AOP article about the genre click here to view
Research sheet with links click here to view
Editorial photography is where the pictures, either alone or with text tell a story, and it could cover any subject or genre, uses could include;
- Magazines
- Newspapers
- Brochures
- Advertorials
- Internet sites
- Multi media
- Printed books
For example, a photo essay about the plight of an oppressed community may be classed as photojournalism, but as a printed or published piece of work it is also an editorial, likewise shots from London Fashion Week that are then used to tell the story of new trends or the rise of a new designer tell a story and become editorial.
Not all editorial shots are from observation events though, some use sets; for example if a magazine was running an article on the increased recreational use of drugs in the professional female population it may want an image of a high end handbag with the contents spilling out ant containing a range of drugs. The type of shots are not always shot for purpose and may be bought from stock agencies but are still for editorial use.
The saying goes "A picture tells a thousand words", so I guess this describes editorial images.
Research Articles
Whilst not strictly limited to editorial photography, here is an article taken from EP online which I found quite sobering, because I tend to take the images I need rather than the images I like and/or want to take;
Here's the rub: If you create a book that you think will get you work based on your perception of what sells, or on the advice of anyone who steers you away from your core, you have a complex problem ahead. Yes, you may find some work that way, which is really tempting short term, while you tell yourself you'll do the real stuff on the side or in the future. "Show the work you want to get" is a lasting truism and if you have chosen to show work other than the purist version of your creative vision then whatever jobs do come in will be based on that work. There are many shooters who do this exact thing and end up with a middling level of success, stuck on a financial and creative plateau, slowly starting to run out of gas. After a few years they hate their their work and life in general. They are getting divorced or leaving the business or pursuing whatever diversion eases the pain. They are not living the dream. They are not challenging themselves creatively because they did not give themselves permission to be who they are as photographers in the first place. This is the road to being a burned out, bitter hack. Boring.
Doug's latest book project follows the inspiring journey of twenty orphans who overcame tremendous
hardships to form a dance troupe and become cultural ambassadors for their troubled country.
menuez.com/transcendentspirit/
An even starker reality is that if you don't do this you'll fail anyway. You certainly won't ever hit it out of the park and most likely you face a life of increasing disappointment. The truth is that you ignore your own creative needs at your peril. Everyone will eventually go through this painful process of self-examination, catharsis and renewal at some point in their lives, and if they don't they will be living the consequences, unconscious of what's eating them alive, becoming more bitter and unhappy by the day. From what I've seen and experienced it is absolutely imperative to at least try. The safe choices we rationalize away our dreams with are just illusory.
And this is another article from the same source about the value of Photography, and how misconceived ideas can lead to frustrated and 'skint' individuals
Well - I' m glad that's settled, although I personally know a couple of thousand working photographers who might take issue with the above statement.
According to the article, Bruce Weber, David LaChapelle and Mario Testino make up to one hundred grand a day. Even though the aforementioned are primarily fashion photographers (who also shoot ads) and even if there is only a modicum of truth to those numbers, why is it that they feel entitled to demand those fees and so few advertising photographers do? Have they unleashed a deep dark secret of the universe that up until now has only been revealed to a select few? The answer is really simple - so simple that it will probably cause one to smack his or her forehead and experience a realization equal to "Gee - I could have had a V-8!"
They understand both the real and the perceived value of their work. How's that for anti-climactic? They have figured out that the client can potentially generate millions of dollars from the use of their images. They are able to recognize the importance of positioning so it is not only the image, but the photographer himself that has value.
Right now there are art directors all over who are just chomping at the bit to work with the above mentioned in addition to Annie Leibovitz, Albert Watson, Matthew Rolston, Peggy Sirota and Greg Gorman. And sometimes, one of those photographers might not even be the best choice, or, the art director can hire someone whose work might be similar and would cost a lot less - but they don't. They hire those photographers because they have positioned themselves so well, that to the art director, there is no other choice.
2. Believe in the value of your work. If you don't, no one else will either.
3. The level you go into an agency situation at is the level at which you will stay. If you do a job for a small amount of money and think you will be rewarded with a bigger job the next time around, guess again. When there's a big job to hand out, a big guy gets it.
4. Market yourself and always use a good designer.
5. Hire a consultant. They really can make a difference. But do your research - there are pretenders among us.
6. If you are stuck in a poverty mentality get unstuck. I know that is easier said than done but this will only keep you down. This is a fear driven business - please try not to buy into any more fears than you positively have to.
7. This is a business. Don't try to make everybody like you. Make better images. That way you can walk away with a sense of accomplishment and more money.
