How to break into the Media?

[alan927]

I've been doing motorcycle racing photography as a "hobby" (vacation) for a couple years now, and have gotten to the point where I look at motorcycle magazines and think, "My photos are better than that!" OK, maybe at least as good. Motorcyclist is a good example; their photos are all "frozen" with no sense of motion due to shutter speeds set too fast. Yes, I am now looking at every photo in every magazine and critiquing them...

Click here for a good example of what I can do. I like this one, too. Both are from last weekend.

How can I break into the print/media photo business? Is it a matter of knowing the right people or do you have to put in time at a local newspaper, etc.?

My website is to the point that if you search Google for motorcycle racing it's ranked in the top 15 out of 2.2 million (usually #12 or 13 - top of page 2). Results on Yahoo, MSN and other search engines are similar. Actually the fun one is motorcycle racing photography - I'm #1!

I'm working with a Canon 20D and 3 lenses - Sigma 28-80, 70-300 and 50-500. All are f/4-5.6 (yes, I know I should really get f/2.8 lenses). I'm shooting RAW+JPEG (.cr2 format on the 20D) and throwing away the jpg's and creating my own from the cr2's.

I would appreciate any advice. Even my boss at my "day job" wonders why I'm not working media jobs on the weekends...

 

[JIP]

Send a letter with some pics to the mag and then if you get rejected send more an more and more....... you see where I'm going with this. If your images are good one day they may have an event that needs covered in your area and someone may call you if you really want it you need to push push push and market yourself as much as you can. Noone will put this kind of job in your lap and I'm sure there are a million guys out there with the same story as you so you need to try to stand out in the crowd persistence pays off.




Oh yeah you really need a 2.8 lens.