Pitching Travel Articles & Photos to Magazines in the UK and the US (Print is not dead)

A Swedish pal from one of the photo forums that I subscribe to was asking about how to find English-language magazines for an article that she wrote about surfing in Ireland.  A fellow photographer wrote back with links to a book with markets in the UK. It's funny, I never think of pitching articles to other English-speaking countries and this got me to realize that such an effort makes sense, especially for travel articles and travel photographs.

For markets in the US, I have always counted on Writer's Market  (and Photographer's Market too). Both give you a year's subscription to an online database that keeps everything quite current. I usually buy them every few years for the guidelines and for setting out the different types of magazines. A quick online search will help insure the info is not outdated once the book is more than a year old. Call me old-fashioned, but  I like having a book that I can mark up and annotate. For me, print will never be dead.

It's interesting, the book that the UK Photographer/writer suggested, The Freelance Photographer's Market, is available for purchase at Amazon in the US (click on photo below) and in the UK. It has greeting card and calendar markets too. Here's the link to the same book on the Amazon UK site:
Freelance-Photographers-Market-on amazon UK
Or you can click on the photo below to link to the US site. 

The one bad review complained that it was all UK markets, but with the Internet today I'd think that's a real plus. In fact, it opens up a whole new world of markets for you.

So, if you want to search US markets, the books above are a safe bet. In the UK, I'd trust my Photo forum buddy. I'm going to give it a try soon and will report back on this site.  

The US books mentioned are also available on the UK site.

If you decide to purchase any of these books or even just want to take a look, please use one of these links.
Thanks.

A Lawyer Who Makes His Living Selling Travel Stock Photos

Just read an article in microstock diaries about an Australian lawyer who gave up his law practice a few years ago to travel around the world shooting travel photographs - a dream for many. It was of particular interest as I left the practice of law here in the states some time ago to spend more time with my daughter, first working as a freelance writer and eventually as a freelance writer and photographer.

I'm not in a position to leave my family behind,  hit the road with my D700 and travel like Holger Mette but I found his story encouraging. The article says that in the last 6-12 months he's been able to fund travel costs of roughly $18,000/year with a portfolio of 2000 photos in microstock. (He also has an editorial portfolio at macrostock agency Alamy- I searched the site and as of today he has around 750 photos there).  It seems that 2000 photos online is the magic number at which returns per photo start to inch toward $1/month.

Alamy has traditionally been a good outlet for travel photographers--both for emerging photographers as well as seasoned pros. I found it interesting to note that the micros were working for travel too as they are often seen as an outlet for slick commercial images and lifestyle photos. Mette says that he plans his travel "around what I want to shoot and when... I try to avoid shooting what I think will sell rather than what I would like to creatively or editorially." Like many photographers, especially those who have left other jobs to follow their muse, he values the freedom that shooting stock photography gives him and does not expect his income from photography to replace what he made as an attorney.

What I found particularly encouraging is that he shoots what he wants and shoots travel rather than lifestyle and still gets a respectable return per image. In fact, it appears that his people photos (unreleased) end up on Alamy as RM editorial images, so his photos on the micros are mostly of places--again not exactly the type of photos that are supposed to do well on the micros, and yet apparently they do.

The stock photography market has been in a state of flux since well before I entered it in late 2008 and the general wisdom seems to be that you should have some photos in both camps--macro and micro--especially if you are new to the business. Mette's experience seems to bear that out. Something to think about. Here's a link to the article:

Lee Torrens' Article about Holger Mette

Photo Copyright © Marianne A. Campolongo.

Turn your vacation photos into fun and funky postcards

Continuing with the California theme this month, here are some of my vacation photos that I turned into fun and funky illustrations. 

Maine Photos

This is a new blog. Since three of my Maine photos just won the Maine Media Workshop  photography contest, I thought I'd start out by posting them while I build my new stock photography website and portfolio at www.mariannecampolongophotography.com

The website should be finished in October. Please check it out then.

So, here are the winning photographs from the Maine Media Workshop Contest

You can see more winners at 
 http://www.theworkshops.com/maineframe/