OK - now a word about stock. I have always believed that stock should be more expensive than assignment photography. There are tremendous advantages for an agency in using an already existing image. First and foremost there is no risk - they know exactly what they're getting. They don't have to deal with the photographer or the rep and that has to be worth something. In addition, the agency does not have to send an already overworked creative team to a photo shoot. They can stay in their office and be even more overworked, while saving the agency travel expenses.
Again, the uniqueness of an image plays a major role in determining its value; however, too many photographers look upon stock sales as found money. They are not considering the greater value it has to the client. If more people had subscribed to the idea that some stock is not only as valuable as assignment photography but even more so, there might not have been as big a bite taken out of the assignment market as there has been, and, it probably would have been a bit more difficult for Corbis and Getty to reduce the value of imagery to $20.00.
I can't say this enough - please get behind the value of your work and the contribution you are making to the marketplace. No one is doing you any favors when they hire you. Your imagery is vital to the success of the ad. How many magazines do you think would sell without pictures? The clients know the answer to that question and so should you. Photographers have always held the power but only a few have realized it. Maybe that will change. Stranger things have happened. Look who's in the White House...
©2001-2006 Debra Weiss - All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Debra Weiss is a creative consultant based in Los Angeles. She can be reached at 323-650-4300 or via e-mail at dw@debraweiss.com
Research Articles
Whilst not strictly limited to editorial photography, here is an article taken from EP online which I found quite sobering, because I tend to take the images I need rather than the images I like and/or want to take;
ON CHAOS, FEAR, SURVIVAL & LUCK: LONGEVITY IS THE ANSWER
To survive the creative, economic and emotional chaos of a life in photography your career must be designed for longevity. To achieve longevity, you must reconcile the conflict between what you shoot for money and what you love to shoot. Ideally, you get paid to shoot exactly what you love to shoot, every day. Reaching this nirvana requires making tough choices, a careful business strategy and attention to basic business practices. (Or be super talented/lucky, born wealthy or marry a brilliant business manager.
Simple, right? Not exactly, and this idea assumes you will survive the current financial disaster we are traversing. Some details are in order...
By Doug Menuez
THE FREELANCE DILEMMA
We are like swimmers lost on a vast, dark sea. Lightning streaks out from a distant storm to show us a direction and off we go, furiously slashing the waves toward the light and hopefully land. Too soon, darkness settles back down around us and we lose our way again. Occasionally, we lose our faith in ourselves.
At least for me, that's how it sometimes feels to be a photographer, as I struggle to find my true path. A few years ago I took a serious break to reflect on my goals and choices. This was tough; reflection involves actual thinking, as opposed to jumping on another flight to whereverland. Although blessed with outward success and a richly varied career over 30 years of non-stop travel, it slowly dawned on me that inwardly I was deeply unhappy.
Soon I had three epiphanies that opened my eyes to obvious truths I had ignored in my chaotic life. Based on these revelations I developed a set of new principals by which to live and re-direct my career. Almost overnight I was free of fear and felt true happiness probably for the first time in my life. Not everything was perfect but I had a plan and a renewed sense of purpose and belief in myself.
What actually triggered all this was hitting on a new way of thinking about my daily struggles. I gained a whole new perspective by asking: how can I build a satisfying and challenging creative life in photography over the long-term? It was clear that making longevity my ultimate goal was the answer to most if not all of my problems. By asking how each decision I made helped me achieve this goal - satisfying, creative work to last a lifetime - I had a framework by which to live a much happier and more meaningful life. Short term worries and roadblocks fell away. Thinking this way became critical to my very survival.
In a dinner conversation with Keith Green we touched on this subject of longevity and he invited me to share my thoughts with this essay. Perhaps I will seem the master of the obvious, but hey, sometimes I need a polo mallet in the head to really understand things. But in the workshops I teach I have seen firsthand that I'm not the only one going through this challenge. These are tough times and there is a hunger out there for answers. People are hitting the wall financially and creatively and can't figure out the next step.
The effort to express your vision combined with the battle in the crowded marketplace to sell your talents during the worst economic crisis in history; well it's dauntingly Sisyphean. Set that against the Congressional and corporate rights grabs and the need to balance work against time with your family and putting the food on the table, well, that will bring you to your knees. It's not about f-stops and lighting, first you have to figure out who you are. It could be called a mid-life crisis but really it's a creative crisis that ties together all the issues of our lives. I believe all photographers must go through this to remain relevant. Like Sisyphus, we have to embrace the dark sea as he did the rock, making each stroke against the waves a pleasure and an exercise in free will to create the life we want to live.
GET PAID TO SHOOT WHAT YOU LOVE TO SHOOT
Gearing up for longevity in large part means figuring out your true passion and how to get paid for that, as well as smart business decisions. I'll get to the business side in a moment. But first think about what made you want to be a photographer in the first place. What makes you insanely happy to shoot? How much time are you spending shooting stuff that makes you sick to your stomach?
