Editorial photos??

[payn817]

I understand somewhat, but not sure what an editorial photo is, or if it is expected to have any writing included with submissions. What prompted the uestion is this e-mail i got today from a newspaper. Maybe I am stupid, but I don;t understan the e-mail. Is he letting me down easy? Here is the e-mail:

Thanks for the photos. We don't have a need for them at this time. If you are interested in submitting photos for editorial use please contact me. I could give you some guidelines for sizing. The light is very nice in both photos. Woody

[Asylum Steve]

Basically, the majority of images in any given publication fall into one of two catagories: Editorial and Advertising...

Advertising is what you would expect: ads put together by third parties using photos to specifically sell a product or service.

Editorial photos are used for pieces created by the publication itself, and are more often than not a story or feature of some type. There can be a lot of writing to go with the pics, or sometimes nothing more than a caption.

In the fashion biz, the term editorial can have a slightly different meaning, and is often used to refer to a shooting style that is a bit edgier and more stylish than say something like a plain catalogue shot or commercial head or beauty shot.

You're right, that email is a bit cryptic. To put it in context, I think we need to know exactly what kinds of photos you submitted and what the file type and size were. To me, it sounds like the person is leaving the door open for you, but wants you to submit future pics in a different way.

And, of course, the comment about the light is encouraging...

[another view]

That's great that you tried contacting them. Looks like they're really not saying no either. I'm not up on all the legalities, but basically what determines whether or not it's editorial is the use of the image rather than the subject of the image.

He probably wants to talk to you to see what your intent is - maybe you can get an appointment and show a portfolio, apparently his first impression with your work is good. For sizing requirements, they will have standards that they want - for example, a paper I worked for wanted tiff files that were 800 pixels on the long dimension. I thought that was odd, but it was what they wanted...

Call him (today so he doesn't forget who you are!) and let us know how it goes!

[payn817]

Thanks for your replies. It was a couple of shots depcting the city's preperation for the fourth. He was out of the office and just got them today, so it was late anyway. I don't intend to try to take it any further at this point, as i have been shooting for less than 2 months, and have a long way to go before trying to "work" as a photog. Don't even have a portfolio yet either, due to lack of content. That is why i post so many photos for critique. This forum serves as a classroom of sorts for myself, and probably others who do not have the time or money for classes. So far I have shot less than 400 total images, and most have been shown here, just a few exceptions.

Again, thanks for the quick replies, and encouragement.

[JSPhoto]

Payn817,

I got started taking pictures at a race, by accident. I got a shot of a midget going through a large puddle. That shot led me to becoming one of the track photographers two weeks later, plus an official photographer for the midget series. two months after that the season was winding down and I realized I was hooked. One day I took a cd of pictures to the local paper and gave it to the sports editor. A week or so later he called to see if I'd shoot a football game. I did, and the two photos led to the story line. I have been a stringer for that paper for the past years, moving up from an Olympus C1500-UZ to a Canon 1D. In that 4 years I have shot for numerous newspapers, magazines, and even the AP at all kinds of events from high school sports, playoffs through state finals, Colts games, Indy 500 and Brickyard 400. I even sell stock photos. Each year I get more and more work, to the point now I have had to cut many things out just because I don't have time to do it all.
I'm fortunate in that I live very near Indianapolis and have plenty of sports to shoot year round, and get the best in motorsports as well. Next week I will get to spend my days at the Brickyard 400 (Thursday - Sunday), plus at IRP Wednesday through Saturday nights, all paid, including mileage. All because I got one shot everyone seemed to like, then took a chance and showed the editor 15-20 shots on a CD.

JS

[payn817]

JS, that's great. Maybe one day I will join the ranks. However, for now, I am just trying to learn as much as possible. Hence my cliche photos. LOL