AFP, reuters and the gang

[danalec99]

Does companies like AFP, Reuters, NG, Time... employ hoards of photographers accross the globe? Or is it mostly freelancing?

 

[jack]

the companies you chose are all somewhat different in what they do.

 

[jack]

Time Magazine use a mix of agency, staff and stock.
There was a group-action in recent years i heard between Time and many freelancers who provided photography in the 50's-70's. Time wanted to produce a CDR folio of this work and the photographers wanted a cut
and were disputing rights.

Reuters is a news-wire service. realtime information is there big concept.
they have a huge library of archived media.

AP is an photo-agency.

 

[danalec99]

I should have been more specific... I know Reuters is a news-wire service and AP is a photo agency.

I was talking about Reuters Pictures, and the AP pictures; about the photographs. Was wondering if it is done in-house or freelanced? If it is in-house, they should be a massive gaint with photogs all over the world!

 

[jack]

it interesting question, hard to say categorically.

my guess would be its down to whether the type of news event
is predictable or not so. id think theyd have virtual 'staff' relationships
with specialist press-photographers (eg the photographers who attend all
government press-conferences, sports-photographers, paparazzi).
Foreign correspondents maybe are staff people. The photo-editorials in
Time usually look like they were assignment-jobs by staff teams of photographers and journalists.

Extraordinary photograpy of unpredicted news events, i think would be
bought by reuters-type orgs from anyone, anywhere, if it added value their
news-service. i know its the case with 'evening' (city) papers that it can be effective to offer them feature photos in the mornings, when the days news
is a bit thin for the early editions. throughout the day, more hard news
comes in and they drop certain feature stuff.

digital photography is essential if you want to compete in this
press-photograpy field. I think if you can provide an image which
'reuters' dont possess, and it will repro at a good-enough quality, they
will consider it. it doesnt make business-sense to employ a regular staffer
anywhere, unless there is the frequency of events which make it pay.

what do you think ?

 

[danalec99]

digital photography is essential if you want to compete in this
press-photograpy field. I think if you can provide an image which
'reuters' dont possess, and it will repro at a good-enough quality, they
will consider it. it doesnt make business-sense to employ a regular staffer
anywhere, unless there is the frequency of events which make it pay.
what do you think ?

Thanks for the info.
Say I have a photo of Reuters or AFP standard. How do I proceed? Should I simply mail it to them?? After I send them the pic, who will be its owner then?

 

[photogoddess]

You will remain the copywrite holder unless you sign a contract giving (selling) them the rights or sign a "work for hire" contract which would automatically make them the copywrite holder.

 

[danalec99]

Okay!
So, I just have to send the pics to 'some' email address in those companies??

 

[jack]

try to speak to the 'Duty Desk' on the phone and see
what the procedure is. it depends on what you have.

in a seperate call, speak to the print-room and get their
preferred pre-press specs for continous-tone artwork.
that will make the PDF/EPS's you send easily useable.

study a publication before you attempt to submit any
photgraphy. look at their habitual layout sizes and use of
photos. look at what type of thing they use regularly.

a person will inevitably specialise on a focus which is profitable
for them or they can access more than many.

sport-photgraphy, aerial-photography, celebrity-circuits, performance-art
it depends what you as an individual can network into :0)

i would love to have a kitty of a couple of thousand dollars and recognise
a news story in europe and think.... right this is the big opp for the next
fortnight thats going to occur for me and travel there at the drop of a hat.

if you got the nod to send something over, i guess youd use an anon FTP
xfer (?) A good (virus-free) preview for the publisher would be a fax and followed up straight away with a phonecall.

a photographer concentrating on the big news and political stories in a city
or region (and really serious about it) would need digital capture, plus a budget to fund several weeks photographing the wrong things and
learning / not earning.

i find it hard to understand how any photographer outside of NYC , DC London, Paris , Berlin , etc etc could make a real living with press-photography (as a freelance). to me the only way to make a proper
living from photography is with a tripod and a spirit-level. i think
the press-photography as a side-line though funded by something else
(i'm a bike-courier as well as breaking into commercial photography :0)

 

[danalec99]

Thank you. That was a very informative post!!

 

[jack]

Thanks for the info.
Say I have a photo of Reuters or AFP standard. How do I proceed? Should I simply mail it to them?? After I send them the pic, who will be its owner then?

IMO , i wouldnt mail it.

best scenario would be a person has a photo of X event (which for purposes
of copyright debate, lets say is accepted as a 'journalistic / fair-use, public-interest' image).

1. they call the Duty peeps at the paper and get a positive/negative
response.

if its positive, send a fax preview and immediately call-back and
agree a price and use (relevant to how they operate i.e one-time,
syndication, or purchased outright. try to agree a price over the phone.

Get somekind of a purchase-order # and the name of the person who
is OKing this with you on the phone.

contract..... you can include a sign/return of post agreement / invoice
in the fax maybe, oO(but that isnt very smart: if it gets mislaid in
the post and theres an debate about the agreed fee paid later).

i'd take the data to their offices in person if its in your local area,
and get things signed-off as you give them the media on disc.

i think many news-orgs will have standardised submissin of agreed
materials via FTP direct to their production-departments.



what kind of thing are you doing ?

 

[danalec99]

what kind of thing are you doing ?

Nothing!! Just doing my research!

This is a beautiful forum!!