Photosmudger On the Road

Happy New Year, and so on and so forth. Hope everyone had a pleasant christmas, new year and all that. Mine was tops thanks for asking.

Despite only winding up the tour proper at the end of November, I've been asked to add another (sort of) date already. So, on Saturday the 6th of February, at Calumet's Drummond St Branch, I'll be giving a talk and setting assignments to the London Strobist Group.

It'll be similar to other roadshow dates in format, although I'm mixing the talk up at their request, to include stuff from 2008 as well as 2009. I'll be joined by Emma Taylor from Vue again, to help with critiquing both the assignment and anyone who wants their portfolio looking at. Nikon will be along as well, in their usual "quietly standing at the back and offering advice where needed" role. I'm expecting great things on a technical level from the group, as I know their standard of work is pretty high, but I'm very interested to see how they'll respond to a brief, as I suspect many of them will think technical first, and commercial application second. Plus, of course, as hundreds of students across the country now know, there's the invoice to deal with too......

If you want to get involved, I'm pretty sure you'll have to join the London Strobist Group, and you'll also have to donate £10 to the Street Football league to secure your place. I'm loving this bit, by the way - I've donated via just giving before, but never raised money myself, and it's curiously addictive watching the total creep up.

Looking forward to it already, and I suppose I'd better get working on putting the talk together!


Read more on "The Roadshow Rumbles on...."!

My washbag, finally unpacked after nearly 4 months.

So that's it - the Nikon/Calumet/Photosmudger roadshow is done for another year. Coincidentally it brings to an end almost 4 months of being on the road, shooting as well as lecturing. By my estimation I've not spent 7 consecutive nights in my own bed since the start of August - hence my ritual unpacking of my toilet bag on Friday night - how very rock n' roll!

A few quick figures to sum up this year's tour:

• Total number of students attending the morning lecture - 700+
• Total number of students taking up the afternoon challenge - 225+
• Total mileage travelled - 4400 + miles. Ouch. Very grateful I didn't drive for all of them.

And now in a bit more depth....

• Everyone who accepted the afternoon challenge. As mentioned above, that's more than 225 people. I totally understand that it's quite daunting being given a brief, then only 3 hours to shoot and edit it in. Add to this the requirements of an invoice, and the pressure of a group critique and you've got a potential nightmare. I'd have shat myself if this happened to me at college! We saw some very impressive results in this year's challenge, right from the first venue.
• Keen people who ask questions. I love it when people have a whole list of stuff they want to ask me after the talk (yes, this means you, Arek). It implies they're thinking a great deal about what they're going to do next, and want to milk me for all the information they can.
• Overall very good invoices and paperwork to accompany the afternoon challenge pictures. Bonus points go to the 3 people who handed in their own invoices, as well as the tiny handful of people who had clearly read the blog beforehand and knew proper industry terms like "below the line". I'm not writing all this for a laugh you know.....
• Much better technical quality of work than last year. I spent far less time tearing apart people's work from a basic technical standpoint than I did in 2008, and that's very encouraging. Still a few technical errors (including some whoppers) here and there, but most definitely progress.
• Just like last year, I'm consistently impressed with the facilities available at colleges. I know no students will believe me, but you really have got it good. Every single place we visited was much better equipped than where I studied in the mid-90's, so there's no excuse for not making maximum use of said facilities.
• The Flash demo. We started it as a bit of a filler at Glasgow Met, to give us something to do between setting the challenge and doing the critique, and it rapidly became very popular. There still seems to be a big "fear" of flash out there, and yet learning to light properly is probably the biggest single thing you can do to separate yourself from the keen amateur. Flashguns are probably the most versatile, and cheapest way into this, and we had a lot of very interested folks who seemed slightly amazed that I shot beauty shots, action shots, and magazine covers, all with humble flashguns.
• The food at Sheffield Hallam and Newcastle. Awesome, if only we'd been able to stay longer and settle into the coffees, cigars and brandies!

Extreme Close-ups at Glasgow Met.

• To mirror what I've said above - I was very disappointed by those who didn't do the afternoon challenge. Above all those who took the brief at midday, then never showed up for the critique. I'm not that scary. My main reason for disappointment lies in the fact that, as I've stressed many times on Photosmudger, and during the talk - this is not the sort of industry where things are handed to you on a plate, you're going to have to get out there yourself and show lots of initiative if you want to make a career out of it. Not even attempting a project like this doesn't bode well.
• On the same topic, there was a general level of "can't be arsed" about some places and students. I realise I'm not to everyone's cup of tea, and that I'm not a big name, but the sort of things I'm talking about (business, organising shoots, how to get work and so on) are relevant whether you choose to follow a path like mine, or shoot weddings, or travel the world shooting for stock libraries and so on. Whether this lack of interest manifests itself in signing up for something, then not showing, or sitting stunned after the talk with an empty head and no questions, it demonstrates what I've just mentioned above - a lack of initiative and drive that doesn't promise well for a future career!
• A bit of a gripe here, but I can't let it slip. It was very easy working in Derby, Edinburgh Stevenson, Reid Kerr, UWE, and Sheffield Norton as we DIDN'T HAVE TO MOVE ANY OF OUR GEAR ALL DAY LONG! Sorry, that just slipped out. I realise that organising facilities at colleges can be like getting blood out of a stone, and on the whole lecturers have gone to great lengths to accommodate us, but as a request, if we do this again, we'd all be much happier in one room all day long! Even if it's small, or not perfect for all purposes - I know I'd rather talk to a crowded but cramped classroom full of people, rather than an empty lecture hall. I also realise that the original requests from Calumet may have been different to this - apologies if we're not all singing from the same hymn sheet.

Lecturing at Reid Kerr, sadly without spooky audio from next door.