Many photographers in crisis did what they thought was sensible at first and got jobs that were practical, deferring the work most valuable to them personally. They feared their personal work wouldn't sell, or they were advised to create a portfolio appropriate to the "market"' they wanted to break into.
To learn about longevity, it's instructive to look at the great masters - pick any that inspired you in your early career or education. I doubt they thought consciously about having long careers. Instead they instinctively made choices that guaranteed that to happen. They were true to themselves from day one. They may have experimented with technique or style, but they were not out there early on with "safe" portfolios designed to grab a trend. Nor were they pulling punches, they were showing the work they were inspired by and passionately believed in. The price paid for their success was often inconceivably high, and sometimes the price was their lives, but I'll venture that to them it was well worth it to be able to express their vision to the utmost. Ultimately, whether they were photojournalists, commercial or fine art photographers, they all got known and paid for creating images driven by their personal beliefs and vision.
(I'm sure many photographers know all this but in case there are few out there as thick as me I'm going to keep beating this dead horse in the event some younger shooters might avoid some of these pitfalls. Who knows, maybe they will even figure out how to re-energize the fight for our rights?)
ALL OR NOTHING
Here's the rub: If you create a book that you think will get you work based on your perception of what sells, or on the advice of anyone who steers you away from your core, you have a complex problem ahead. Yes, you may find some work that way, which is really tempting short term, while you tell yourself you'll do the real stuff on the side or in the future. "Show the work you want to get" is a lasting truism and if you have chosen to show work other than the purist version of your creative vision then whatever jobs do come in will be based on that work. There are many shooters who do this exact thing and end up with a middling level of success, stuck on a financial and creative plateau, slowly starting to run out of gas. After a few years they hate their their work and life in general. They are getting divorced or leaving the business or pursuing whatever diversion eases the pain. They are not living the dream. They are not challenging themselves creatively because they did not give themselves permission to be who they are as photographers in the first place. This is the road to being a burned out, bitter hack. Boring.
But by defining what you show based on what you truly are and what you want to do, you create a self-selection process: you are not for everyone. You are different. Be courageous enough to show that you see in a way no one else does.
Art directors that actually get this will hire you. That's a rare thing. That means someone actually values your voice as unique and sees how that can be useful for their magazine, or to sell a product or whatever. And unique is expensive, unique is a brand. It can be a small thing that sets you apart, but it's a different tack nevertheless. You can build on that for a lifetime because you are now being paid to do what gives you great satisfaction. The serious risk is that nobody will grok your special talent. True indeed, yet without this risk there is no great reward, just stasis and keeping your head above the waves while jostling with packs of terrified competitors.
Time and again we see that the dollars always, always follow those who hew closely to that little voice in their brain and heart. Once you truly recognize how short and fragile life really is you understand that this is not a risk at all. If you take yourself and your work seriously it's actually a life or death decision. It really is all or nothing.
THE THREE EPIPHANIES
I'm here to be witness to the fact this approach does work. Although only recently have I been able to put all the pieces together and articulate the principals of my new philosophy, in retrospect there are a few good instinctive decisions I made during my crazy years that formed the foundation, almost by chance, that I continue building on. The first good thing I did was to create what I called my "fuck you" portfolio. Deep down I knew I had ignored my inner voice and creative needs for years. So I put out a book of work that I felt reflected the real me. My career exploded.
Ironically, that new level of success ultimately led to my own burnout, mainly because I stopped thinking about my choices. I allowed myself to move on the momentum, working endlessly. I was unconscious of the underlying forces at play that were undermining me. I had drifted away again from my true voice and was taking on more and more work I hated and pretty soon I was cooked to the point where all the external success was meaningless to me. That's when I began looking in earnest for a better way to live, and out of the blue one day I had my three epiphanies. I happened to be in Paris that day, so I can't discount entirely the geographical cure.
EPIPHANY #1: LEARN TO SAY NO
Once I figured out that my goal was long term, and got back in touch with what I love to shoot, it came to me that I had to say no to anything that didn't fit the plan. Especially the things that I really didn't want to do and which made me ill to even think about doing. This was tough after having come up in newspapers and magazines where you are in the case of the former a team player, and for the latter a freelancer. Saying no goes against the grain of the business of photography. But it's the core principal of being happy as I discovered. Another way to think of it is to view the decision as if this is the last day of your life - how do you want to spend that time?
