I recently completed an article for a travel magazine and sent in some photographs to go with it. Unfortunately, my computer had crashed the week before and I lost the very best ones. So I had to settle for sending in ones I wouldn’t normally have chosen.
The irony of all this is that I was writing an article about organizing and sharing digital photographs… and I hadn’t even managed to organize and safely save my own photographs…
The editor accepted the photos but she did mention that they were ‘somewhat bleached out’…
It got me thinking…how important is it for the travel writer to be able to take good photographs? Do you need photographs to sell the story? And how good does good have to be?
Any thoughts?
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
How important is it for travel writers to take photographs?
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7 comments:
I'm obviously not as familiar with travel writing as you are, but I would assume it's very important. An article about a place and pictures of the place go hand-in-hand it seems. Plus, editors probably see it as a blessing since they won't have to find another way of getting photos for the article.
I have mixed feelings about this. I always take plenty of pics, and in some cases it has been clear upfront that without them the article would not run. But I have rarely been offered any separate payment for images, which is frustrating given the time involved in taking, editing and organising them.
I have to admit that I enjoy seeing my images in print as much as (or sometimes even more than) the text. But that doesn't mean I want to give them away...
P.S. I don't know much about Blogger, but have you noticed that links from the comments don't seem to be working? My name links to
http://writetotravel.blogspot.com/2007/05/www.balticvisitor.com
instead of just http://www.balticvisitor.com. The same thing has happened to the message from the previous commenter. Maybe a setting somewhere is wrong?
I don't know about travel writing, but my blog site wouldn't be anything without my photos. They are the highlights of my day, you can look at my photos most times and know exactly how the day went. (Most days are great.)
I agree that I like having my photos attached to articles, but I've also had articles done that have used photos other than mine. Have always offered photos with articles. Some have paid extra when they use them, others haven't.
John, don't know why you had problems with link...might have been temporary problem...usually works fine.
I'll throw in my two cents on this one...
I've never sold the editorial portion of my story based on the fact that I've had great images to go with, but I have found that offering terrific high-res digital images to accompany my words has impressed editors and has definitely made me more money.
In travel writing, since you're headed someplace anyway, you might as well invest in a decent digital camera just in case an editor asks, even if you don't plan to bill yourself as a writer slash photographer... I purchased a Nikon D70S (a digital SLR) when I embarked on this journey a couple years ago, and I've never been sorry. Without knowing everything about my high tech camera, I've managed to capture some stellar shots that I've been proud to sell with my stories.
Good luck!
I agree about investing in a decent digital camera. My first one is now classified as an antique and is acting like one. Have been working on getting new camera but still can't decide which one...have a couple in mind but can't seem to make up my mind. Need to figure it out soon as have big trip coming up in September and want to be proficient with the camera before I go...
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