• Watching Duncan peel off through heavy traffic in a Newcastle rush hour and head over the Tyne, whilst following behind and taking the correct turn. He was on speaker phone the entire time, and he can swear like a true Scotsman!
• On a related car note - playing "hide and seek" with the cars in Preston. It wasn't actually that funny, just a pain in the proverbial.
• Being told off for turning on a projector without asking for help at Reid Kerr. What was I thinking?
• Having no Nikon bags on the first day. Makes us look very professional.
• Getting lost, not once but several times, at several places, whilst looking for the gents. It's my age, or something.
• Dennis' sales talk for the D3s at UEL. He just couldn't help himself, and launched into full Nikon-spiel mode.
• Some of the more "amusing" interpretations of the brief. I won't embarrass them by naming them, but when the subject matter is "The Hat" I expect to see a hat somewhere in the shot - even if it's only a shadow or something. Likewise, despite explaining it pretty clearly "usage" refers to the usage the images will be put to, rather than what the subject matter is used for. Funnily enough, I already know what sports shoes can be used for.....
• Putting together the goodie bags whilst singing Right Said Fred, American Pie and Hello Dolly. Not one of us can sing, but that didn't stop us trying.
• Speaking of singing, it was very spooky giving the lecture at Reid Kerr whilst there was some kind of kindergarten singing school going on in the next room. Every few minutes snatches of "hot cross buns" and "baa baa black sheep" came filtering through the adjoining door. Very surreal indeed.
• Getting snapped for the local paper up in Aberdeen. Ah, that took me back a few years I can tell you...

The good people over at Vue are currently asking for applicants for their internship program for next year. Whilst this is not an actual photographic position it's a unique opportunity to see how shoots are put together, budgets and productions are run, and how the advertising world works. Full details can be found here:

Internships

Given how much I go on about work experience (and boy, do I go on) this is too good to miss really. So what are you waiting for?. Read more on "Work Experience Opportunity."!

Copyright seems to cause an enormous amount of confusion, both to clients and commissioners of photography, as well as photographers themselves. I've personally heard some lovely comments in my time ranging from "you're using a Nikon camera, so Nikon own the copyright", through to models acting outraged when shots of them turn up in magazines, despite having signed a release form that said "full library usage". This piece is mostly written by Emma Taylor of Vue Photographers agents, as she has more experience with licensing and copyright than I do. As primarily an editorial photographer my copyright status is fairly straightforward, and I've always read the contracts I'm asked to sign very carefully, so I defer here to someone with more intricate knowledge.

As a quick summary before we kick off, here's copyright law in a nutshell:

Providing you are not in full time employment, in which case your employer owns the copyright for any work you produce whilst working for them, you always automatically own the copyright to your own work, and will continue to do so until long after your death.

Now, the easiest way to lose your copyright is to sign it away if someone asks you to. This may seem like a no-brainer, but when faced with the choice of not working or signing it away it can often be tempting. You don't legally need to assert your copyright, though identifying your work, either through watermarks, stickers or embedded IPTC data is usually a good idea, as it makes it easier to prove in the event of a dispute. Needless to say, both myself and Emma are here talking about UK law, it will be different in other places, and as with anything of this ilk, if you're in serious trouble, get some legal help - don't quote a website!

And now on with the main bit, and I'll hand over to Emma:

One of the first things to check before you agree to take on a commission are the terms of the shoot. Make it a rule of thumb to ask what the Usage is and how many images your client requires from the shoot. Not only does this allow you to start thinking about a rough checklist of what to achieve on set but also allows you to gage whether you’re getting a fair day rate or if additional Usage fees are needed (more on this later).

So remember to ask . . .

- How long will the images be running? (3mths, 6mths, 1yr?)
- What media will they be run in? (press, posters, online?
- And in what territories? (UK, Pan European, Global?)

Unfortunately not all clients, or photographers for that matter, are aware of how the legal land lies and exactly who has what rights to commissioned images.

Rest assured Mr. & Mrs. Photographer the copyright always belongs to you. And if your client doesn’t understand that you can send them here . . .

Copyright for Clients

Now that doesn’t mean you won’t ever get asked for an in-perpetuity buyout. Although this is a rare occurrence, it can crop up and it’s up to you or your agent to make sure the commissioner pays accordingly.

Although your client is commissioning an original shoot, they are only buying the right to use, not the copyright to the images themselves.

As standard advertising (not always the same for other market sectors) practice included in your day rate is a clients right to use . . .

- One Image – Two Media – 1yr in UK (or similar size)
- OR
- One Image – One Media – 2yrs in UK (or similar size)
- OR
- Two Images – One Media – 1yr in UK (or similar size)

Over and above this you are within your rights to charge for additional usage.

So if you were asked to produce x4 portraits for a client across a two day shoot, that are to be used in Press & Posters – UK – 1yr, no additional cost would be required. But if you were asked to produce x4 portraits for a client across on a one day shoot, that are to be used in Press & Posters – UK – 1yr, an additional cost would be required for usage on X2 of the images. This is normally charged at a half-day rate per image.

Now however much we’d all love to be working to the 80’s ideal of fixed day rates and inflexible usages, these days we have to be flexible. Just make sure you don’t bend too far in one direction! Use your judgement; if you have a client who is looking for a days shoot to get a portrait to be used in trade press, online & direct mail for 1yr in the UK, it’s not totally unreasonable of them to expect this included your day rate.

When you get into the realm of Pan European, Worldwide, ATL (above the line) & BTL (below the line) you can turn to the AOP’s handy downloads to give you and your calculator a point in the right direction. There’s a very useful PDF titled Re-usage Guidelines on their site, although you may well have to join to get access to it.

It’s crucial to protect yourself as much a possible, establishing the terms with your client is just one area to do this.

