Hackers Underworld 2: Forbidden Knowledge

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Text File | 1994-07-17 | 15.2 KB | 289 lines

The photojournalism angle: a picture can be worth a free trip Your attic is probably filled with photo albums...which in turn are filled with hundreds of photographs taken during your world travels...pictures of the Great Wall in China, the Tower of London, a tiny church in Dubrovnik, sunset over the Greek Isles, the tidy, white houses that line the hills of the island of Madeira, the Swiss Alps in winter, a lone fisherman on the Spey River in Scotland... And some of your photographs aren't half-bad. In fact, there are two or three that you're quite proud of. They're at least as good as those photos you see every month decorating the pages of your favorite travel magazines. So what are your travel photographs doing hidden away in the attic? Pull them out, dust them off, and put them to good use. Those old photographs could pay for your next overseas adventure. Becoming a free-lance photographer The editors of travel magazines and newsletters are always looking for good travel photographs. Many employ staff photographers whose job it is to travel the globe, tripods, lenses, and cameras in tow, in search of the perfect shot. Travel publications also employ free-lance photographers. Some of these free-lancers work on assignment; their editors tell them where to go, what to take pictures of, when the photos will be published, and how much they will be paid. These are professional photographers with years of experience. But not all free-lance travel photographers work on assignment. It is possible for amateur photographers to have their photos published. All it takes is a contact, a little persistence, a good photograph, and a bit of luck. If you have never been published as a travel photographer, your chances of receiving a photo assignment from the editor of a travel magazine are slim and none. But your chances of being published depend on how hard you are willing to work at it. It is best to make contact with the editors you're interested in working with before you depart for your trip. Contact as many as you can think of to increase your chances of making a sale. Begin with a letter of introduction. Explain that you are an amateur photographer, who is planning to go on safari in Kenya for two weeks. Explain also what kind of camera and equipment you will be using. Offer specific suggestions on photos you plan to take. Follow up on this letter with a phone call. You may not be able to get through to the editor personally. Try the art director or an editorial assistant. Ask if the publication uses free-lance photographers and how much they are paid. Also ask if the art director prefers color photos or black and white, slides or prints. Request photographer's guidelines and a sample issue of the publication and offer to contact the editor or his assistant again when you return from your trip. The photographer's guidelines and the sample issues will give you a good idea of what kind of photographs each publication is looking for. This, of course, is what you also should be looking for while you're riding through Kenya's game parks in the back of a jeep. When you return home, develop your photos, choose one or two of the best, and send them off, in a padded envelope, with a cover letter, to each of the editors you contacted prior to your trip. Do not send more than one or two; most publications do not take responsibility for returning unsolicited material, and you probably will never see your photos again. In your letter, explain that these are only a sample of what you have available and that you would be happy to send additional photographs if the editor is interested. Follow up with another telephone call. In this game, persistence is the key. Editors receive unsolicited photos and letters from photographers every day. Editors buy photos from those photographers who make themselves stand out from the crowd. Making the sale The editor of Travel & Leisure is planning an issue devoted to Africa, and your photograph of the sunset behind Lake Bogoria in Kenya is one of the best he's ever seen. He calls and says he would like to use it and that he would also like to see all the other photos you took during your trip. Your first question should be, "How much am I going to be paid?" This varies tremendously, depending on the publication; it can range anywhere from $50 to $500 per photograph. Your next question should concern rights of ownership. Do you retain all rights or does the publication assume rights of ownership with purchase? If you retain the rights to your photo (as you should if at all possible), you can sell it again to someone else. You will be sent a contract to sign, verifying the photograph to be purchased, the fee, the question of rights, and the date of publication. Payment may be upon acceptance of the photograph or upon publication, again depending on the magazine. All it takes is one sale. Thereafter, you are no longer an amateur; you are a professional photographer. It may not be enough to get you an assignment from the travel editor of The New York Times, but it will help when next you contact the editor of your local paper. Tips on how to make it work It is possible to pay for your travel by selling your travel photographs. But, to be honest, it isn't easy. Travel editors buy only a small percentage of the number of photos and queries they receive. Why do they choose one photo over another? Of course, the first concern is quality. Is the picture clear and in focus? Is there enough contrast? These are the basic requirements for any photograph to be considered by any editor anywhere. But to make a sale, your photo has to offer much more than the basics. It should be different. Unique. It should provide a feeling of the place without being a cliche. Snapshots of the Arc de Triomphe are a dime a dozen. Yes, they give you a feeling of Paris, but it is a feeling of Paris for the tourist. You'll get much further with a photo that conveys the feeling of Paris for the Parisian. How many photos you have to sell to pay for your travel depends on where you sell them. A single photograph sold to Travel & Leisure probably will cover all the expenses of your trip -- and then some. If you're dealing with smaller publications with tighter budgets, you'll have to sell several to make it worthwhile. Can you write? Of course, the editors of travel magazines and newsletters are also always in the market for good travel articles. They depend on staff writers for much of their material, but they also depend heavily on free-lance writers, both professional and amateur, to fill their pages. Selling the story of your recent adventure bicycling through Holland is handled in much the same way as selling the photographs you took of the famed cheese carriers of Gouda. You must query as many editors as you can name (the secret of paying for your travel as a free-lance writer is lining up as many assignments as possible for each trip you take), follow up with telephone calls, and request writer's guidelines and sample issues to give you an idea of each publication's focus and style. In the case of the free-lance writer, however, the query is much more important than for the free- lance photographer. Your query must show that you can write. That you have a good command of language. And that you have something to say. You want to tantalize and tempt. The letter of query is the free-lance journalist's strongest marketing tool. It must sell the editor, both on the article idea and on the writer's ability. In addition, the query should be as specific as you can make it. The editor you are addressing reads dozens of queries every day. Your offer to write an article on Britain will be tossed immediately in the nearest waste-paper basket. But your offer to tell that editor's readers about a driving tour through the Peak District of Derbyshire, the first national park to be designated in the country, will likely catch his attention. Once he's hooked, tease him further by mentioning Melbourne Hall, in the southeast corner of the Peak District, which boasts one of Britain's most outstanding formal gardens, laid out in the manner of Le Notre's design for Versailles...or Speedwell Cavern, also in this region, where a boat takes you on a subterranean canal tour of the ancient lead mines...or the ruins of Peveril Castle, high above the village of Castleton, situated in the northwest corner of the Peak District and immortalized in Sir Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak. If your query does its job, you will be rewarded with a letter of interest -- perhaps even a letter of assignment. With this in your pocket, you're ready to take off on your trip. While traveling, keep copious notes and collect all the brochures and literature you can get your hands on. When you return home, sit down at your word processor and go at it. Then package your manuscript with a cover letter and send it off. Your work is done. You've nothing left to do but sit back and wait for payment. The writer's edge The free-lance writer has an edge over the free-lance photographer. Rarely do editors advertise for photographers for short-term assignments, but editors advertise frequently for writers. One of the best places to look for specific writing assignments is the TravelWriter MarketLetter, published by Robert Scott Milne. Contact him at the Waldorf-Astoria, Suite 1850, New York, NY 10022. A one-year subscription to the newsletter is $60 in the United States, $70 overseas. Each issue lists travel publications across the United States that are looking for articles on specific topics. Information is included on how long the article should be, payment, and rights. In addition, the TravelWriter MarketLetter also includes information on trips that are available free to writers traveling on assignment. To apply for one of these free trips (recent offerings have included free stays at the Hotel Metropole, a five-star hotel in Geneva, a free ride on the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, and a complimentary stay at the Seiont Manor Hotel near the Isle of Anglesey in Wales), you must have a letter of assignment from the editor of a travel publication. If you have never been published before, this will be difficult to arrange. But if you can produce even one clip (or copy of an article you have had published), and you can convince the editor that you know how to write, you have a good chance of getting your letter. Other sources Once you've exhausted the listings in the TravelWriter MarketLetter, visit your local newsstand and pick up the latest issues of all internationally oriented magazines and newspapers. The classified sections of these publications are usually filled with listings for free-lance travel writers. Publications to try include The New York Times, New York, NY 10108; the International Herald Tribune, Box 309, 36 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JH, England; and The Sunday Times, 200 Gray's Inn Road, London, England. Other good markets are in-flight magazines, and you should check with airlines serving the destination you are covering for the editorial addresses of their inflight publications. Never let a story die Suppose you travel this summer to the island of Bermuda with your two young daughters. You arrange to sell two pieces when you return: one on the most affordable lodgings on the island, the other reviewing the island's many first-class restaurants. You earn $250 for each article and pack your notes from the trip away in the attic. Two years from now, go back up to the attic and pull your notes out again. Send out another batch of query letters. What you'll find is that the new editor of Caribbean Travel & Life is looking for a piece on family travel and would like you to write a piece titled "Ten ways to amuse your children on the island of Bermuda." And he's willing to pay you $300, bringing the total income for the trip up to $800. And it's tax-free, to boot If you can manage to sell one photograph or one travel article as a result of your trip, you can deduct all your costs -- airfare, hotel, transportation, meals, even sightseeing -- from your taxes as a business expense (in most countries). In others you must apportion your time and expense between business and personal. For help with this, talk to your lawyer or accountant.