EPIPHANY #2: LET GO OF FEAR
I had to admit I operated out of fear of financial and creative failure. This meant I never enjoyed any of my success. So I had to learn to embrace that fear, to lean into it, and let it go. This meant being willing to fail. It helps to know that no great success comes without some level of failure. And the beautiful thing about fear is how clarifying it can be: when you suddenly find yourself standing at the edge of the abyss priorities realign pretty quickly. Instead of backing away, the trick is to say, "fuck it" and jump way, way out off the edge into the unknown. Tequila helps.
EPIPHANY #3: BREAK FREE OF CATEGORIES
Third, I had to break free from categories. I realized I'd let myself be defined to a large extent by the business and those who classify us by style, type, market or what have you. I resolved to move beyond categories, to recognize my core was about simply being an artist who uses a camera. Now, If I wake up one day with an assignment to shoot a story on AIDS orphans in Uganda, or the next with a commission to shoot an ad campaign for a car company and the next with a yearning to shoot my son playing his guitar, the category of journalism, commercial or personal work is irrelevant. What is critically important is that I am always tapping into my core beliefs and inspirations, to express a clearly defined vision of my work in whatever genre I happened to be working.
Just to totally go all in on this stuff: I also had to throw in the admission that a lot of the hippie clichés I used to mock back in California were true. You have to find the balance in life, it can't all be work. You have to find time with family and to enjoy small pleasures or life will find a way to re-balance you. Never get too high or low from the vagaries of the business. One day they love you and the next day Fed X loses your film. I find also the principals of Zen very useful, especially learning to enjoy where I am and what I'm doing, staying present and not mentally planning the next thing. And it goes without saying you must constantly challenge yourself creatively to grow as a photographer--a cornerstone principle of longevity as well.
But the creative and life questions are just part of the equation. Once I figured out these issues around my work and how to live my life I suddenly had to devise a new business model to sustain my family for both the short and new long-term plan. What with all the time I took off and the thrill of saying no to a significant amount of work, my income was dropping precipitously. Luckily in my early days I'd been through a money meltdown and learned then, against my will, about how to run and grow a business. I just had to apply what I already knew to support this new vision of my future.
Doug's latest book project follows the inspiring journey of twenty orphans who overcame tremendous
hardships to form a dance troupe and become cultural ambassadors for their troubled country.
menuez.com/transcendentspirit/
A SOLID BUSINESS STRUCTURE TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE
The business side is one area most photographers hate, for good reason, but if they are to create longevity they must understand and apply business fundamentals. You can keep it simple and just be frugal as hell, but it is wiser still to educate yourself to the things they usually don't teach in photo/art/j school. Cash flow management is a good place to start. How many of you read your P&L every month? Your balance sheet? Who knows what their cash position is every day? Some of this stuff was very difficult for me to learn, but it was also liberating as I gained control.
Let's say you've now got the right portfolio that's really you but you still have not inherited the estate or married correctly and bills are piling up. A solid marketing strategy is now required to get the word out. Trade ads in sourcebooks, direct mail, email blasts, word of mouth, shoe leather and getting face time, contests, a blog, all of these and more must be systematically and carefully put in play. That is all pretty basic and most likely you've done all or part of this before with varying degrees of success. Hopefully you have an agent and there is lots of follow up and continued execution of the plan. Plan? What's interesting is how often I find there is no plan behind the marketing. It's completely random for most photographers and usually only one or two of the listed items above applied. What the cliché "it's not brain surgery" means is that this stuff is not so hard, but you do have to get organized, get busy, and get it done in a consistent way. Whoever has a plan and perseveres the longest wins, it's just a fact of life.
Yet all that marketing and portfolio work costs a lot of money. During a creative transition money always gets tight.
So actually marketing is premature, what is needed is a complete business plan, of which marketing is just one key component. With a proper business plan you have thoroughly defined your business, based on your true passion, and in addition, researched your market, competition, and created five-year financial projections. You've written a marketing plan that shows how your "products" and "services" (yes, you will use banker business lingo in your plan, sorry) will stand out because of your unique talents, as well as providing examples of other similar businesses that have succeeded in your chosen market. It also has a complete budget, which ties into your financial projections. The budget tells the story of what will happen and what is possible. Your overall projections show both the costs involved in growing this business and the income. The most critical part of that income is the initial capitalization needed to start the business.
The astounding thing now is that with this well constructed plan based on hard numbers and thoughtful projections you have an excellent chance of getting the money you need to fund your marketing, new camera and computer equipment you need and to provide cash flow for the projected period of time you need before income is rolling in. Prior to this economic meltdown I would have even gone so far as to guarantee it. But even in the throes of this financial disaster, the SBA is still making loans to qualified applicants who do their homework. And you will be surprised to learn there will be plenty of small banks looking for qualified lenders for traditional business loans. True, there will be some months more or years of downturn ahead but there will still be magazines to get out and corporations with products to sell, all needing amazing images. Life will go on and survival will depend on the details of your plan.
