The inside pages of newspapers are more mixed in content, with news pages at the front gradually giving way to general-interest features before running into the business and sport sections at the back. Unfortunately, the potential for freelancers in all areas is pretty small. Most of the news pictures come from agencies and staffers, and the features tend either to be illustrated with shots from libraries or specifically commissioned. However, newspapers are always interested in offbeat, quirky pictures to brighten their pages. If you take anything of that kind it’s work getting in touch, especially if they can be related in some way to a current story.
Most images for newspapers are sourced from staff photographers or international agencies such as Reuters, but occasionally an amateur or freelance strikes it lucky and grabs a once-in-a-lifetime picture that is splashed around the globe. It is always worth having a camera with you – a decent digital compact will do – and keeping alert for anything out of the ordinary. If you do shoot something with front-page potential, don’t hang about – call the paper immediately. If they like the sound of what you’ve got, they will send a bike over straight away, or ask you to email the image to them if you’re close to a computer.
Should the newspaper decide that they want to go ahead and publish, they will offer you a fee to sign the rights over to them. This is the time to keep a clear head and read the small print – don’t rush into things. That may be easier said than done, because they will probably put a lot of pressure on you to agree to their terms, especially if they are close to putting the paper to bed. You have to decide whether what you are being offered is enough. It may sound like a temptingly substantial sum, but bear in mind that if the picture is exclusive – no-one else has the image – and in demand, the paper will syndicate it around the world, making serious money in doing so.
What you really need to do, if you can, is to negotiate a percentage of any syndication earnings; that way, your return will be significantly higher. However, if the paper won’t budge, you may decide you have to take what you can get.
Another option, albeit a less glamorous one, is your local newspaper. Every town or region in any country boasts at least one, and some have two or more competing titles. By their nature, local papers are focused on news and events within a particular area. Many have a small number of staff photographers, so the good news is that most of them welcome pictures from freelancers, usually accompanied by a short report or caption. The bad news is that many have no budget to pay for freelance contributions, so the best you are likely to get is a credit. Even so, if you want to gain experience and tear sheets, perhaps as a stepping stone to a staff position or to give you credibility in other markets, you may be willing to work on that basis.
Make sure that you retain your copyright in any pictures published, as one of the ways in which local newspapers generate revenue is by selling prints to readers. That is why you see so many photographs of groups published. Leafing through the latest issue of my local newspaper, I see a shot of a nursery that has received a glowing report (16 faces); a poet opening a school library (9 faces); a report on a filmmaking project (11 faces); pupils at a grammar school hearing about industry (24 faces in four pictures) – and that’s just up to page 9. If you are intent on shooting for local newspapers, therefore, you need to know how to organize and work with groups. If you don’t have much experience in this area, simply look at the way the pictures that are currently being published are composed and do the same.
CRICKET
Whether it’s cricket,baseball, soccer or whatever, regional papers are full of pictures of local teams participating in sports – but you rarely get paid.
It’s the same for other subjects. Photographs in newspapers need to tell the story at a glance and, because they are printed on newsprint – relatively poor quality paper that doesn’t reproduce fine detail well – they are also often clichéd in style and content, so they communicate the message quickly and easily. Someone who has just passed an exam may perform a ‘jump for joy’, while someone whose bicycle has been stolen may be shown sitting with their head in their hands looking despondent. Once you have developed a repertoire of such stock poses, you will find it straightforward enough to produce the right kind of pictures.
CELEBRITY FOCUS
Many newspapers like to feature well-known personalities doing something unusual. Virgin’s Richard Branson in a wedding dress is guaranteed to be newsworthy.
POSTCARDS
Changes in technology can affect markets in different and often unexpected ways. There’s no doubt, for example, that the development of quality camera phones has had an impact upon sales of postcards that no-one would have anticipated a decade ago. These days, many people on holiday prefer to text back a picture of themselves relaxing on the beach or living it up in a nightclub – rather than sending an anonymous ‘wish you were here’-type postcard.
That doesn’t mean the postcard market is dead, however. The sheer number of people going on holiday each year, and the number of times they do so, means that postcards are certain to be around for some time yet. Another reason they continue to sell is the picture quality, which is much better than most amateurs are able to achieve themselves. Usually the light is glorious, the composition attractive and the mood idyllic. If you’re looking to get into the postcard market, that is what you need to be shooting, too.
GO FOR IMPACT
If postcards are to sell they need to have impact on the stand, so look for ways of making your subject matter stand out.
The vast majority of postcards are bought by people on holiday, so you need to focus on the right places – coastal resorts, popular inland towns, scenic villages, attractive landscapes, and beautiful gardens and cities that are popular with tourists. You must also select the right view or subject. Postcard publishers are looking for ‘definitive’ shots of a particular area – pictures that portray its spirit and essence. At almost all locations, there are certain things that you need to include: particular views, well-known buildings or monuments and specific landmarks. By all means take other pictures of the place, but don’t expect them to sell for postcards. Paris, for example, has certain iconic views such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, and even much smaller towns will typically have a few key landmarks. Not surprisingly, they are by far the most popular postcard subjects.
Successful postcard pictures are often visual clichés that depict the kind of subject matter visitors associate most readily with the place. Think of London, for instance, and you might think of Big Ben, red buses, Nelson’s Column, beefeaters, the Tower of London, black taxi cabs – and, sure enough, those are the images on the most popular cards. It’s the same in Paris, where visitors typically go for shots of the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame and Frenchmen wearing berets and strings of onions. Such subjects and treatments may seem corny and stereotyped, but that really is what people buy – because they sum up what tourists think of the location.
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