Since buying my Nikon D70 I have been sent two lots of pictures into the local newspaper, 1 from the British Superbikes and the other from British rally championships.
I was glad to see that both times they were printed in the paper, the one of the bikes had a short text with it which I worte and it named me, the rally pics were just the pics and someone else wrote the report but they didnt have my name on the pic.

Question is, where do i stand, I was told Id get a small payment and they would name me if the pics were used, well so far ive had nothing and it doesnt look promising, should I keep sending pics in a hope they get published and be happy with that or should I be pushing to be paid for them, I want them in the paper but i dont wanna sound money orientated otherwise they will porbs stop printing them???????

Do i need to be editing the pics with my name on them before i send them??

Please help,

Cheers Gav.

I did alot of work recently and I had not discussed pay until after the shoot. Its too late afterwards. Pay, copyright, usage etc. NEEDS to be discussed before you start taking pictures.

What you could do is watermark and crop all the images (800x600) you send into the Newspaper and then if they want the images, make them pay. That's what I do.

Darren

Not so long ago I was chief photographer on a local paper. The best thing you can do is ring the sports editor. If he is busy or on a deadline find out when is the best time to call. Its most likely the sports department will decide which pictures go in their section rather than the news or picture desk.

On my old paper there was a chap who regularly sent in speedway and stock car racing pics. If you can promise a regular supply of pictures from events, particularly if there is a local interest such as local drivers, there is no reason why you couldn't build a good relationship. If there are motorsport events going on near you there will be plenty of people interested. If you can provide pics and names and info, it leaves staff photographers free for other things. Editors love that!

If you get on with the sports staff they will negotiate on your behalf ( honest! )to get you a fee, and payment for the pics already published. It may only be £25 or £30 per pic but better than nowt. You could also write a polite letter to the editor of the paper mentioning the pics you have had published with a cutting or photocopy. If you invoiced for £30 per pic I reckon you would definitely receive payment. Which paper is it? If its a big daily/evening paper maybe even £60 per pic.

So in brief, a polite letter to the ed with invoice for reasonable amount should get you payment. Worth befriending sports department too for long term gain. I've not been published in papers for a while. Other photographers on here who have may have good advice too. Hope thats helpful, Gav.

Maurice

Thanks for that darren and maurice, thats helped clear a few things up,
I have had pictures prited in 2 different papers, one was the Cumberland News which covers the whole county and is weekly the other paper was a daily paper covering North west cumbria so they do get distrubuted to a wide area.

I will try and get in touch with the sports editor next week, Ill let ya know how i get on.

Cheers Gav.

Gav,

As Darren said above, get it agreed up front if you can.

However, speculative shots should be small crappy JPEGs emailed in to the local papers picture desk. Make sure you have the proper, quality images ready to go before you do this. If they want them they will come back to you. Agree a fee there and then.

If you are regularly submitting work to some of the larger magazine groups you will have to sign up to their terms and conditions, agreements on pay scales and timings etc. sign away your first born etc. etc. Some of these are quite in depth but it protects them and you. Pay is better but expect it to be paid long after submission, some only pay a month or so after *publication* and they may also want exclusive editorial usage for six months or more.

OK, that might all sound like hard work, but it is actually very straight forward. Once you have "signed up" you can just keep banging in the shots. If they print them, they pay you and everything works out fine. Or you are lucky, they will commission you to do work based on their previous experiences with you.

Good luck. :)

Cheers

Ian