So to survive and thrive you must develop your underlying business structure in ways you probably never contemplated before. The exciting thing to me though is how something like making a plan becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You start gaining momentum from day one. Because you have now defined your dream you are clear on your goals. That builds your self-confidence and causes others to support you. There are lots of other basic fundamentals of business that most of us practice without realizing it. One important one I always follow is the 80/20 rule, which basically means you get 80 percent of your work from 20 percent of your clients. Repeat business and building long term relationships ties in perfectly with the philosophy of longevity.
So to survive and thrive you must develop your underlying business structure in ways you probably never contemplated before. The exciting thing to me though is how something like making a plan becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You start gaining momentum from day one. Because you have now defined your dream you are clear on your goals. That builds your self-confidence and causes others to support you. There are lots of other basic fundamentals of business that most of us practice without realizing it. One important one I always follow is the 80/20 rule, which basically means you get 80 percent of your work from 20 percent of your clients. Repeat business and building long term relationships ties in perfectly with the philosophy of longevity.
Basically, without commerce there is no art, no dream, no longevity. Respect the learning curve.
A DIFFICULT TRUTH
The sad reality is that if you follow all my advice you'll probably fail. Hopefully this won't include starving to death, homeless, under a bridge somewhere. Nevertheless, the odds of success as I'm defining it are astronomical.
An even starker reality is that if you don't do this you'll fail anyway. You certainly won't ever hit it out of the park and most likely you face a life of increasing disappointment. The truth is that you ignore your own creative needs at your peril. Everyone will eventually go through this painful process of self-examination, catharsis and renewal at some point in their lives, and if they don't they will be living the consequences, unconscious of what's eating them alive, becoming more bitter and unhappy by the day. From what I've seen and experienced it is absolutely imperative to at least try. The safe choices we rationalize away our dreams with are just illusory.
You just have to be willing to fight for your beliefs and your goals and that means some sacrifices will have to be made. Nothing about life is fair but sometimes you can get lucky when you align your actions with your beliefs, and luck favors the prepared photographer every time.
So how to adapt some of my philosophy to the real world of having to pay the bills? A good solution is to use "kaizen", or incremental change. Most big life shifts don't happen overnight of course. But if you work toward balancing your work and life in the direction you desire you will have some measure of immediate relief. Small steps can yield results that are surprising. And you must pair the creative work you do with a solid business strategy - make a plan, seriously.
Mistakes? I've made all of them, probably three times each, and will make some more. I've got the scars on my ass to prove it. Regrets? Aside from any needless offense I may have caused in my youthful inexperience, time away from family, and all the money I blew on cocaine and hookers, my only real regret is that I did not have the maturity to understand the concept of longevity and make better choices when I was younger.
A few tweaks earlier in my career could have saved a lot of angst later on. You don't have to wait for your midlife crisis to deal with these issues. You can examine your choices and start to re-balance how you live now. You have the power to design your life and work around choices that yield longevity. Imagine a lifetime of satisfying creative challenges and the financial structure to support that life. It can happen.
Or, you can just continue living in denial and get on that next flight to wherever. If you choose the latter, I do hope you get upgraded.
Doug Menuez
New York City
October 10, 2008
The Value of Photography
by Debra Weiss
OK - so you probably don't want your kids to grow up to be cowboys but according to a New York Magazine article on salaries, you might want them to consider photography. "As soon as my kid is big enough, I'm putting a camera in her hands," a former photographer's agent says. "That's where the money is."Well - I' m glad that's settled, although I personally know a couple of thousand working photographers who might take issue with the above statement.
According to the article, Bruce Weber, David LaChapelle and Mario Testino make up to one hundred grand a day. Even though the aforementioned are primarily fashion photographers (who also shoot ads) and even if there is only a modicum of truth to those numbers, why is it that they feel entitled to demand those fees and so few advertising photographers do? Have they unleashed a deep dark secret of the universe that up until now has only been revealed to a select few? The answer is really simple - so simple that it will probably cause one to smack his or her forehead and experience a realization equal to "Gee - I could have had a V-8!"
They understand both the real and the perceived value of their work. How's that for anti-climactic? They have figured out that the client can potentially generate millions of dollars from the use of their images. They are able to recognize the importance of positioning so it is not only the image, but the photographer himself that has value.
Right now there are art directors all over who are just chomping at the bit to work with the above mentioned in addition to Annie Leibovitz, Albert Watson, Matthew Rolston, Peggy Sirota and Greg Gorman. And sometimes, one of those photographers might not even be the best choice, or, the art director can hire someone whose work might be similar and would cost a lot less - but they don't. They hire those photographers because they have positioned themselves so well, that to the art director, there is no other choice.
