentation pictures used by Provincial papers will NOT impress National Editors).
Now the work begins, you e-mail will get you perhaps 20-30 seconds of attention, follow it up within 24 hours with a BRIEF telephone call. Ask a few questions (Like do you mind if I Submit pictures on Spec., What format do the want (.jpg, Fully captioned in File Info), should the images be e-mailed, FTP’ed, sent on CD etc…). Now start submitting relevant, topical images and keep doing it for a month or two. If you get SOME publications you are doing well, if you don’t get any, try one more phone call and ask have they been seen, are they good enough and what should you do to improve your hit rate?
Only when you have had multiple publications can you hope for….An Assignment!

[frozendins]

February 5, 2008 at 10:57 pm

Thanks Paul & Paddy. You both apear to be giving pretty much the same guidlines

Paddy. I particularly appreciate your detailed advice and indeed words of caution. You mention what will NOT impress national editors and I understand the thrust of what you are saying. What i am reading into your post though is that it will not be the quality of the initial images that gets me work but the follow up and the quality of the images I subsequently send in.

The quality of these subsequent images will depend somewhat on the events I cover so what my next question for you is: Apart from reading the news and keeping up with forthcoming oppurtunities are there any resources available (online or otherwise) for identifying oppurtunities that would interest editors?

Maybe I should target PR work in conjunction with editorial in order to bankroll me through the lean periods ahead.

thanks again for your time gents.

[paul]

February 5, 2008 at 11:12 pm

Yeah, you certainly won’t get rich. I’ve done a few bits, sports, for papers. The pay is just enough to cover costs and maybe a little more.

A real good way is to make a contact in the paper (which is how they asked me to do freelance stuff for them).

Best of luck with it.