Thanks to Elaine Whiteford for her words of encouragement to keep this site going.
Elaine has her own website devoted to underwater photography, film making and photojournalism called Sublime Scuba Photography.
Since 2005 she has been published in a variety of magazines including: The Scots Magazine, The Undersea Journal, The Scottish Wildlife Trust magazine, Chic Chat, DYK magazine (did you know this was owned by the DIVER group?), Nature Photographers Online magazine and DIVER magazine. All of this has been achieved over the past three years - or has it?
Elaine talks about the numerous rejections prior to getting her first article accepted - an all too common story. The magazines she has been published in do not appear to have any contributor guidelines, which often leads to rejection from would be contributors as they submit articles that are not suitable. Note how I say 'not suitable' - they may be very well written and the pictures may be stunning, they're just not what the editor is looking for at that time.
Most budding photojournalists don't realise that even though a magazine doesn't publish any contributor guidelines, they effectively do through their magazine. An analysis of a year's worth of any magazine will tell you precisely what the editor is looking for. Although this process may take time, it will remove the frustration of rejection and reduce the amount of time spent preparing articles that don't get published.
I guess the worth of conducting such analysis is demonstrated in my own story - my first year of submissions were accepted and published in Sport Diver, Scuba World and DIVER, as well as in a handful of non diving related titles. Since then I have only had one article returned as opposed to rejected - it was initially accepted but after two years of knocking around in the editor's 'for publication' box, it had gone past its sell by date. (See "Workshops and Seminars" in the right hand column of my site - during these I spend time on the techniques and practicalities of analysis)
From Elaine's website it is clear that she has been pro-active in promoting her photographs at every opportunity, from exhibitions to competitions, she has managed to get her name 'out there' very effectively.
Elaine is proof that anyone (can you put two sentences together? That's enough, the rest can be worked on) can get published. I don't say this out of any disrespect for Elaine's work - it's very good, it has to be otherwise it wouldn't get published. Her story is similar to mine, I have no journalist or writing qualifications other than an 'O' -level (basic 16 year old stuff) in English Language. So, if we can do it - so can you.
I'll be featuring more successful photojournalists in the future, but in the meantime, here's Elaine's story in her own words:
How I Managed To Break Into The Photojournalism World And Get Published?
By Elaine Whiteford
Well, it was more of a stumble, really, albeit a stumble at the end of a long and weary journey. But it is important to remember that you don’t get from start to finish without going on a journey; overnight success is very rare.
My journey, like that of many others, was full of rejections. If you are serious about breaking into photojournalism, though, you have to take rejection in your stride, treat it as an occupational hazard and carry on with what you want to do – which is write and photograph. Articles get rejected for lots of reasons, even if they are well written and well photographed. They also, of course, get rejected because they are sub-standard. Let experience be your teacher and grow your experience by keeping writing and by reading the work of others.
Anyway, back to my stumble into photojournalism. Taking as read the years of blood, sweat, tears and rejection, I kept writing and persevering with submissions. My breakthrough finally came when I approached an international journal with an unsolicited dive travel piece.
Although a rejection came whizzing back, it was a rejection with a difference because it came with a question: the editor didn’t think the piece I had submitted was right at that time for the journal but, since I was in touch, did I have anything similar on Barbados since they were looking for a feature on the island?
Well, I didn’t: but I had been to Barbados and I did have photographs so I could prepare a similar article. Thus as any aspiring photojournalist would, I replied that I did have an appropriate piece and turned the article around in 24 hours. The submission was accepted and that was that – I had a cover and a further 25 images in a 2000 word article spread over multiple pages. While I may have stumbled as I broke into photojournalism, as first publications go, the Barbados piece was a pretty substantial feature.
There is no secret to getting published. Success is usually a combination of hard work, perseverance, quality writing and photography, serendipity. And the good news is, you can control all but the last of these!
Word & Copyright - Elaine Whiteford
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