Here's a question for you, at what point would you consider yourself to be a photojournalist? Is it when you have your first article published? Or maybe when you 10 articles published in a variety of magazines. Or is it when you go on a nationally recognised course or get a qualification in this field?
The answer? I have no idea. I guess it's when you feel comfortable with the label - if you believe you are a photojournalist then others will to.
Cor Bosman and Julie Edwards aren't yet convinced, but the thing is, they've been published on more than several occasions in a variety of magazines (see the thumbprint to the left for an example). I believe they are photojournalists and the evidence for this is their stunning work.
To highlight their abilities I've added some of their work to this post (with their permission of course, for which I am very grateful).
You should take note of Cor and Julie's learning curve in respect of using photography competitions and writing for free as a means of getting your name out there - wise advice.
Although they haven't mentioned this - Cor and Julie are active moderators and contributors for Wetpixel. There's another message here - unlike the media world of yesteryear, I believe it is highly 
unlikely you will get on unless you are contributing in a similar way to the body of knowledge in your area of expertise, for an example click on "Finding Macro," Cor's contribution to UWP magazine (for another example, look at Alex Mustard's contributions to digital underwater photography on the Wetpixel forum). This is typical Generation Y behaviour - sharing information, expertise and ideas using social media.
Unlike the mid 90's when I got started in this world, there's a lot of writing going on out there, on blogs, travel and club websites, non profit making e-zines and magazines - so much that it's almost a certainty you will need to start off by writing for free. But it's all good practice, it gets you to the point where you don't suck at it any more and provides you with the clips the editors of the magazines that do pay might ask for.
Keep writing...
Brendan
Your Story - Cor Bosman and Julie Edwards
It is telling that when Brendan asked us to write a piece for his blog he directed his question to the both of us. This is really our story, as Julie and I have been in this together since the very start. My first reaction to his question was that we’re not photojournalists. He insists that we are but I remain unconvinced. If anything we’re extremely enthusiastic photographers. Neither of us was trained in journalism or photography, but we have both taken photography classes. I do find it interesting to see though that a lot of people educated in Computer Science like myself have become skilled photographers. Somehow the creativity necessary to become good at programming, design or other CS related fields must translate well into photography.
It all began when Julie made me go diving in 1994 during a family visit to St Croix. She in turn had been pushed into diving by her mother during high school. Obviously an indispensable skill for a strong independent woman. That same year we bought a small underwater camera and underwater photography has taken over our lives ever since.
Our journey into being published coincided with passing a certain image quality threshold. Our first steps into having an article published were rejected and looking back at those attempts I can see why; the images were just not good enough. This changed when we found ourselves placing in international contests, which definitely opened some doors. The first person that gave us the opportunity was Peter Rowland and I’m grateful for that chance. Writing for Underwater Photography Magazine for free helped us to land several paying assignments very quickly thereafter. It helps a lot to be able to show something to an editor when you’re presenting an idea.
We’re now in a pretty comfortable zone. We write for magazines and our own travel journal, but it’s not our primary source of income. We enjoy what we do, and try to pass that on to others.
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