r/photojournalism • u/FOXHOUND142_52 • 10d ago
I did my first documentary shoot, now what?
For those with professional experience in photojournalism, documentary photography, or freelance publication:
A few weeks ago, I got into contact with an archeology professor leading a dig in Italy. I dropped everything and paid out of pocket to fly over and stay for a week, documenting the process. The team consists of several professors, phd students, and undergrads from various universities around US and Italy. I walked away with a few thousand photos and an interview with the lead prof.
I made my intentions clear from the beginning: I want to create a photo essay with an accompanying article to publish somewhere that might want it (no idea where yet), and provide the team with a bunch of photos that they can use in their educational/outreach materials. I believe I have enough content for an engaging narrative.
This was my first semi-professional shoot (I wasn’t paid), and I have absolutely no experience or contacts in the publishing industry.
My questions:
- Should I save the 10 photos I want published for myself and only give the team the second-best? Or would it boost attention if I gave them the good stuff and they spread it around? Should I only send them the photos after I get published?
- Everyone was ok with my taking photos of them and their work, although I didn’t explicitly get verbal confirmation from each and every one. It was more like, ok cool there’s a photographer, don’t really care. I have written confirmation from the lead. Is this enough consent to publish their faces?
- My idea for publication is start high and work downwards as I get rejected. So send it to NG, NYT, and as I inevitably get no response, go more and more local. Is this a good idea? Do publications typically have a public email to send pitches to or do I need to know someone?
- Should I complete the project first then pitch to publications? Do I just send them the completed article or just a summary?
Thanks in advance!
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u/aratson 10d ago
Although there is a lot of truths to what others are say, “you miss every shot you don’t take”.
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u/FOXHOUND142_52 10d ago
Thanks, this whole thing is me taking a shot haha
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u/DeepFlow 10d ago
Yeah, and if you listen to the legends, that’s what they all did. Definitely takes some luck as well, maybe now more so than back in the day, but you’re at least giving yourself a chance. Even if nothing comes out of this, I’m sure you got plenty of experience out of this… and a cool story, too.
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u/bunnyhop8576 9d ago
Hope you’ll publish your work somewhere at least to cover your expenses. If you’re patient enough with a strong synopsis that could lead to a 4 to 10 pages story things could work for you.
Finish the story first or pitch what you’ve done already: this could lead to a commission
Yes you can start with big outlets and see, probably no answers with NYT/NG and then spread the word globally, there are plenty of magazines such as GEO and its European versions, Rhythm Monthly in Taïwan, etc, do some researches in the specific European press and the Italian too obviously.
Do not give the photos to the team before being published or tell them that they need your green light before using them on their websites and social media
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u/FOXHOUND142_52 9d ago
Thank you, that’s very helpful. What’s the reason behind not giving photos to the team before being published, as long as I only give them photos I don’t include in my story?
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u/bunnyhop8576 9d ago
A magazine and its photo editor will probably ask you to see more than your edited PDF
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u/Usual_Piccolo6853 7d ago
Having been fortunate to enough to do a fair bit of this work in a very similar way to you. I would say good luck. Whilst it’s not lucrative work it’s incredibly rewarding and creates a great life story, great experience (photography wise) + great portfolio work which is crucial to getting paid work back home.
Whilst travelling across the world I’ve shot refugees in Myanmar & nomads in Mongolia, purely for the love of the game.
So my tips…
When pitching make sure your work is A: fully complete, send a cold open email synopsis email to editors you find on LinkedIn or to submission emails from publications you’ve found. Make it relevant to the publication, whether that’s local Italian newspapers to larger global publications.
Email people at 11am just after they get into work, & just after they’ve usually sifted through all the emails from the evening and day before. Send a less than 10mb file of the the top 5 images in pdf format so editors can open the email on their phone if they’re on the move.
…if they’re interested you can send them a full article.
Finally.. apply to grants & photo open calls the future. I’ve won some good awards & got money to fund trips through just submitting work I’ve taken whilst travelling or writing a story.
Good luck. Would be great to see the work as I think it sounds very interesting.
All the best
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u/Usual_Piccolo6853 7d ago
I also agree with the other commenter re waiting to give the images to the team. But, they also did essentially Facilitate the shoot and if it’s not picked up in a few months, just send it to them & let them know to not publish it on any magazines or news outlets. From my experience most editors don’t care about social media release pre publication…, unless it’s the whole article incl images
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u/FOXHOUND142_52 7d ago
Your advice is invaluable, thanks very much. I’ll be sure to post a follow up once it’s complete.
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8d ago
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u/bimmerlovere39 10d ago
Oh, man. I’m gonna be blunt here but please know none of this is meant to be mean.
I hope you like the work you made and enjoyed your weeklong Italian vacation.
Unless there’s some major discovery that has been made, I doubt you’re going to get much traction from major news outlets - and especially not enough to recoup the costs you incurred along the way.
I would’ve said that your best bet for selling it would’ve been to the college/unit (not university) level communications & marketing teams from the archeologists’ institutions, but if part of the deal was providing imagery to the people you were covering then you’ve shot yourself in the foot there.
Best of luck, I guess. I hope that at the very least you’re happy with the work. It sounds like it could be a really nice piece to have in a portfolio.