You also need to be aware of third parties involved in your shoot. If you’re using models you need to make sure they sign a Model Release form. This states what the images are being used for, for how long and how much the model is being paid. As long as your model has signed this you have no fear of them turning around within the usage agreement and swearing blind they didn’t know they would see themselves on a 48 sheet! Having the model fully aware of the Usage can often turn out to be a huge blessing, especially when they spot an image 5yrs after the fact in a Brazilian airport!

Something that is becoming an increasing pitfall in this modern age, is protecting your clients exclusivity.

As a standard they retain exclusive use of your commissioned images in accordance with your Usage agreement. You’ll be hard pushed to find a client who will begrudge you the presentation of these images within your portfolio and website, But that doesn’t mean you can start to show them before they have run.

And neither can your assistant, make-up artist, model or stylist! In these Flickr, Twittering, Facebook days of camera-phones it is all to easy for shots to get leaked. Make sure all your crew are aware of your clients rights to show images first. Behind the scenes shots can be very interesting, but they can also be a potential legal time-bomb if an overzealous assistant posts shots of a celebrity getting changed to facebook.

And lastly but by no means leastly be very careful what you sign. Just because a contract has been thrust under your nose doesn’t mean you have to sign it. You are within your rights to cross through and initial any areas you feel are unfair or not in accordance with your own Terms & Conditions.

Useful links . . .

Copyright for Clients

Photo Agents London
Read more on "The Absolute Basics of Copyright and Licensing"!

Last in the little series of market guides, of particular use to those attempting this year's assignment.

Social

Probably the largest market in the UK, and quite probably worldwide. Social photography is the term used to cover all photography that is sold direct to the general public, and usually the customer is also the subject. Think family portraits, weddings, and other landmark events that need recording such as school photos and graduation pictures.

The fees charged can vary quite widely, as can the structure of charging. Some photographers charge a fee up front, and then extra for prints and finished images, whilst others charge no fee, and make all their money on reprints.

Licensing and copyright are not much of an issue in the social market, as the photos are rarely if ever for commercial use, and the photographer will likely have no problem keeping hold of their reproduction rights.

Many social photographers operate as sole traders, although there are an increasing number of franchises, such as Venture, springing up as well. Social photography can be very lucrative if well marketed, with some of the more successful social photographers comfortably exceeding annual turnovers in the 6 figure region. As always, the average is somewhat less than this, so don't expect to take a few family portraits and walk away with a hundred grand.

Corporate and Commercial

A slightly odd definition here, and perhaps not the best label. "Corporate" is often used as a label to describe a certain type of photography - generally meant to mean shots of business people. Usually in suits and offices and looking very clever and business like. Commercial work, in the context we're talking about here, is taken to mean all work commissioned directly by a company (rather than an individual - that's social work) without going through another agency - such as a Design, advertising or PR agency. In a nutshell, with respect of the other markets covered in this brief guide, commercial is "everything else"! When a local firm of accountants want some headshots doing of their staff, but have no need of a design agency to put together a brochure, and instead contact the photographer directly, that's commercial work. I guess, since it's likely to be shots of people in suits it would also be "corporate" too!

The type of shots this covers is, again, fairly broad, as it can effectively be anything the client wants photographing. Without the use of trained personnel available from a design agency or ad agency, commercial clients are likely to commission photographers whose work seems professional and polished, rather than go through a lengthy process of comparing different portfolios. In this respect it's often good exposure that can net a photographer work - things like an easy to find website, presence in local business directories, and membership of professional institutions will all help to bring in work. The fees for such jobs are whatever the market will pay, and some photographers even charge by the hour for this sort of work (a tactic unheard of in advertising, editorial and design). As a guide though, you can expect fees to be in the hundreds rather than the thousands.

Since there's often very little future resale value of the images, licensing becomes much less of a hot potato with commercial work than say, advertising. Clients often want the images for lengthy periods of time, and for as many uses as they can think of. This can easily be dealt with by a healthily sized one-off charge up front to save the client the hassle of having to come back every time they want to change one of the pages on their website.

Event Photography

Event photography is essentially social photography, in that it is primarily concerned with selling to the general public, but using events, such as parties or races as the focus. Event photographers often work within the framework of a parent company, though are usually self employed themselves with the parent company taking a percentage from them in return for smoothing their way with the event organisers. Marketing and selling such images has becomes a great deal easier by use of the internet. Images from an event can be online in a thumbnail gallery within hours of the event, and customers can then easily use secure credit card ordering systems and have prints delivered very promptly.

Rights are something of a grey area in events photography, as employment status will have a major bearing on copyright. There is also the fact that in the case of events such as races, it's quite possible that not everyone photographed has given their consent, and may not necessarily be happy with their image being used for promotional purposes, to give just one example.

Fees and wages are also quite hard to pin down. Some events companies will keep photographers on a retainer, whilst others will only pay on a per-diem basis. Photographers may take a direct cut related to how many of their images sell after the event, or all the money may go into a central pot with all the snappers taking a roughly equal share.

In House

In house photography is a blanket term used to cover all those photographers who are employed full time by a company to fulfill that companies photographic requirements. Generally their numbers have dwindled in the past few decades as companies have sought to cut overheads by getting rid of facilities and staff, and outsourcing their needs to freelancers. In house photographers are almost all fully employed by their respective company, and though this means they sacrifice the copyright to their work, in return they should reap the full benefits of being an employee, namely paid holiday, sick leave, and possibly pensions, company cars and healthcare. As with any full-time position, wages and fees can cover quite a range, although it's rare for in-house to be extremely lucrative, with job security being the trade off against reduced earning potential.

