Recent events have made me think of the uphill struggle it must be for local newspapers and magazines to provide good quality, up-to-date photos with their stories. The rise of internet publishing and the reduction in circulation numbers has certainly seemed to hit photography budgets in the last few years.
The high-profile story of May 2013 was the sudden decision by the Chicago Sun-Times to lay off its entire staff of 28 photographers and replace them with freelancers. Closer to home in the UK it now seems that we can expect more of the following, particularly in sport:
1) Use an old photo to illustrate the story #1.Your local, let's say basketball, team is playing several hunded miles away. It would be nice to have some shots to go with the story - especially if the team are doing well. But it's a long way, so it's a full day away for somebody. So the easy option seems to be to use a photo or two from the match earlier in the season when the same teams were playing at your local venue. Obvious as a cheap alternative to anybody who has more than a passing interest in the sport.
2) Use an old photo to illustrate the story #2. A local junior, let's say runner, is coming through the ranks as they get to senior grade, putting in some PBs, getting some podium places. Again, the narrative is all about recent performances in 2015, but the story is illustrated with photos from junior events in 2013 (clearly shown in the text of the medal ribbons). Does it take the edge off the story? Just a bit.
3) Use a low-paid freelancer with a kit lens to cover an event. With the offer of sums as low as £15 to a freelancer to cover an event (this is for time, mileage, giving up copyright, wear and tear on your own gear etc), it's not surprising to see someone with a kit body/lens standing at the side some days. All well and good for the guy who gets a bit of money and their name next to a photo (and a free ticket to the event, especially if you like the sport anyway). But the photo quality does tend to suffer on occasion.
4) Ask your better freelancer to cover 3 or 4 events during the day. To get the quality that an experienced photographer can give you, a local publication might give them a full day's contract, but this might mean that they have to cover several events during that day. The benefit is that you get lots of good quality shots over the events. The downside is that they can only spend so long at each event and so the danger is that they'll miss the big/local pieces if timings don't coincide. At the UK Indoor Athletics Championship recently the local photographer was there on the first day, but only for the first two hours of competition. In that time he'll have got most of the heats of the sprints, but missed the local runners in the long-distance events and field events like the shot-putt. And no-one was there on the finals day on the Sunday.
I know it's not a perfect world and I'm not trying to put down what local publications try to do with their limited budgets. But personally I couldn't work like that. It would kill me to be rushing
off to cover, say, a rugby match just before Katarina Johnson-Thompson
and Morgan Lake did battle in the high jump. So, I think I'll stick to working for myself. Taking the shots that I want to in my own time. Knocking on doors to get into events. Missing out on some of the big events, but enjoying it when I do get a slot at one. Getting second dibs on the good shot positions. Hoping that somebody will want to buy the output. Hoping that they'll pay for it in less than 3 months. Starting again when your contact at the organisation moves on and you lose your foot in the door. Thanking the organisations that go out of their way to look after the media - especially with lunches and wifi.
Happy days! And at least I don't have a producer nagging me about wanting a hot meal at the end of a day's shooting!
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