What determines the value of a photograph?
The price of an image should be commensurate with how and where the image is used. When the agency tells you they have no money for photography but the media buy is in the millions of dollars, this is a pretty good indication that someone is being taken advantage of. I have always been in favor of foregoing the creative fee and taking a percentage of the media buy - in certain cases this could make sense and be truly beneficial to the photographer. As of today though, it is more a concept than practical application, so for now, basing value on usage is the most equitable solution. Besides, I've yet to find an agency that would go along with that idea.How unique is the image?
Most of the time an image that is considered unique will be of greater value. However, (a) to a very large degree uniqueness is subjective, and (b) we've all seen what appear to be very simple photographs used in long running national and sometimes international ad campaigns and that brings us to...Who's the photographer and how is he/she perceived?
The ones on top can demand huge fees because the buyers believe in their worth and so do the photographers.How does that positioning thing work? Here are some tips:
1. Learn to say no. It is key in any negotiation. People want what they can't have.2. Believe in the value of your work. If you don't, no one else will either.
3. The level you go into an agency situation at is the level at which you will stay. If you do a job for a small amount of money and think you will be rewarded with a bigger job the next time around, guess again. When there's a big job to hand out, a big guy gets it.
4. Market yourself and always use a good designer.
5. Hire a consultant. They really can make a difference. But do your research - there are pretenders among us.
6. If you are stuck in a poverty mentality get unstuck. I know that is easier said than done but this will only keep you down. This is a fear driven business - please try not to buy into any more fears than you positively have to.
7. This is a business. Don't try to make everybody like you. Make better images. That way you can walk away with a sense of accomplishment and more money.
OK - now a word about stock. I have always believed that stock should be more expensive than assignment photography. There are tremendous advantages for an agency in using an already existing image. First and foremost there is no risk - they know exactly what they're getting. They don't have to deal with the photographer or the rep and that has to be worth something. In addition, the agency does not have to send an already overworked creative team to a photo shoot. They can stay in their office and be even more overworked, while saving the agency travel expenses.
Again, the uniqueness of an image plays a major role in determining its value; however, too many photographers look upon stock sales as found money. They are not considering the greater value it has to the client. If more people had subscribed to the idea that some stock is not only as valuable as assignment photography but even more so, there might not have been as big a bite taken out of the assignment market as there has been, and, it probably would have been a bit more difficult for Corbis and Getty to reduce the value of imagery to $20.00.
I can't say this enough - please get behind the value of your work and the contribution you are making to the marketplace. No one is doing you any favors when they hire you. Your imagery is vital to the success of the ad. How many magazines do you think would sell without pictures? The clients know the answer to that question and so should you. Photographers have always held the power but only a few have realized it. Maybe that will change. Stranger things have happened. Look who's in the White House...
©2001-2006 Debra Weiss - All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Debra Weiss is a creative consultant based in Los Angeles. She can be reached at 323-650-4300 or via e-mail at dw@debraweiss.com
____________________
Agencies
Getty images are one of the biggest agents of images, and sells for a range of uses including editorial.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/EditorialImages
And here is another example of an 'agency' which promotes the editorial work of their member photographers
click here to view
Getty images are one of the biggest agents of images, and sells for a range of uses including editorial.
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/EditorialImages
And here is another example of an 'agency' which promotes the editorial work of their member photographers
click here to view
Editorial Layouts
Here are some of the images and sites that I have come across in my research;
Key wording and image transfer
Here are some guides for keywords and captions from an agency who markets & buys stock
Here are some of the images and sites that I have come across in my research;
Early Attempts
I have tried to have a very early attempt at Editorial image making, based on a couple of stories in the press, without a brief or a specific media output in mind, just so I could see what kind of thought process I followed.
I read a very short article in a music blog, that commented that music is more varied than ever before but roots are still firmly planted in the past, citing rifts etc from modern pop songs that can be traced back to The Beatles and even before.
My initial idea was to do a modern day take on a classic Beatles album cover, or similar pastiche. As this was only for experimentation purposes, I had to work within the tools and time I had (where willing models are in short supply) so I started to think about Liverpool and iconic recognisable structures.
This evolved into these images
There isn't any negative space in these images so they would have to be stand alone images, however the top image has a dark corner which could be used for placement of a title.
Branding & Magazine Identity
Research about magazine layout, features, identity and how they resonate with target audience.
Editorial Imagery from Aop & Getty
It is worth keeping in mind that the subject within the editorial image could be anything, and dependant on it's end use, readership/target audience, some images need to be shocking (to differentiate from all the surrounding noise/imagery) or more art like to appeal to the demographic of the reader.
