Newspaper Photographer

[Gayla]

Hi I teach a beginners photography class at a local college. One of the lessons I teach is about different jobs available to good photographers. I would like to talk about newspaper photographers. If you work for or know anyone who works for a paper, I would like to know some interesting facts about it. How most get that kind of gig? What are the job qualifications? What are the job duties? How they pay? Or anything else you think my students need to know about this type of job.

[Daniel Bates]

I work for a student paper, does that count?


(welcome to the forum, by the way!)

[Gayla]

Sure, how does your job work? Thanks for the welcome

[ndsimm]

I freelance for a few local papers, would that help?

[Gayla]

Yes. All types of photographers are great. Please tell me how you work as a freelance photographer?

[Daniel Bates]

Okay, here's my "story"...

I work for a student-run college newspaper (The Battalion). I am a staff photographer, so I shoot on assignment. Most of what I shoot is campus news--if we're doing a story about a group of people, I'll take a group portrait, or if we're doing a story about a sports event I'll shoot that. I do some features (photos with captions, no story). I am paid per photo run, and the rate depends on a few things like where in the paper the image was run (obviously front page six-column lede is better than a one column black-and-white photo on Page 7).

Anything else you'd like to know?

[ndsimm]

I don't have a lot to add.....

I was fortunate enough to start volunterring shooting HSFB and gained experience there. From there and through this great forum, I was given an opportunity to shoot for my first paper where I don't necessarily get paid, but the opportunity to get my name in the paper and the experience gained is great. From that experience, I've been given the opportunity to shoot for some local magazines that do pay by the assignment. As my experience grows I look forward to making this more permanent....

hope that helps

[Gayla]

So do either of you know, do most newspaper just use freelance? Do they hire full time photographers for any of the papers yall have worked for?

[bondarnes]

I began my paid photography career in 1970 working part-time for the Denton-Record Chronicle while pursuing a journalism degree at NTSU (now UNT). The funny story is that I was actually hired to work in the engraving department, since I had engraving experience. On my way home from that job interview I photographed a wreck. When I reported for work the next morning I gave the roll of film to the editor and it ran front page.

The film we used in the engraving dept. was 24" wide by 50' long. It is called litho film and is extremely contrasty with only black or clear areas when properly developed. It is used to photograph the page layouts for making engravings or offset printing plates.

I continued in the engraving dept. for about a year until an opening came up in the photography dept. I quit newspaper photography when I finished my degree in 1974 because the pay was not that great and I had a dream of having a wedding and portrait photography business. I continued to string for the paper for probably ten years covering high school football games and occasionally turning in a spot news photo.

[bondarnes]

Originally Posted by Gayla

So do either of you know, do most newspaper just use freelance? Do they hire full time photographers for any of the papers yall have worked for?

Larger newspapers like the Dallas Morning News and the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram have a staff of several photographers, but they also use freelancers (called stringers) for sports mostly. Most Daily newspapers will have at least one full time photographer. Most weekly newspapers use part-time photographers which may or may not be an employee of the paper. Several of the papers that I have worked for as an engraver expect their reporters to take photos for some of their stories when a photographer is not available. When I was at the Abilene Reporter News in addition to being the night shift engraver I also developed and printed film brought in by the reporters.

[lscottpht]

I freelance for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Feel free to pm me with any questions. I've also sold to other newspapers and worked with international agencies. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

A couple of quick answers. The bigger papers like the Telegram and DMN use both staff and freelancers. Freelancers are paid per assignment. They very rarely hire new staff these days because of the way the industry is heading. Newspapers are now trying to make the transition into video and grabbing stills from those.

As far as how I got the gig, I have worked with a variety of international agencies and have built up a portfolio. I sent the director of photography an email along with a link to my website. He sent me back an email to arrange an interview. They liked my work, and I have been freelancing with them for several months. Basically, they call and ask if I'm available. It can be as little as a few hours notice and as much as 1-2 days notice. If I'm available, I will go and shoot the event, edit, caption, and transmit the images. My deadlines have ranged from around 30 min. from the time the shoot starts, like the other night (not the Telegram's fault...singer didn't go on till 10 and deadline was 10:30), to 2 hrs, to a few days. It just depends on when the story is set to go into publication. Anyway, I think I answered all your questions. Let me know if you have anymore.

[madams]

Gayla,

I would be happy to talk to you about the newspaper photography profession. I have been a staff photographer at three papers with over thirty years experience and am now a Photo Editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Give me a call nights, Sunday-Thursday, 817-390-7888.

Milton

[Outlaw]

Awesome idea for a lesson, Gayla! Thank you for taking the time to do research and get some real-world opinions and stories to share with your students. The local school journalism and photojournalism classes here are appalling; I have helped out a few times with their projects and their teachers honestly just make up their lessons. They do not teach real journalism or anything resembling it. Thank -you- for taking the time to do things right.

That said, I've worked for the local weekly (about 5,000 circulation) for just over seven years now, going from a transcriber to associate editor-in-chief, mostly focused on photojournalism. I got the job when I was a sophomore in high school and applied at both local papers and a flower shop. The flower shop laughed at me (seemed like viable employment at the time!), the Bulletin disregarded me, and the Review hired me on part-time. I've since survived three different owners and the buyout of the Review by the Bulletin.

The job qualification for me when I started was simply that I could type fast and accurately. I offered up story ideas when I would turn in my typed press releases and such on 3.5" floppy, and eventually was given a writing assignment. I did well and things just grew from there. The day I graduated HS I was hired full-time and have remained so since.

My job duties at a weekly have always been catch-all; half the time, I'm the only person in the office, so I have to be able to do everything from take classified ads to handling issues at press to, of all things, cover news and write stories. My photography duties center around spot-news and local sports coverage, from little league to high school football. I also do feature photography and work with the other papers in our parent corporation with photography-related questions and problems.

Let's just say the pay stinks and, as Leslie kind of touched on above, it isn't going to get better. If you want to make a lot of money as a photojournalist, you have to be amazing and work for the big boys. I run my personal business, Outlaw Photography Studios, as a logical off-shoot of my day job to supplement my income.

The best part of my job is flexibility and creative control. Being at a small paper and having earned my place, I have the luxury of being able to basically work whenever I want, so long as my publisher is kept happy. This has been especially awesome this past year as I became a married man and a father! So being able to take a day off to help with sick kids or arranging my schedule so I can be home when needed is great. Being able to lay hands on my work all the way from shutter-snap to publication is also great, but it does mean you have to wear a lot of hats and have a jack-of-all-trades skillset, which is something that makes your resume look nice when and if you choose to move on to bigger digs.

Hope that answers some of your questions! If you have any others, post here or drop me a PM, and thank you again for taking the time to give your students quality knowledge!

[AndrewCCM]

I agree. This is a good forum with people always willing to help. I am interested in this kinda stuff myself. I stay busy shooting my standard things, but photojournalism really interests me (sports, concerts, among other things..) I think freelancing would be something nice to do...