My definition of in house photography also includes people like Forensic and Scenes of Crime Photographers, MOD photographers and Cruise Ship photographers, so the remit of work that the job description covers is very large. The “market” these photographers are selling to, is of course the company they work for, consequently the MOD will have different requirements to a cruise ship photographer, and so on.

Other Markets: Editorial, Books and Stock Libraries, Advertising, Design and PR Agencies. Read more on "A Brief Guide to Photographic Markets 4: Social, Commercial, Event and In-House."!

A rough guide to advertising, design and PR agencies, from a snappers point of view.

Advertising

Ah, the biggie, and the one that almost everyone seems to want to get into at some point in their career or other! The world of advertising offers potentially very high fees indeed, along with nationwide and possibly even world wide exposure of one's work in huge sites like 48 sheet billboard posters, as well as the (often begrudging) admiration of one's peers. The industry itself is largely centred on London, though there are smaller offshoots in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. The most typical way an advert gets from someone's brain to a billboard site is for the client (the people who want to sell more of whatever product it is they sell - chips, hairnets, dog food, insurance, or hairnet insurance) to contact an advertising agency. The agency will then put together a team to work on that account, and in their turn they will source specific people such as photographers, illustrators and so on to produce work for specific campaigns. Most campaigns run for a period of time, rather than reappearing in a different form within a short time period, indeed, some even run for years with very few changes. The long term sporadic nature of the industry means that it's quite rare to get commissions from the same agency over and over again in a short space of time. Each account team may only work on a few campaigns each year. Advertising broadly falls into 2 main types - Above the Line (ATL) and Below the Line (BTL). These are definitions of the media used to display the advert itself. Mainstream things such as TV, Posters, Press ads and such are Above the Line, and Direct Mail, Trade Press adverts and Viral are Below the Line. The definitions are getting steadily blurred as new forms of media become viable ground for advertising.

It should be obvious to anyone with their eyes open that advertising photography covers pretty much any and every subject matter and approach, and because of this it's common for photographers to be picked for specific jobs, and then not used again for 18 months or so, as their style of work doesn't suit the other campaigns that the agency are working on. This is common to much of the higher end work in photography, along with editorial and design work, although it's all the more marked in advertising, as what suits a campaign for Pedigree Chum may be a million miles away from what's required for British Airways, and the gap between major campaigns will be measured in months if not years.

Fees in advertising are hugely variable, although one thing they tend to have in common is a basic rate, which is what's paid for the shoot and the agreed basic usage of the images, and then a re-usage fee when the images are used outside that context. Day rates for photographers shooting advertising are rarely less than the high hundreds, and can often reach comfortably into 5 figures. There will also often be a significant production budget (think location fees, personnel costs, transport, equipment hire, retouching and so on) which will bump the whole bill up by a large amount. Some photographers handle all such things themselves, whilst other have agents who will deal with much of the production side. Despite the appeal of higher fees it's worth remembering that even a busy advertising photographer will spend a significant chunk of his or her time not shooting, as there is a great deal that has to be agreed upon before a shoot takes place, and often nearly as much work afterwards to ensure it comes out exactly as envisaged. The supposedly high day rates need to be balanced against the fact that that 1 day of shooting may well represent 10 or more of meeting in pre-production, and nearly as many after the event in post!

Advertising is one industry where licensing really becomes important. As a reflection of the value that a client derives from the advertising image, re-usage fees for advertising work are fairly high. There's lots more detail about this here, but in a nutshell, once the initial usage has been used up, any extension to it - an extra territory, time period, or media, will result in a nice, healthy extra fee. Photographers and their agents make a very lucrative income from this source, and it's vital to ensure that you've got things like rights and usages agreed before the shoot starts.

Design Agencies

Much of what's been said about advertising agencies goes for design agencies too - they tend to work on projects for external clients, and commission photographers on a bespoke basis. The big difference is in the end product. Design agencies are much more likely to work on things like brochures and annual reports, packaging, or brand identity work than a large nationwide advertising campaign. Having said that, many design agencies often do smaller scale ad work as well, as there are many similarities between the 2 markets as far as commissioning and producing work goes.

The rates a photographer can charge a design agency are fairly healthy, being in the several hundred and upwards mark, although there's rarely quite the same potential for more earnings from extended usage as there is with advertising work. By the same rationale licensing and rights follow a similar pattern, any usage above the basic agreed one incurs an extra fee.

Design agencies, along with advertising and most editorial work, tend to commission photographers for specific jobs, selected on the strength of their portfolio. They may well have a small roster of regular people, and in the case of long term contracts with their own clients they may use the same photographer repeatedly to retain consistency.

PR/Marketing Agencies.

This sector covers a lot of ground, as the boundaries between what would be seen as advertising, design, PR and Marketing work are often very hazy indeed. Some larger PR firms are nothing less than advertising agencies, and handle a great deal of work for their clients, whilst some only handle occasional events and photo calls. The type of work they commission matches this, with the smaller agencies more likely to be on the lookout for someone of a decent local press standard, who can take a good "grip and grin" shot, and have it ready for release within minutes, and at the higher end a much more creative approach with lots of consultation throughout the job, and a very polished final result from a photographer who's been picked from a short list of several other candidates. At the lower end of the PR market it's quite common to receive regular work from an agency, although the work tends towards the mundane, and the fees don't tend to be too huge either. Mind you, speaking from personal experience, they still tend to be very healthy amounts when weighed against the amount of time required - most jobs don't entail more than a few hours work from start to finish, so there's a decent overall wage to be had if you can get hold of lots of regular work.

Rights are fairly straightforward in PR, certainly at the lower end. The use the images are to be put to tends to be fairly immediate, so a simple first usage exclusivity is usually enough. Such shots generally tend to have limited resale value unless they depict things like celebrities, so there tends to be less pressure to sign away more rights to the agency. At the higher end of the market you can expect there to be much closer policing of rights and licensing, as the work commissioned will usually be for a wider market, and there will be more emphasis placed on exclusivity.

