Deadlines

Yeah I know you said the deadline was ten o’clock but it’s only five past!

The papers have a deadline. This deadline is passed on to all photographers for a reason. YOU HAVE TO HIT IT.

What happens if you don’t?

Well nothing really.

The fact that another 20 shooters managed to hit the deadline means that the papers will not lose out. They will still have images in their paper tomorrow. They just won’t be yours.

Oh, and you lose credibility with the papers and the agency you are shooting for

Oh, and you run the risk of not being commissioned again.

Oh, and you may as well not have turned up because the others did a better job with fully captioned images supplied ON TIME!

Who is it?

Pick up the nearest paper. Have a look at the sports pages. Who is in the picture? I bet the first thing you did was look at the caption.

That caption has to come from you.

You may have the best image in the world but if you or the picture editor does not know who is in the image or where it was taken it may well be worthless.

Make life as easy as possible for your clients. When on deadline they are not going to call you to see who is in the frame. And anyway if you knew you would have captioned the image.

Anyway one day by chance they call to see who is in the picture. You don’t know and say you will get back to them and put the phone down. In the meantime a guy desperate to get his name in the paper sends them an average image from the same event. It is captioned, it is the right action and it’s free.

Sorry but you lose out!

He is a happy chappy and it cost you your freelance fee because you did not spend 2 minutes captioning the image.

Do your homework

What makes a picture saleable? Why would a publication want to use it?

Have a look at the sports pages every day. Read the articles and LOOK AT THE PICTURES. Those images have already been selected they are SOLD.

Many people think they have a new angle, a better perspective and a great shot. If it does not suit the publication you are targeting then they will not use it.

It is great to experiment and to develop new ways of shooting but, when a publication is on deadline then they will go for an image that suits their target audience.

You must do the same!

Read the Papers! Listen to the news!

What is flavour of the day? What happened today that will make the news tomorrow or even the late editions today?

Kaka being sold for £100m – gee end every paper has a picture of Kaka the next day. I wonder why?

Luke Watson speaks out. And yup you guessed it the papers all have pics of Luke Watson.

JP Duminy has the innings of his life and saves the test. You can bet the papers will be full of it the next day.

So, why send a picture of something that is not newsworthy? Don’t waste your time and more importantly the time of the picture editors who have to sift through your “amazing” pics of someone else when all they want is Duminy, Watson, Kaka……

Tell a story

Take a look at this picture:

What does it tell you?  Is it a great sporting moment or is it just another picture that could have been taken anywhere?

The above pic could well have been taken anywhere.  It is simply an image of Stiaan van Zyl batting and tells us nothing.  It may be OK as a file image or stock for an article but it is definately not worth sending as a news image filed from an event.  Your image must tell a story.  It has to be different. Remember you are competing with every other freelancer and ALL the agencies and even the muppets who give away FREE images just to see their name in print.

Think about the following when filing images:

What was the event?

How is your image going to get that message across to the readers of a paper or magazine?

Why would a publication use this image?

Is the action in the pic the right action that tells the story so far?

Are you sending this image just because you have to file so many pics from the event?

Struggle to answer these questions?

Then don’t send the image.

Every time you send a weak image you lessen the chance of being published or being commissioned!

Get Something Different

You know what it’s like……

You turn up at an event ready to shoot and there are another 20 photographers there already.  There are the Agencies, the “Wanna be’s” and the Freelancers.  The match is about to begin and everyone heads for the touchline.  The home team is playing from left to right and the anticipation of a handfull of tries/ goals is high.  What happens?  Well all the photographers head for the same spot and stand next to each other.  Great.  If it happens everyone gets the shot.  The agencies all have it and wire it out immediately, The “Wanna be’s” have it for their desktop to say they were there and the freelancers have it in the hope that someone will buy it.  Why should they?  What makes you different?

If you want your work to be published and to be successful try something different.  Look at your market,  If your local market is saturated with the other 20 photographers go and stand on your own at the other end.  The newspapers in that team’s home town also want pics (and the internet and email makes distance no object).  They also need a scoop.  Imagine if they start scoring/ winning, you can sit back and watch the other photographers gather their gear and run down the touchline towards you.

Be the one that gets something different!

Stars In Their Eyes

On Tuesday I was asked to cover an event in Hout Bay.  The job was for Stars In Their Eyes.

This is quoted from their website:  ( http://www.starsintheireyes.nl/index.php?lang=eng&id=process )

“In close cooperation with a number of South African supporters, Stars is engaging 40 football clubs in the South African disadvantaged communities. The same number of football clubs and communities are being engaged in Europe. These two sets of clubs and communities will enter into twinning agreements, and the process will be closely managed by a professional team.

Supported by football specialists and a multi-disciplined team of volunteers, Stars has developed a comprehensive programme, which is based on the internationally acclaimed Dutch football training model. The objective of this programme is to ensure that the participating European coaches and players, and the South African mentors possess the required skills, with which to transfer the Stars model to developing countries.
The next step is the implementation of a five-year plan, during which time the European coaches and players will visit their counterpart clubs in South Africa every year. These visits will focus strongly on transferring broad based technical knowledge and skills. In addition, a substantial time investment will be made in covering issues such as HIV-AIDS awareness, community and personal values, gender equality, leadership and creating an own future. The project leaders will have a specific assignment to identify those players who have ’stars in their eyes’, who are motivated and committed to creating a new future.

The unique nature of the Stars project not only appeals to football clubs, it moves entire communities into action. Stars is confident of the sustainability of its plan, and continuously searches for cooperation with existing sport, social and job-creation projects in South Africa. Talk to us, and together we can make one plus one equal three!”

During the event footballs were given away to all the kids that attended.  There were messages of hope and inspiration written on the footballs donated by Nike:

If you can help make a difference contact me and I will put you in touch with Stars In Their Eyes

Ron

Ever Shot Netball?

The weekend saw the final of three tests between SA and Barbados. The games took place at the Good Hope Centre in Cape Town.  A huge old building with a vast main hall and, as expected, very poor lighting.  This was the first time I had shot netball in a very long time and to be honest I was really impressed with the game.  It was fast and action packed.  The skill involved in scoring was amazing, especially when you consider that there is no back board to use.  SA won by three tests to nil.

1 year on…..

Wow!  Can you believe it’s been a year since John Smit lifted the Rugby World Cup!

It is amazing to think that a year ago today I was in Paris full of hope and anticipation…Will SA lift the trophy for the second time?  My trip was coming to an end I had spent nearly two months away from home and my wife.  I drove 7500 miles in France and covered 19 world cup games.  Was it worth it?  Well as I sit here and think about the last 12 months I realize that that trip to France meant so much more than covering the RWC07.  The people I met and the contacts I made have brought friendship and business.  Maybe even some dreams have come true because of that trip.  It was a life changing experience in many ways.

Was it worth it?

Hell Yeah!

To George and back

I picked up a few of Golf days for a client and decided to do two of them myself.  The one in Cape Town was easy enough but the drive to George can be really boring.  So I decided to take the long route.  Headed off up the N2 and then turned left up the Tradouw Pass.  It was a strange day, not really sure if it wanted to rain or not but luckily the sun kept coming through.  I went past Barrydale and then took the R327 to Van Wyksdorp, an awesome road and great fun in the Landy.

The next day in George it poured with rain.  Took some Gv’s of the course and the four ball pics but wanted to do something different so asked the guys to pose in a silly way.  Everyone was game for a laugh and we got some different pics for a change.

Golf days should be fun and the pics should reflect that.  Enough of the boring group with their drivers.