photo journalism

Students always ask if there is money to be made in photojournalism. Sure, anyone can make money in any career, depending how you approach it I guess. But like I always say -- If you're planning to pursue a career in photojournalism, then you should make sure that journalism is in your blood and that you love it, because frankly, you are NOT going to get rich doing it.

There is a very good reason to feel passionate for what you choose to do for a living, whatever it may be. You need to love your career with all your heart because no matter where you work, there will always be something about your job that you won't like, whether it's long hours, you're underpaid, or there's somebody who's making your life miserable. Or maybe you aren't the best at your job and you're not the one who is winning all the awards. Whatever the reason, most people always seem to have a side of their job that they dislike. It is a fact of life.

If you are not passionate and love what you are doing for a living, and if you do not get anypersonal satisfaction out of your accomplishments, then you will lack the desire to get up in the morning to go to work. There are too many people who go to work every day and spend it watching the clock, year after year, because they can't wait to leave "that place" and get home. These are the people who spend their working life waiting for retirement. When they do retire and look back on their careers, they see only misery. It doesn't have to be that way.

Most newspapers also give the photographer other duties such as developing their film, editing film, scanning their pictures into a computer, adjusting the tone and color of the pictures using Adobe PhotoShop and mixing chemistry. They may also be required to read stories and work with reporters to come up with ideas of what to photograph to go with the story. The photographer might have to call sources to set up the time and place of the photo session. Photojournalists generally carry police and fire scanners with them so in the event of breaking news, they can get to the scene quickly.

Just like any other job, the job description of the photojournalist varies from publication to publication. To make it easy, I will outline a typical day for a photographer at a newspaper I use to work at.

When a photographer arrives at the beginning of their shift, they take a few minutes to get their mail, read messages left for them and take a peak at the story budget for the following day. They they will go to the photo assignment desk and pick up their photo assignments for the day. As photo editor, I would very rarely give out more that three photo assignments per 8-hour shift per photographer. I find this is also an industry average. Any more assignments, and the photographer will have to rush through shooting and not be able to spend enough time with their subjects. And because of limited resources, it is generally not possible to lower that average.

The photographer will read over their photo assignments to make sure there are proper directions, contact names and phone numbers, that they understand the angle of the story and if there will be opportunity to be able to take photographs that will tell that story. If the photographer has any questions they will ask the photo editor, reporter or desk editor.