As far as a photographer is concerned, PR work can range from shots of a few local dignitaries presenting a giant cheque, all the way through to small scale advertising campaigns. As a result of this, the type of shots required will also vary immensely, so there's no such thing as a typical "PR" photographer, although this term generally defines someone who works towards the lower end of the market if you ever hear it used.

Other Markets: Editorial, Books and Stock Libraries, Social, Commercial, Event and In-House. Read more on "A Brief Guide to Photographic Markets 3: Advertising, Design and PR Agencies."!

Number 2 in the series of market outlines, here's info on the Books and Publishing market, as well as Stock Libraries. Enjoy.

Books/Publishing

The internet seems not to have dented the sales of books, as many feared it would. In fact, some would argue that extra sales outlets such as Amazon have only increased the sales potential for a new title. Photographs used in books rather obviously can cover a huge range, with everything from technical illustration for a Haynes manual through to abstract artistic work for a romantic novel book cover being required. There is no typical "book" or publishing photographer, and it's more likely that the editors and designers of books will pick specific snappers for the job in hand, much like in the editorial world. There are a host of small, bespoke publishers around, but the market is dominated by large companies such as Random House, Hachette, Penguin and Harper Collins.

Fees in the publishing world are on average higher than those in editorial, and in the case of bestsellers with the accompanying publicity material and advertising can go very high indeed. At the other end of the scale, the content required to fill say, a fitness instruction boo, would be shot to a set budget with the emphasis very much on quantity rather than elaborate quality. The commissioners of photography within publishing are usually designers or art directors, although it's not uncommon for Editors and authors themselves to have either a say in the choice of photographer or even some direction on the shoot.

Licensing book and publishing work is very similar to other markets, with a basic fee being paid for the agreed first use, and then a syndication or repeat fee if the images are used beyond this initial agreement. What this first use entails will of course vary from job to job, but it's fairly common to see terms such as: 18 months, English Language, Hardback and Paperback Editions, Advertising and Promotional materials. Usage beyond this initial agreement would then result in an extra fee. There will almost certainly be an exclusivity clause as well, which prevents the photographer from selling the work that was commissioned on to another party, even a stock library.

Given the huge range of subject matters in book publishing, there is obviously no such thing as an average shoot, and in keeping with editorial and advertising photography it's common to pick and choose photographers according to their suitability for the job in question.

Stock Library

Stock libraries are collections of photographs from a wide range of photographers which the library sell on to anyone who needs them. This can cover designers, advertising agencies and magazines, as well as direct commercial clients. The range of images themselves is also often very diverse, with the exception of smaller specialist libraries which focus on things such as science or wildlife.

Each stock library operates slightly differently, but broadly speaking they all expect an initial submission from a photographer, which will be assessed for quality as well as other factors such as subject matter, marketability and so on. Once accepted the photographer's work will then be visible in the library's catalogue and can be purchased by any customer searching the database. Some libraries insist on a minimum regular submission as well, often a certain number of images per month or year, in order to keep the library fresh. Libraries make their money by taking a percentage of the sale value of the images, and passing the rest on to the photographer. The percentage varies from library to library.

For freelance photographers stock libraries can be a useful source of extra income, and it's very important to retain as many rights to your work as possible so that it can be resold as required. Many photographers use stock as a “dumping ground” for spare images, leftovers or outtakes, and whilst this can bring in some money, it's never as lucrative as shooting things specifically for the library. Libraries sometimes even commission photographers to create a selection of work, usually after they themselves have identified a market niche that needs filling. In this instance the production costs are often shared between the photographer and the library, and the photographer tends to take a slightly higher than normal percentage of the resale fees.

Some of the larger stock libraries and picture agencies, such as Getty and PA, have full time staff photographers working for them. There will be many similarities to In House photographers (see below) in this field as regards wages, rights and so on. Such photographers are often quite specialised, for example Getty have a pool of photographers who cover premiership football games, and another pool who follow the European Golf Tour.

The two main ways of reselling images via a library are Royalty Free and Licensed. With the former the price is based on the file size or image size required, irregardless of the actual usage. The latter is much more akin to the licensing common with editorial and advertising markets, the price will vary with media, time and territory usage. A ¼ page in a magazine, for sale in 1 country for 1 month will net a much smaller fee than a billboard poster to be used across Europe for 6 months. There is also something called microstock. However, this is pointless – don't get involved.

Other Markets: Editorial, Advertising, Design and PR, Social, Commercial, Event and In-House.
Read more on "A Brief Guide to Photographic Markets 2: Books and Stock Libraries"!

This series of posts is intended as a very brief outline to some of the markets for photography that are available in the commercial world. I've split them into 4, as they'd be one hell of a post otherwise. I can't claim that this list is exhaustive, I'm sure there must be a few other ways to make money out of photography. It should be of some help to those attempting the assignment this year, as well as of general interest to the rest of you. That's presuming you ever hope to make any money out of photography that is....

So, to begin, here's an outline of the editorial market.


Local News

Fairly obvious what this market sector covers isn't it? Local news photographers have suffered in recent years, as sales of many papers have dropped. The current thinking is that the increase of free papers, along with the availability of free news content on the Internet has been the main cause. Most local paper photographers used to be full time (see in-house market below), but increasingly papers are relying on a pool of freelancers to get the work done, thereby avoiding the running costs of salaries, paid holidays and so on.

