Develop your eyesight
Some people think that being a good photographer means having a good camera. This is definitely not the case! A good camera can increase the quality level of your pictures, but it’s important to have a photographic eye. If you don’t have it, you won’t be able to take good pictures. To develop your eye with constant practice – frame and reshape the world around you. What is working? What’s not?
Protect yourself
Working in photojournalism can be dangerous. You may be working in a war zone, participating in a protest, or even just walking down the street where you may happen to have a traffic accident. You need to protect yourself as much as possible. Have insurance for both yourself and all of your equipment, and consider using automatic uploads to the cloud so that your work is permanently saved. You don’t want to risk your life and health just to lose your images! Keep safety in mind and try not to expose yourself to hazards that could cost you your life or cause serious injury.
Know your stories
While there’s something to be said for being spot on with the biggest news of the year, it’s not always the best tactic. Working with what you know can give you better results.
For example, if you’re really involved in the climate change movement, you’re better off photographing protests and other climate change events than you are chasing a serial killer or covering skirmishes in Syria. You know the key players, you know the narratives and you have insider information on what might happen and where – it’s just wise to use these advantages.
Be businesslike
Photojournalists are often freelancers, which means you’ll essentially be running your own business. You’ll need to know how to manage your finances, negotiate contracts, protect your rights, and so on. Even if you are hired as an employee, you should know your worth and be pay yourself enough. Understand what to charge, how to negotiate, and how to exercise your legal rights.
Accept rejection
Be prepared for rejections – lots of them! You’ll need to post images by the thousands if you want to publish hundreds. Don’t send out one submission and wait for it to come back – move on to the next one and keep going. This is the only way to generate enough income to live on. Rejection can happen for many reasons other than the quality of your work: the editor may already have another job, they may have a staff photographer, they may not cover the story, they may want to show a different point of view…
Expect fewer photos
As a photographer, you might think that most of your time will be spent on photos. Not so!!! You will find that most of your time is spent editing, billing, invoicing, negotiating, receiving payments, managing your archive, updating your website, marketing and so on.
Stay ethical
Unfortunately, there is a lot of unethical photojournalism out there. There have been countless scandals involving photoshop, misrepresentation, staging and so on. Don’t be tempted to let your own opinions or the pursuit of more money lead you into these tricks. When they are discovered, they can end a career. Stay true to the ethics of photojournalism, which requires only honest observation. Don’t interfere or try to change the events happening around you.
Don’t expect riches
Think photojournalism will make you rich? Think again. While there have been isolated cases where images have gone viral and brought in long-term royalties, in most cases this doesn’t happen (and if you’ve sold your rights, you still won’t make any additional profit). According to a 2016 World Press Photos survey, the vast majority of professional photojournalists make less than $40,000 XNUMX dollars a year. You’ll need passion to move forward in this industry, not a desire to get rich.
Be prepared for a lack of diversity
There isn’t much diversity in photojournalism – white males make up the vast majority of professionals working in this field. If you don’t fall into this category, prepare to meet some resistance. Things are starting to pick up, with representation groups and calls for more diversity in the industry, but it’s still going to be a challenge to make it happen.
Develop a personal style
The quickest way to get noticed in this field is to develop your own personal style. This will help you stand out from the crowd – and make your presentation one that the editor will pick out of all the ones in your inbox. It’s also more likely to get you assignments that you know you’ll get paid for.