Taking shots for the local paper

CarlukeDave

CarlukeDave

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I've had a couple of shots printed in my local paper, they are shots that I've sent in, not looking for payment, but wanting to get myself known by them.

The question I have is, how many shots should I provide them with before asking them about payment? I was out shooting a local football game tonight, and was going to send in a few of the shots, if they used them, I was then going to offer to cover games for them, for a small fee.

Has anyone who's had experience of this give me any advice?

I don't want to continue to give my work away for free, but at the same time, want to show them that it's good enough.

I'm currently working my way through the images and will post a few in the sports section later.

Cheers

Dave
 
When I was starting out I covered Clyde FC and used to regularly have my work printed in both the local and national. For the local I started by sending some pics in on a weekly basis and they started using them. Once they had used them for a few weeks I contacted them and explained that I would really like paying for the pics and from then on they would contact me weekly (if they wanted shots) and then I sent the images and the invoice at the same time :lol:

It was a good way to start for me, ended up shooting and supplying to nationals before the wildlife work took over.

Hope that ramble helps a little :thinking:
 
arronbarnes said:
When I was starting out I covered Clyde FC and used to regularly have my work printed in both the local and national. For the local I started by sending some pics in on a weekly basis and they started using them. Once they had used them for a few weeks I contacted them and explained that I would really like paying for the pics and from then on they would contact me weekly (if they wanted shots) and then I sent the images and the invoice at the same time :lol:

It was a good way to start for me, ended up shooting and supplying to nationals before the wildlife work took over.

Hope that ramble helps a little :thinking:
Click to expand...

Thanks Arron,

That's kind of what I was planning on doing, doubt the nationals will be interested in Carluke Rovers mind you, but the local rag would be a start.

Cheers

Dave
 
I charged a fixed fee for the local papers, they were with Johnsons press so had a fixed rate per image but the nationals were very much dependant on the size of pic used. If a paper wanted me to cover the match then they would pay me a set amount, regardless of the use of any images or not. The nationals are sometime a nightmare to get money from though!!
 
how did you go about getting the local papers to pay you for the images?
also how did you get the national papers to consider you? did you have public liability cover and a press pass or not?
This is something I am looking into very carefully at the moment.
 
To get the local papers to pay wasnt too hard. As stated I sent images into them a few times and they always used them. I then contacted the sports editor and told them that they had used my images and asked if he was happy with them. When he said yes I then started talking about invoicing :lol:. He told me who to send my invoices too and what the payment terms where. From then on I invoiced.

The same kind of thing happened with the nationals to start with, I sent images in and put on the email that the images may be used with my permission but they should contact me first with payment terms. It took a few weeks of pestering lol. Once they had used my images once it was easier. It was then that they started asking if I freelance, to which I said yes and I was added to their list of freelance sports togs. They would randomly call me on a Tuesday and ask me to cover games on the Saturday. I once even managed to cover the same game for 2 papers without them ever finding out lol (wel until now) :naughty: I got my press pass once I became paid freelance, although it was never required as the papers always arranged access for me.

I have always had insurance, due to running the "Go Wild" workshops so that was never an issue for me.
 
Mhmm I am also interested in doing this sort of thing, might bring in the pennies too.

Something nice I suppose.

How would I go about doing this, just send in some shots of anything worth sending in?

Well you know

Its confusing what kind of situation im in, I am 15 and would like to go into the photo journalism area of photography as it interests me. But I am not sure the local paper will accept my images.

Well you know.(again)

Jordie
 
When you first started to send them to the local paper was it just the images you sent or did you include some sort of written article to go along with the photos.
 
I only ever include the names and strip colour of each player in the image, when and where it was taken and the match score, you will be amazed how many sports editors dont know what has been happening.
 
I've been published in the local paper a few times with really lucky shots from my local football club which I have been taking photos for. Could you give us a rough idea of payment costs for both the local and national newspapers?
Also what league did u get a chance to cover?
 
I covered both Scottish 1st and SPL, and payment ranged fvrom £17.50 per small image in the locals to (if my memory isnt too bad) £175 for an image in the Daily Record. That was over a double page but was only really about a page in size. I got between £50 and £70 to cover games for the Sunday papers. I was never going to make a living off it but it was pocket money for new camera equipment. Like I said, I done that to fund the start up of Go Wild Workshops.

I think the NUJ has a list of rates available.
 
arronbarnes said:
I covered both Scottish 1st and SPL, and payment ranged fvrom £17.50 per small image in the locals to (if my memory isnt too bad) £175 for an image in the Daily Record. That was over a double page but was only really about a page in size. I got between £50 and £70 to cover games for the Sunday papers. I was never going to make a living off it but it was pocket money for new camera equipment. Like I said, I done that to fund the start up of Go Wild Workshops.

I think the NUJ has a list of rates available.
Click to expand...


Thanks a lot for your help! Sounds like you had a great experience there! :D
 
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