The range of work a local paper photographer may be asked to do is very broad, and could cover everything from studio portraiture to doorstepping local celebrities, aerial photography, sports photography, right through to the annual nativity play, and with a healthy amount of “grip and grins” thrown into the mix. The fees are never huge, although freelance day rates tend to be higher than the comparative full time ones. However, it's important to consider the trade offs – as a freelancer you'll keep your copyright, but may only work a couple of days a week, and will almost certainly be responsible for buying and maintaining your own gear. If in full time employment, your employer owns your copyright, but you've got some semblance of job security, as well as a broader support network, both in respect of things like equipment and computers, as well as holiday and sick pay.

Life as a local paper photographer can be very last minute, plus it's very common to have to cover a lot of ground in one day or shift. Back in the early 90's when I worked at a local paper, the office record stood at 13 shoots/different locations in 1 day, and I believe it's since been broken.

National News

Life as a national news photographer is broadly the same as that of a local paper photographer, with the difference that you'll have to cover a wider area, and the stories tend to be slightly more high profile than things like Golden Wedding anniversaries. In pretty much every other respect the jobs are almost identical; there's a big swing towards freelancers rather than full-time staffers, the fees are never huge, the hours can be awful, and you can find yourself covering a very wide range of subject matters. I won't go to the lengths of listing some national papers as an example – if you can't think of any you're probably not ready for the real world yet.

Consumer Press – Magazines

Consumer Magazines are the ones that you see on the shelves of Borders, WHSmiths, Tesco's and so on. Think Vogue, What Car?, Men's Health, and Cage and Aviary Bird. The market sector is obviously very large, as any trip to a major branch of the above shops will tell you. The range of subject matter is also correspondingly large, and if you can think of something to shoot the odds are there's a magazine that will be interested in pictures of it. Despite this, it's very common for photographers to specialize to some degree, as a knowledge of subject matter and the specific market can be a major advantage in securing work.

The majority of magazines are published by large companies such as IPC, Dennis, Bauer and Future, although smaller publishing houses exist that tend to cover very specific market sectors. Most of these companies are based in London, though there are notable outposts in Bath and Peterborough. The photographic content of most magazines is usually made up of a combination of bought-in stock library shots (see below) and work commissioned specifically for the magazine. Fees can range from as low as the high double figures up to a thousand pounds or more, for each job or shoot, though the latter is generally only for much larger shoots on more prestigious and high selling titles.

Consumer magazines have been suffering slightly with the recent recession, both as a combination of falling sales and a drop in advertising revenue. Each magazine will have a slightly different balance as regards their income bias between sales/subscriptions and advertising space.

Very few magazines have full-time photographers, relying instead on a pool of freelancers who will be called in depending on their specialization and suitability for the shoot in question. As a consequence, the rights a photographer retains in magazine work can vary a great deal. As a full-timer, you have very few rights to your own work, and more and more companies are asking freelancers to sign “all-rights” contracts which amount to pretty much the same thing. More acceptable to freelancers are “first rights” contracts in varying forms. The general thrust of these is that the magazine retains the rights to publish the images first, and usually enforces an exclusivity period as well, to prevent the work being sold to their competition within a short time. After this period the photographer is then able to sell the work on themselves to third parties, either directly or via a stick library (see below). In return for signing this contract the magazine companies normally promise to pay the photographer within a certain time period, then generally pay them whenever they feel like it.

Contract Publishing – Magazines

Contract publishing covers titles like the Ford magazine, the Tesco's magazine and suchlike, along with titles for charities, large companies and so on. They operate in a very similar way to consumer magazines as far as rights, and commissioning work goes. The 2 main differences are that the fees are often higher, and that there's an extra link in the chain of command. At a consumer magazine, once the art director and/or editor is happy with an article and the corresponding pictures, the feature will run. In contract publishing, there's also the client to keep happy. In the case, for example of a feature for a Tesco's magazine, a representative of Tesco's will have to finally approve the work to make sure it stays on message.

Trade Press

The trade press is almost a hybrid of consumer and contract publishing. Generally speaking, such titles are not visible on the news stands, in the same way as much contract publishing is, but they are also very market specific in the way that much consumer publishing is. Trade journals are by nature specific to their trade – think Farmer's Weekly, What Hammock, and the Draper's Journal. Their appeal is pretty limited, and the personnel within are usually specialists with much relevant knowledge. Budgets tend to be lower due to the generally smaller circulations of such magazines. The photographers rights will generally be much the same as those for contract and consumer publishing.

Other markets: Books and Stock Libraries, Advertising, Design and PR, Social, Commercial, Event and In-House.
Read more on "A Brief Guide to Photographic Markets 1: Editorial"!

I seem to get asked the question "where should I study photography" more and more these days, although it's often tangled up with the bigger question of "should I study photography or go straight into work/assisting/selling cameras/shooting weddings?" Obviously the answer to the 2nd question varies from individual to individual, and I can't go into it here, but I can offer a few guidelines for choosing a course/college to study at.

• Take a good look at as much of the current student's work as possible. Is it the sort of work you see yourself producing in a couple of years time? What feeling do you get when you look at the work - does it excite and interest you, or do you feel like you've seen it before? I'm a great believer in following your gut instinct on this one - if it don't feel right, it probably ain't! I applied this rule rigorously when I applied for my course - the pictures in the prospectus of the college I ended up at were all very creative yet with a commercial grounding to them. They looked like the sort of thing I saw in the magazines I read all the time. There were also lots of them - the prospectus wasn't overly "wordy" or academic. By comparison, at least one of the other courses had a single page in the prospectus, and one slightly grotty black and white shot a couple of centimetres wide in the top corner. It didn't really sell me on the place!
• If you're able to visit the course and college (and I'd highly recommend this) what's the vibe like? Again it's something a bit hard to quantify, but I'd be encouraged by a place where there seemed to be a freeflow of ideas between tutors and students, rather than a feeling of "them and us". Likewise I'd expect to see students working together on things, collaborating with ideas, and lots of their work on the walls. Photography is not a very academic discipline, and I wouldn't expect to find silent hallowed halls with people hunched over their desks, but instead a bit of rough and tumble, noise and activity as people come and go from shoots with equipment clattering down the hallways.
  
