Why editors won't like your photographs

I was chatting to a real life full time above water photographer today, you know, one that makes a living out of taking pictures.

On his business card he had some examples of incredibly inventive and beautiful photographs. So when does he get to take pictures like this? "Hardly ever," came his reply, "my time is spent taking shots of 'important' people shaking hands at conferences and smiling folks next to a new 'something' for newspapers." As for the artistic shots? "it's editorial that earns the $ - whether you like it or not, that's just the way it is."

This reminded me of the difference between mainstream underwater photography and photography for magazines. Unless the magazine is the equivalent of National Geographic the likelihood is that the editor won't want the types of pictures you take.

Sure, they'll opt for some of them, but chances are, they won't tell a story, they won't illustrate your copy in the way the editor / art editor will want them to. And as for front covers? Did you know there are several editors out there who are always on the look out for front cover shots? The thing is, most underwater photographers don't look for shots that will make a front cover. Think about cover shots, do they follow the rule of thirds and all that kind of stuff?

A few examples:

I was in Bermuda on my second commissioned assignment and one of the central themes was a wreck called the Xing Da. It's in small pieces now, but back then it was quite an impressive sight. Note how the photograph has divers in it and how it shows the scale of the dive site. the inset is a shot of the ship sinking I took the year before. Editors like exclusivity, and this page delivered, there are few divers who have shots of the ship sinking and in its pre-smashed to bits state.

This next set of pictures helped tell the main theme of another article pictorally, how most of the dive   centres in Eilat wanted to give me extra weights to get me to 'sink.' What better than a set of pictures showing divers launching themselves into the water?

So, next time you are out with your camera, think, will this shot tell a story? How will it look on the pages of a diving magazine? How can you appeal to the editors? You're not there to please the readers, remember who will decide whether your shots are good enough to support your copy.

More about commissions / assignments another time. Until then,

keep writing

Brendan