Some images also require a certain level of knowledge or understanding from the viewer as in specialist magazines.
Keywords & Captions
In the Getty database, you can see example of caption within the metadata and keywords, to help identify suitability and subject matter of images for editors.
Here are some guides for keywords and captions from an agency who markets & buys stock
Ongoing inspiration
Because I am more drawn to fine art, it is important for me to stay in touch with the work that is available through galleries and how it can influence my commercial & editorial work.
Here are some exhibitions I am currently interested in and that I regularly receive updates from.
Michael Wolf at Flowers Gallery
Elina Brotherus at The Wapping Project
Margarita Gluzberg at paradise Row
Annie Leibovitz at Hamiltons
An interesting article surrounding pricing jobs taken from A Photo Editor Blog
This blog on the whole contains a lot of interesting information from first hand experiences.
As we learned in previous modules, it is important to make sure that work is carried out legally and in a safe environment; this also includes protecting such things as copyright, integrity of finished image, credit rights, payment etc.
We have covered these in previous modules and submissions but to recap, here are some articles and websites I found useful.
Middlesex University resource regarding copyright of all media
Click here to view website
BJP article about Orphan Images
Click here to view article
Nesta resources for creative business start ups
Click here to view
AOP dowload-able forms, for model release, contracts, invoices, terms and conditions etc
AOP Downloads
Inspiring Editorial Work
Greg Powers
Ewen Weatherspoon
Bobby Sager
Not editorial, but work I like
Klaus Kampert
Marc Stanes
Orphan Images
From
AOP website
Digital Economy Bill - Report Stage briefing
General
The
AOP remains supportive of the principles behind the Bill and believes it is an
important step in carrying forward the Digital Agenda. However, we are still
concerned with the far reaching effects of clause 42 and do not believe the
amendments put forward by the Government, and accepted by the House, address
the problems fully.
We
understand that Orphan Works legislation is inevitable, and indeed necessary,
to ensure that works which cannot be traced back to their rightful owners can
be made available. This availability, however, should only be to allow works in
the collections of cultural institutions to be made available to view, thus
ensuring that creative works can be enjoyed and our rich history preserved.
We
still firmly believe that Moral Rights need to be addressed before, or at the
same time as any Orphan Works legislation, in particular the Attribution Right
The
requirement to assert the moral right to attribution is contrary to the
understanding of moral rights and is likely to deprive the author of the
benefit the right is intended to provide. As a moral right, the right of
attribution is a personal right that cannot be assigned. To require its
assertion by law is therefore contrary to its nature, it either exists or not.
Additionally, the Berne Convention provides that the enjoyment and exercise of
the author’s rights shall not be subject to any formality (Article 5.2) – the
need to assert the right is a formality.
The
attribution right is of major importance to photographers in respect of:
•
protecting their work against misappropriation, particularly on the
internet
•
receiving remuneration for re-use of their works by third parties
•
receiving additional remuneration from re-sales under the Artists Resale
Right
•
preventing their work becoming orphaned
•
distributing their works under their name to build their reputation
•
loss of commissions from possible new clients unable to contact creators
An
informal consultation by the Intellectual Property Office was undertaken in
August 2009, and we would ask that Orphan Works legislation for photographers
not be introduced before the investigation into Moral Rights is completed.
Specific areas of concern
Section
116A
•
The Bill should only allow Orphan Works to be used by cultural
institutions for educational and cultural purposes, and not made available for
any commercial organization to profit from.
•
Only an authorised licensing body, owned or controlled by rights holders
of the class of work being licensed and therefore fairly representing them,
should be allowed to licence orphan works – not “other bodies” which could
allow self-licensing.
•
Bona Vacantia is not the right way to treat monies that cannot be
distributed to authors, the money would be best used in educating and
encouraging young creators.
Section
116B
•
Extended Licensing schemes will severely undermine the primary licensing
which happens now between photographers and their clients. Licensing of
photography is not “complex and time consuming” and does not need
“simplifying”. Exclusive licences are agreed at commissioning stage;
photographic libraries license works on behalf of photographers for the
specific purpose the client needs. Additionally, there are often contractual
rights associated with the image – for example, if models are featured in the
image, the photographer and client are under contract as to how the work can be
used. Wedding and social photographs are covered by the Moral Right to Privacy,
where the image cannot be published without permission of the person who
commissioned the work.
•
Currently, collecting societies (DACS through the CLA) collectively
license for works which are photocopied, this is secondary licensing and an
area which cannot be controlled by the rights holder but gives those who need
to, or allow others to, photocopy or scan the work, a licence to do so. Monies
collected this way are distributed between publishers, authors and visual
artists. EVA collectively licence in the educational field.