• How recognised is the college? Do you see them in the BJP every few weeks? Do they seem to be taking an active role in the wider photographic world by entering competitions and suchlike?
• As an extension of this, how good are the colleges links to industry, presuming you want to end up with a job at the end of your study? This can be a hard one to gauge, but look for things such as how many visiting lecturers they have (and what sort of people they are), as well as things like events they host, and their overall outlook from their prospectus. If they make a big deal out of work experience programs/business studies and outside help it's very likely that the course in question is not an "ivory tower" that shuts itself off from the rest of the world.
• Is the course or college affiliated to either the AoP, BIPP, or is it a Nikon Academy? Each of these signifies that the course or college has met certain standards and has a particular philosophy that is professional and commercial in it's outlook. I can only speak with any authority about AoP affiliation, as I'm a member of the Education Working Group and am fairly intimate with what criteria a college needs to meet to attain affiliation. Affiliation or recognition such as this is usually a pretty good guide to how much the course or college are involved with the outside world. For a full list of these affiliated courses, check out the Skillset Website.
• Does it have a fair copyright policy? This may seem like a minor detail, but quite a few colleges operate a policy whereby they own the copyright in any students work taking during their course. Needless to say that I'm not very keen on this, as the copyright should always remain with the creator of the work (unless they're fully employed and provided with salary, paid holiday, sick pay and other such benefits). It's almost unheard of for a college to prevent a student from using their own work in a way they choose to (although as copyright holders they have the legal power to), but it's very common for a college to simply use the students work without any hint of remuneration for any and all purposes the college choose to. Don't let this put you off a course altogether, simply make lots of noise about it once you start!
• Have you looked very closely at the curriculum? The range of courses these days is frankly bewildering, and some may be completely unsuitable for you, due to either the course content or the expected end result. Bear in mind that many FE courses - HNC's, ND's and similar, are often fairly technical in their curriculum, whilst many HE courses - Degrees and suchlike, can have quite an academic bent. Everyone's needs will be different, and I intend to go into more detail about the differences between an ND, an HND and a degree or foundation degree in a later post. I've received a couple of emails over the last year from students who really seemed to hate the course they were on. They often made valid points, but on reading between the lines it was obvious to me that in fact they were on the wrong course for what they wanted. A bit more research in advance - coupled with colleges presenting themselves honestly of course - should prevent this from happening.
• What are the facilities like? This actually matters far less than you'd think, although if they're fancy and new it's something that colleges like to shout about a great deal, and it's easy to understand why! In my experience you'll get far more from a good tutor whose door is always open, than a brand new studio and a 45MP digital back. That's not to say you shouldn't milk the facilities for everything they're worth once you're there though, just don't be too swayed by shiny things!
• Above all else, what are the pubs like?
  

In keeping with the Nikon/Calumet Roadshow in 2008-2009 we want to do more than just talk at you. We'd also like to try and give you a taste of the commercial world via a timed assignment. There are a few differences to last year's challenge, but the essence remains the same. The idea is still to produce pictures to a commercial brief (which you'll only be given on the day) to a strict time limit, but this year we want to throw some business studies into the mix too. So, here's how it will work.

Right now, this minute, if you're likely to be doing the challenge, start thinking about the market you want to shoot for. This could be the magazine market, advertising, the social market, design agencies - anything that is considered commercial and is going to earn you some cash will be considered fair game. Now start researching this market. What are the average day rates? How much is allowable in expenses? What sort of use are the images going to be put to? Who commissions the work? Ask lots of these sort of questions, and more importantly, try and get some fairly accurate answers.

There are some suggestions of markets to start with here, here, here, and finally here. At this stage, even though you don't know what the exact subject matter is, you can still do some preliminary planning. Think about potential locations, models you may be able to coerce, props you may have to hand, equipment you'll need and so on. Then download and print out the invoice and think about what you'll be filling in the blanks with on the day.

On the day itself, I'll be giving all sorts of useful and relevant information on markets, licensing and invoicing in the talk, so pay attention. After I've finished my little talk, a group of students (usually picked by the lecturers, but pester them if you want to get involved) of anywhere between 5 and 20, will stay behind, and we'll tell you which 5 subjects you can choose from. Each of these will offer a very great range of interpretations, and can be shot for almost any market. Pick a subject, grab your camera and a copy of the invoice, and get started, as the clock is ticking.

Some Basics:

1. We need between 4 and 10 images. Please don't hand us hundreds, as we've lots of people to get through. The format, presentation, and finish of these will be dependant on the market you have picked to work in. For example we might expect to see images shot for use as a double-page-spread for a magazine market, or high-key black and white images for a social market.
2. You can work in groups if you feel more comfortable that way, but no more than 3 to a group please.
3. You will be given the choice of subject matter at approximately 12 O'Clock. You will have to hand in the shots and your completed invoice at 3pm - no later. We have been known to sit waiting with the speaking clock on loudspeaker, just to drive home what time it is!
4. Do not be tempted to guess the subject matter in advance, and go and shoot something before the event. The entire aim of this exercise is to make you work under pressure, not to find out what the best work you can possibly produce is if you're given enough time and resources.
5. Given the time restraints, we need the work handed in digitally, and for convenience we insist on jpegs. Straight out of the camera is fine, but please rename them with your own name. Info on how to do this is here, near the bottom of the post.
6. Please bear in mind that you will need to spend some time on the computer editing and renaming your images, as well as filling in your invoice. Do not aim to stop shooting at 2.55pm.
7. After the hand in we'll need approximately 20 minutes to go over the images ourselves - you can go off and grab a well-earned cup of tea at this point. We'll let you back in at about 3.20pm.
8. Then we'll assess both the images and your invoices with the group. If you'd rather we didn't go through your stuff in front of everyone just say so.

