The Welshot Photographic
Academy event on ‘How to Get Published’ left me excited and inspired to
consider how I might use the growing catalogue of photographs filling my
computer’s hard drive.
At the start of this Welshot event, we were asked what we wanted to get out of
it. This started the cogs in my brain whirring as I thought about where I’d
like to take my photography, and how I might make some money out of my
images. I told the group how I’ve considered making cards and calendars of the
local area to sell in my local shops, and that I’d like to improve my travel
blog and make some money out of that.
After this, Will Cheung, the editor of Photography News, advised us what to consider when taking photographs for newspapers and magazines. He gave us lots of useful tips on the types of images editors might need; for example, some with negative space for text to go in, and portrait formats as well as landscape to fit a magazine page. He advised us to think about what magazine editors might need, to read the sort of articles they used, and to think ahead because articles are planned months ahead of publication. It’s also a good idea try and find a small market to avoid lots of competition. I thought about a market for my images… I might be able to produce some articles for camper van or hiking magazines because my husband and I spend most of our holidays travelling in the mountains.
Will also advised us how
best to approach magazine editors, with a concise email containing a few images
images only, explaining what we had to offer. Another niche area then popped
into my mind… I could produce articles on kayaking and pack rafting! The
thoughts kept flowing and I kept scribbling down my ideas.
Before lunch we were given a brief to take 2 photos of the rows in Chester, 2
of the clock tower and 2 of the cathedral, as though a magazine editor had
asked us too. We grabbed our cameras and headed out, all trying to capture
something different and interesting. It was a very drab day and I thought my
images were rather dull so I resorted to using some art filters.
After the fresh air of
Chester, we were all hungry and wolfed down our lunch of chilli, chips and
rice. Then it was straight back to work because we were running late as a
result of having had so many questions to ask during the morning session.
We didn’t miss our dessert though, which was brought through so we could eat it
during the afternoon. Yum!
After lunch, Ann Healey, who has lots of letters after her name, talked about
her experience of gaining Royal Photographic Society and other distinctions,
and entering photographic competitions. We enjoyed looking at her
photographs and seeing which had received a lot of points and which hadn’t, and
we discussed how to produce technically good, high impact images for
competitions. It was interesting to hear about the various photographic
societies and salons, and the variety of competitions available, some of which
offer good prizes.
As time was flying, Lee talked briefly about the greetings card and stock library markets. Greetings cards are definitely something I want to try after this event. I’m less sure about stock images though, although it is something I’ll consider for a small stock library in future.
At the end of the afternoon, all the images we’d taken in Chester were projected and we talked about how they could be improved and how they might be used in magazines. Unfortunately, I missed the feedback on my own images because I had to leave before the end because we had friends visiting in the evening.
I came away from the event fired up to start thinking about how I can work towards making some money from my photographs. As well as selling cards locally, I’m thinking about approaching magazines with articles and photos of our camper van trips and mountain treks. Although these may not pay, if they will include a link to my blog and website, it may help to increase readership of my blog. There are ways to make money from that in future, and I may sell some prints if I’m lucky. Who know’s what’s around the corner? If I don’t try and find out, I’ll never know!
Louisa Crossley
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