•
To allow primary licensing to be taken out of the hands of the copyright
owner, without their explicit permission, undermines the essence of copyright
and removes the copyright owner’s exclusive control. Leaving copyright
owners the right to opt–out to secondary legislation is not a sufficient
safeguard, the right to opt-in should be enshrined in the primary legislation.
•
Extended collective licensing, which allows primary licensing of images
without the option to opt-in, is not necessary for photographic or illustrative
works.
Section
116C
The
registry of Orphan Works creates problems for photographers for a number of
reasons:
•
Photographers create thousands of individual images, will each image (if
presumed orphaned) have to be recreated on this registry and photographers
expected to check daily to see if any of their work is shown?
•
An online registry of supposed orphan images will create a resource for
anyone looking to use images for free.
•
A diligent search, not a “reasonable” search, should be mandatory before
any creative work is classed as orphaned. This was debated at length, and
agreed during the i2010 discussions on orphan works in Brussels.
•
There is still no proper definition of an Orphan Work – the one given
does not conform to the EU definition from the i2010 High Level Expert Group
discussions
February
25, 2010
Contact
Information
Gwen
Thomas
The
Association of Photographers Ltd
Photo Captioning
by the Editor
From ShutterBuzz
for stock image contributors.
Creating
the Perfect Editorial Caption
You have a
great editorial image/footage clip but it’s been rejected for its
caption? What’s up with that!?
For
newsworthy content to have any long-term value, it must include a proper
Editorial Caption that identifies the important aspects of the image/footage
clip. The easiest way to check your caption is to make sure
it has the following qualifiers: Who, What, Where and When.
Simply
examine your image and describe what’s going on. Shutterstock has a
200 character limit on captions so please be Concise, Factual,
and remember: Accuracy is important.
To make it
easier for editors to search and correctly identify Shutterstock images, we
require the following standard editorial format for captions:
CITY,
STATE/COUNTRY – MONTH DAY: Factual description of the image content
on [date] in [location]. Qualifying newsworthy second sentence (if
necessary).
Dateline:
The dateline
is very important because it allows editors to quickly scan through image
titles for the date and location they need. Therefore, the dateline must be in
an exact format, and in all CAPITAL LETTERS.
• If the
city is large or well-known, such as MOSCOW, it is not necessary to include the
country in the dateline or description. Please see the bottom of this article
for a comprehensive list of standalone cities.
• If the
exact date is unknown or does not apply, please provide as much information as
available, and replace unknown information in both the dateline and description
with CIRCA.
First Sentence:
Look at your
photograph. Describe what is going on in the image. Here, include the necessary
factual information which directly describes the depicted scene. If the photo
depicts people, start by identifying the subject(s) with the person’s/people’s
name(s), and describe what they are doing. Be sure to describe the action in
the active present tense. End the first sentence with the date,
followed by the location.
People:
• Sports and
Celebrity images should ALWAYS include the name of the person depicted.
• Human
interest photos – if the name of the subject is not available, simply write
“unidentified” in your caption. For example, “An unidentified woman sells
vegetables…”
• Children –
due to the sensitive nature of photographing children, provide the name, age,
and general area of residence for all children in editorial photographs. If
this information cannot be obtained and the photo is particularly newsworthy,
we will consider approval, provided the description is factually accurate, and
states “an unidentified child” .
Action:
• Always
describe actions in the active present tense.
Second Sentence:
Sometimes a
second sentence is not necessary . However, if the first sentence is
not enough to fully describe the photograph, use a second sentence. Ask yourself:
why is this newsworthy? Remember, all photos of famous landmarks or cities can
be newsworthy, even if they are not taken during a particular event. You simply
need to find the news angle .
Image Manipulation:
Editorial
images should never be digitally altered. Scaling and cropping slightly is
acceptable (sometimes you must crop a newsworthy editorial image), but you
should never add or remove elements to make an image sell more, such as adding
smoke at a protest or removing background elements.
What you
could do simply in a darkroom is generally acceptable with Photoshop. However,
changing key elements of the image to your advantage is not ethical. The best
editorial image is the full frame image. If you must crop it, the “message” of
the image must not change at all. It is of utmost importance to maintain
the editorial integrity of the image in every way
.
File Transfer
from
Processor magazine
The
Photohournalist - A talk by Nick Nunn
 
Breaking
news - some of the different editorial stories that gripped us
Link to the Guardian archive
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/series/from-the-archive Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II http://www.oldukphotos.com/london_queen_elizabeth_ii.htm Famine in Africa http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255160/Ethiopian-Band-Aid-money-used-rebels-fight-government-buying-food.html A new Millenium http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/587189.stm Scanned notes from Johns session  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