So far, here are the confirmed dates for next terms roadshow - open your diaries please!

• Tuesday 6th October - Glasgow Metropolitan College
• Wednesday 7th October - Reid Kerr College
• Tuesday 13th October - Aberdeen College
• Wednesday 14th October - Stevenson College Edinburgh
• Friday 23rd October - University of Lincoln
• Monday 26th October - University of East London
• Thursday 29th October - UWE Bristol.
  

• Tuesday 3rd November - Norton College Sheffield
• Wednesday 4th November - Sheffield Hallam University
• Wednesday 11th November - Newcastle College
• Tuesday 17th November - University of Central Lancashire
• Wednesday 18th November - Thames Valley University Ealing
• Wednesday 25th November - Nottingham Trent University
• Thursday 26th November - University of Derby.
  

Not my usual title, I know, but it seemed apt! Here's a press release from Toni Miller, the head of press and marketing at NESCOT. We took the roadshow there back in March, and this was the response to the assignment we set. I should point out that Toni previously worked in journalism, although that should be pretty obvious!

05/03/09 For Immediate Release.

This page provides a link to a few PDF's we've managed to put together. They're full of useful info on business and suchlike. Feel free to download them as required, and share them amongst your friends, they're bound to increase your popularity. Honest.

Invoice. For use on the Assignment. Print it out, do a bit of research, then hand the completed thing in with your shots on the day.

Basic Business Studies for Photographers. It's the collected version of these posts on Photosmudger. Lots of very fundamental business stuff, from invoicing to tax and many points in between.

How to Make the Best Use of Your Time at College. How I concluded my talks on the 2008-9 Roadshow, a few suggestions of how you can improve your chances of getting a job once you leave college.

Basic Break Even Spreadsheet. As mentioned in my talk last year, and in the Basic Business Studies above. Download and add your own figures. It's pretty simple stuff, but gives you a good starting point. To gather your own figures simply get your bank and credit card statements, bills and receipts together and put all the monthly figures into the boxes. The amazing spreadsheet will do the rest, and show you how much money you need to make every month just to stay alive! It should open in Microsoft Office and Open Office - although I'd recommend the latter as it's much lighter and works on any system!

Model Release form. For general use, and something you should get in the habit of using on people shoots to make sure you're covered. It's pretty much the same as the one I use, but with my details taken off.

There should be more to follow, as soon as I get round to writing them!
Read more on "Useful PDF's"!

Right, for those completely in the dark about all this, here's what you can expect on an average day when we come to call at your college:

• Professional support from Nikon and Calumet all day long - excluding lunch and periods when caffeine is being taken. Are you puzzled by the menus on your D700? Do you want to know what sort of lighting stands you ought to buy for your new flashes? The wise and venerable people from Nikon and Calumet will be on hand all day to answer any such technical queries. Nikon will also have a decent range of kit for you to get your grubby hands on and play around with, though not take away.
• All the info you need to sign up for the Nikon/Calumet student discount. It's a no-brainer - sign up when you can.
• A goodie bag, filled with, erm, goodies! Of course, your definition of goodies may differ slightly from those of Nikon and Calumet, but that can't be helped! Don't expect any sweets, as they're bad for your teeth.
• An in depth talk about the realities of life as a Professional Photographer, given by me, Mr Tom Miles. I've not written the full script yet, and it'll be different to last years so as not to bore any repeat visitors. I'll be covering aspects of business, creativity, getting and finding work, technical problems, financial issues and how you can set yourself up for a professional career. Wherever possible I'll be relating this to jobs I've shot, so there's something to attach the abstract concepts to, and some pretty pictures to look at! I'm obviously open to any questions as well, plus bribery when it comes to judging the entries for the afternoon's brief.
• At about midday, a select group of students will get the chance to take part in our assignment. We ran this last year with great success, and will be following a similar format this time round. You'll get some information in advance relating to roughly what sort of brief you might be getting, along with the requirements for the work to be handed in. We will not give out the final details of the briefs until mid-day, and then you'll have a limited time (usually about 3 hours) to come up with ideas, shoot them, edit them, and hand them in to us. Myself and the folk from Nikon and Calumet will be "around" during this 3 hour period, and are quite happy to help, as long as we don't end up actually pressing the shutter. And we'd rather not appear in front of the camera if at all possible!
  
• Once all the images have been handed in we'll lock ourselves in with them for about 20 minutes, then let you all back in and hold a group critique session. The idea is to mimic real world feedback as if you'd handed the work in to a newspaper or magazine, although we tend to steer clear of shouting at people and throwing hissy fits.
• At some point we'll try and have some lunch, though this doesn't always work out.
  

Hello, good evening, and welcome to Photosmudger on the road 2009, in association with Nikon and Calumet. This blog is intended to be a central point for all information regarding the roadshow, but along with obvious stuff like dates and locations I'd like to provide lots of useful info too. So you'll find breakdowns of last year's assignments, as well as advice on common mistakes that were made, some info about studying photography, general technical and creative advice, and critiques of entries into last year's assignment, as well as advice on how to handle this year's briefs.

Once the roadshow is up and running, and you've entered the assignment yourself, we'll be creating dedicated Flickr Groups for each college, that way loads of people can get to see your efforts, and other people besides me can offer a critique of them! There are also PDF versions of business studies stuff from the 2008-9 roadshow, and links to the Student Discount sign up page.

So help yourself, and feel free to leave any comments or suggestions where appropriate, but please keep 'em clean!

Read more on "Welcome to Photosmudger on the Road 2009"!