[lewvanbommel]

Hey everyone.

Something that I've thought about for a while, and what I prefer to shoot is photojournalism/news/emergency events.

Anyone here work in these areas?

How did you do it?

I don't intend on it happening to me. Just interested in hearing other people's stories.

Thanks team!

Cheers,
Lewis

[Kerrowdown]

Yep I do a bit in these fields.

The first answer is “F/8 and be there.” a quote that's attributed to the photojournalist Weegee. No rocket science, right place, right time and both capture and deliver results, no excuses.

Second, network like crazy, it's a people business, the strangest hot leads often come from the most unlikely sources.

Thirdly get you yourself hooked up with the local picture editors, local press, magazines and the like. So they get to know you when you submit your work on spec (a few well scripted words along with your images, helps too). Because these days they seldom commission photographers as they have their own "staffers" to be kept gainfully employed. The only upside of that is, they can't physically be everywhere at once.

Also expect to remain fairly poor, photo rates aren't great in this industry, here in UK there are published NUJ rates, for the various publications, see link below.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=nuj%20photography%20rates&source=we...45512109,d.d2k

Hope this helps, I use it as only part of my work, along with other photographic activities.

[i83N]

I did. Prepare running like crazy all over city with almost all your gear, that includes a laptop and lenses.

[Na Horuk]

There is no "correct" path into that industry, but expect to make a small portfolio and a lot of phone calls to all sorts of news agencies and publications. Its great if you have some kind of resume, which shows that you took photos for some school newspaper or something, that you have experience. You have to prove yourself and you have to know the right people, and you should expect your first 100 gigs to be boring unimportant events. Or the first 1000. And the agency will tell you where you need to be only a little before you have to actually be there. Its almost like being a pizza delivery guy, only you have to go out, take photos, and bring them back on time
But, you know, eventually you might break through or make some reportage on your own time and surprise them..

[Canada_Rockies]

Start with small weekly papers. Cover school events, especially the boring ones, and submit photos to the weeklies. Nobody else covers the boring stuff (spelling bees and so on) and you might get published.

Weekly papers rely on local sales. If a picture shows little Johnnie doing something (not receiving an award, doing whatever he did to win the award) the odds are that the paper might sell an extra 6 copies for Aunt Jane and Uncle Jim and Grandpa and ...

This will get you going. Kid's sporting events are superb for this sort of thing. I did it for quite a few years. As mentioned above, not much money here, but build up your portfolio. Keep a scrap book of your published submissions.

Make sure you get all the names right. No names, no publication. I did it mostly for fun, but managed to buy the odd piece of equipment. I started with my kids in sports. After a couple of years of practice, and coaching from the editor, I managed to get a full broadsheet sports section front page, two verticals. Two 10 year old competitors, neither mine. Here's one from my scrapbook (K10d, M100/4 macro).

Abbotsford, Sumas and Matsqui News, Wednesday May 28, 1980. Taken with a Pentax KX, M 135/3.5 if I remember correctly.

[MRRiley]

Consider joining your national photojournalist organization. In the U.S. it's called the "National Press Photographers Association (NPPA)." In Australia it's the "Australian Commercial and Media Photographers (ACMP) ."

Mike

[lewvanbommel]

Thanks guys. All great tips!

I'm assuming media/press accreditation with fire and emergency services (where offered) is a good idea also?

[Fries]

Thanks guys. All great tips!

I'm assuming media/press accreditation with fire and emergency services (where offered) is a good idea also?

If you can get it, it can be very helpful in crossing cordoned off spaces; but in my experience having a good relationship with the press spokespersons can be needed to gain access when there are really big things going on even when you have a press accreditation. In the Netherlands it hasn't very easy to get a police accreditation up to now, but that might me changing. Part of maintaining a healthy relationship with the emergency services is also knowing what not to shoot. Most of the time horrific pictures of wounded persons (or worse) will not be published anyway. But be prepared to see that stuff nonetheless if you are covering such events and certainly when you are working freelance it is good to have some sort of support to talk it over with afterwards. Some people are better in dealing with shocking events than others and I am grateful for having colleagues for some support. Due to budget constraints we are working more and more alone which is regrettable in that respect.

I am a radio- and tv-reporter for a regional, public, broadcasting station and have followed the traditional road to journalism trough a journalism school (4 years), starting out as the editor of a small, local, weekly paper and then progressing to where I am now. Currently I am being trained as a cameo/video journalist which is fun but due to the amount of equipment I'll by carrying it will be harder to use my DSLR on the job. The advice given until now has been sound. But (small) print media are in decline over here due to the internet and irresponsible behavior of some publishers; like selling newspapers to people with only short time profits as their goal. If you have some talent and you are there first one on the spot with the capability to get images to clients quickly you have a chance.

[lewvanbommel]

Yeah I've worked for police and fire in an operational sense, not photographic quite extensively. So I'm aware of the nasty sides of the operations and incidents they they are involved with.

. Thanks for the tips guys.

[richard balonglong]

I just read this thread today...
Anyway, regarding photojournalism, it's important to know and identify who are the editors of the publication/s you're targeting. Get to know the news paper's writers and other photographers too. Get all their contact numbers and email addresses.
If you want to get your images published, get to know the latest news in your local area and in your country. Capture important and relevant events and moments, then properly caption each and all of your photographs that you're submitting by providing the five Ws and H (who, what, when, where, why, how)...
Show them what you can provide. Make a portfolio, and must be a strong portfolio. Strong means your photos should let your viewers feel the emotion, the action, and the drama in which it's is also relevant to the latest news or events. NEVER EVER stage a photo oportunity just to create a strong photograph, not only you humiliate yourself but also humiliate the publication you're into.
Creating beautiful, sharp, high quality photographs isn't enough, But creating powerful, striking, and high impact images will help you in this field of photography.

Cheers!
Richard B.

P.S.: I'm into photojournalism here in the northern part of the Philippines and is corresponding for a daily national news paper... =)