Newspaper photography work in Australia

Cloudnine

Hi all:

I am a Melbourne based freelance photographer, but I'm losing clients due to the global economic crisis. I still have enough work to get by, but have been thinking about getting into newspaper photography for some time now.

I know full-time photography work (with an actual salary etc) is rare, but I didn't realise how scarce until I started scanning job sites for positions. These positions are often filled in-house as well, never actually getting to the advertising for candidates stage.

Does anyone know of any of these kind of jobs currently available anywhere in Oz - or any websites apart from the obvious (mycareer, seek etc) where I mind find positions advertised?

I would also be interested in overseas positions if the right job came up.

Please view my work at cloudninephotography.com.au - thanks in advance for your assistance.

To make this thread more interesting for us visual people - here's a shot of some white cockatoos I took the other day. Just clipped his wings unfortunately, but a few people have said the crop makes the image more dynamic. I think I'm just getting slow at the ripe old age of 31.

ian408

More than likely, you won't get hired until you have some experience. What about shooting as a stringer for the local paper? Build your portfolio and then look for a paying gig?

Cloudnine

ian408 wrote:

More than likely, you won't get hired until you have some experience. What about shooting as a stringer for the local paper? Build your portfolio and then look for a paying gig?

I've actually shot freelance for newspapers and magazines for over 10 years - in Oz and the UK - and have a solid portfolio of editorial work. This has given me a good network of contacts as well, but none have been able to put me on to existing full-time positions. This thread was just about widening the net beyond that I guess - as media opportunities seem to come to my attention mainly through word of mouth.

I started out as a reporter after studying journalism, and my first job was on a small country newspaper where all the journos also had to take the pictures. It must be said, this generally didn't make for great pictures, but my passion for photography started there.

Over the years I have moved more and more to the imagery side of things, through page layout and design, before ending up as a photographer. I could definitely make more money had I stuck with another editorial skill, but this is what I get the most enjoyment out of.

My smugmug site hosts a lot of what I shoot for 'me' - I tend to keep the more mundane and less spectaular editorial stuff on hard drive.

Art Scott

Cloudnine wrote:

My smugmug site hosts a lot of what I shoot for 'me' - I tend to keep the more mundane and less spectaular editorial stuff on hard drive.

Could we get a link please.

Blaker

Unfortunately , here in the States , newspapers are dying a slow death. Many large papers have stopped publishing their print editions. Many papers who are still printing have cut hours and pay, and instead of hiring experienced photojournalists, just give the reporters a point and shoot and tell them to grab a shot while they are doing the story.
Some papers even solicit photos from their readers (without pay, of course).

Not sure if things are this dire down in Oz, but I'd venture to guess that it's a rare PJ today that can support a family on a newspaper salary.

On the bright side, you've got a magnificent gallery of photos! The trick now is to find that niche and use it to sell your photos!!

Good luck and hope things work out for you!

Cloudnine

Art Scott wrote:

Could we get a link please.

cloudninephotography.com.au

As I said, I keep the more mundane editorial type stuff on hard drives, this is more things I shoot for me.

xris

Very Nice Body of Work Here!
Nice work Stuart! First-class. And good luck in finding a position.

BTW: I've always wondered. Do photographers in Oz hold their cameras pentaprism down, or do they simply turn the prints over upon receipt?

(If earth was flat, all the Australians would fall off!)

Cloudnine

xris wrote:

Nice work Stuart! First-class. And good luck in finding a position.

BTW: I've always wondered. Do photographers in Oz hold their cameras pentaprism down, or do they simply turn the prints over upon receipt?

(If earth was flat, all the Australians would fall off!)

Yeah, newspapers are definitely on the decline Down Under as well. Many have jumped the gun a little with publishing all of that day’s content online for free at midnight after the paper has been put to bed.

Our fine export to the US Rupert Murdoch (you’re welcome to him) claims all online news content will be subscription based in 10 years time – but it will be interesting to see how people react to paying for something they have been reading for free at their work stations for years now. Content will have to improve, that’s for sure.

Photography wise, regional papers here are certainly going down the point-and-shoot path. It’s even being written in to the formal job description of some journalism jobs that an ‘interest in photography’ is preferred. Sub editors (not ‘expensive’ designers) are cutting pics and laying them on to pages when they don’t really have a clue what they’re doing and investing in decent photography gear is an expense some struggling news organisations are considering unnecessary. I think union regulations will protect photography departments on large suburban dailies for a while, and they too may eventually shrink, but freelancers may benefit there.

None of this bodes well for the future of newspaper photography – but I feel the broad experience a snapper gains from working at a paper is still almost unsurpassed. The wide range of assignments, people and places you are sent to immortalise and the obscure nature of some briefs simply doesn’t occur anywhere else.

Some people like freelance because they can pick and choose what they shoot and deal with familiar subject matter. But I like waking up in the morning and having no idea what I’m going to have to take pictures of that day, and the challenges that presents. I love lighting a simple head shot of a councillor like a magazine cover, or making the captain of the under13s hockey side feel 100-feet tall because you’ve made them look like they’re in a Powerade commercial.

There are crap things about it as well of course. Many news editors feel that anyone can be a photographer, and so solicit pics from readers as Blaker mentions, almost always without pay. As the budget tightens, the photography department is often the first to suffer. The willingness to publish grainy images of CCTV footage and pics taken on cell phones is also desensitising readers to decent photography. But I feel there is still a huge market out there for quality photography and photo-journalism, be it online or in the actual paper.

As a reporter I used to try and bring things to the general public with words, but I’ve found delivering the message through imagery often has so much more impact. Being able to encapsulate the gist of a story in one image is a great challenge, and often something a journo can’t do with 300 words (depending on their literacy levels).

And to answer Xris’ question... Australians order special pentaprisms from Canon made by oompa loompas who have had their eyes surgically rotated. This ensures our Prime Minister's perfect side part does not appear reversed in national newspapers.

And perhaps if the Earth was flat, Americans wouldn’t always think they were above us. Just kidding.