staff jobs for photographers: on the payroll for...
TRANSCRIPT
Business Trends
Staff Jobs For Photographers: On The Payroll For Pictures
By Maria Piscopo • Posted: Aug 14, 2012 • Published: Jul 1, 2012
Yes, there are staff jobs for photographers! Not as talked about as those who earn their living
working freelance, this career path proves to be still viable today. The seven photographers
interviewed for this column have a variety of job titles and work for a broad range of companies,
including newspapers, big corporations, educational institutions, and hotels/resorts. Though they
work in very different environments, it was interesting to me how much they have in common.
As I learned, you will find that just being a technically competent photographer is not enough for
a staff photography job. Also, make note of their employers’ use of freelancers. You’ll find that
freelancing (working as a stringer) is one path to a staff job.
The staff photographers who I spoke with are Mike Bizelli, formerly with Ralston Purina
Company; Glenn Carpenter, Moraine Valley Community College, college photographer imaging
specialist; Sean D. Elliot, The Day Publishing Company, chief photographer; Lucas Jackson,
Reuters, staff photographer; Melina Mara, The Washington Post, national political staff
photographer; Larry W. Smith, European Pressphoto Agency/EPA, staff photographer/Dallas;
and Eliot VanOtteren, Sea Island, staff photographer/marketing. Please see the end of this article
for Internet resources where you can see more of their work.
(Author’s emphasis added in italics—Editor.)
Larry W. Smith/EPA
Shutterbug: One question I always get asked about staff work: how did you get your job? What
was it in your resume or experience that got you hired?
Lucas Jackson: There is huge competition in the industry today, with countless photographers
vying for work at an established news agency like Reuters. Staff photographers are handed a
range of assignments, need to be able to shoot different events and to work in different
conditions. You also need a very flexible schedule. Some weeks are planned in advance and you
know exactly what you will be working on. Others are less so, as you have to be there to cover
news when it breaks. Making plans outside of work is something that comes with a caveat.
Sometimes you have dinner plans that end up being canceled because you have to fly to Iceland.
It can be a wonderfully thrilling job, but you need to be comfortable with the element of surprise
and unpredictability.
My own big break was the Michael Jackson trial in Santa Maria, California. It was a freelance
assignment that ran for a couple of months and through that I met a lot of other photographers
and people within Reuters. More than anything else, it let me prove that I could deliver quality
images quickly and it helped me build important relationships that later would lead to this job.
My main advice would be if you have an opportunity to cover a news event that is local to you,
do it! Then offer the photos to photo editors. They need to know who you are and what you can
do. That is an easy way to introduce yourself and make your name known. Remember, you can
find us a lot easier than the other way around.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post
Glenn Carpenter: The position was advertised in the print media. So, I followed the usual
process of a cover letter and resume. Your resume and education will get you past the Human
Resources department to an interview with those who care about your portfolio.
Your portfolios are very important and need to be job specific. If you are applying for a position
that requires scientific imagery, have that in your portfolio. Research the company before you
apply and if necessary add images to your portfolio that meet the needs of the potential
employer. To really impress, have tear sheets or links that showcase your photography. I had all
these and was told it was the key to my being hired.
Sean D. Elliot: I was three months into a 10-month internship in Bridgeport, Connecticut, when
The Day advertised on the NPPA job bank for a “digital imaging technician.” The newspaper
had a very good reputation in the state so out of curiosity I applied for the position.
While the job was designed to be a night-shift tech sort of job, with some photo editing, I told the
photo editor I would be interested with the understanding that my ultimate goal was a staff
photography job. The advantage of working 4pm to midnight was that I had days free to shoot. I
chased spot news whenever I could. I shot sports on my own time, all in an effort to endear
myself to my bosses. Less than a year after being hired one of the staffers at the paper retired. I
prevailed in an open hiring process and became a staff photographer.
© Mike Bizelli
Eliot VanOtteren: I am a Savannah College of Art and Design graduate with a Bachelor of Fine
Arts degree in photography. This experience, along with photo assisting and recent client work,
had laid a solid technical and creative foundation on which I could build. A 10-week
photography internship at Savannah Morning News had given me a taste of fulfilling multiple
daily assignments, and being a part of a large team with many moving parts. Additionally, I had
supplemented my income as I built my business shooting weddings and portraits for the contract
resort photographer at Sea Island. This allowed me to gain familiarity with the property, its
culture, brand, employees, guests, and members. I had also developed a great deal of valuable
relationships among clients and fellow creatives who were glad to provide a reference to my
character, work, and professionalism. (This goes a long way!)
Lastly, I had learned a great deal about production as an independent shooter. I was prepared to
manage and direct projects, from scouting and casting talent to retouching and archiving.
Through my client work, and personal projects, I had built a well-rounded portfolio which I
hoped would make an impression on the marketing team at Sea Island. To summarize, formal
training, professional experience, familiarity with the resort, reliable references and testimonials,
and a passion for photography all worked together to put me in a position to be hired as staff
photographer at Sea Island.
Mike Bizelli: I worked at Ralston Purina Company (now Nestlé Purina) in St. Louis from
September 1977 until September 1995. My job title was “photographer.” I think the secret to
getting the job at Purina was persistence. I found out who was in charge of the department and
went after him. I had two interviews and after the second I called once every 10 days. It took
about two months. When I got hired, their photo department consisted of two other shooters; one
traveled constantly, one shot portraits and products in an archaic studio using hot lights. My
initial assignments were confined to the lab. I was promised an opportunity to shoot and that
came true within six months. I started traveling a bit shooting people and animals for in-house
publications, “filmstrips,” sales brochures, meetings, events, and public relations.
The department had artists, designers, and art directors constantly working on packaging,
promotions, brochures, annual reports, and other publications and we could shoot for any
department in the company.
Sean D. Elliot/The Day
Melina Mara: The Washington Post hired me after the director of photography, Joe Elbert,
knew of an exhibit I had at the Smithsonian on women in American politics. He then spoke to a
Washington Post staff photographer who had worked with me, who urged Joe to hire me. Plus
Joe called the references on my resume at other newspapers I had worked for on the West Coast
and the Midwest.
When hired at The Post, my resume listed about five newspapers where I had worked,
freelancing, exhibitions, and a book that had recently come out. The Post frequently looks for
people with a lot of experience and some cache. To get my job there I pushed those higher cache
items in the resume. I had an all day interview. They flew me in from Seattle, and I interviewed
from the managing editor on down. I went into those interviews with a vision for the national
political photographer role they would be hiring me for. I also did my homework on The Post
and their needs to improve their product from this beat.
Larry W. Smith: I was a freelance photographer living and working in Kansas and was
contacted by European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) to cover a Kansas City Royals baseball game
in 2004. At that time I was working totally freelance as a stringer for many different companies.
I started working regularly for EPA covering general assignments. Then in 2005 Hurricane
Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and I went to cover for EPA. After covering Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita, I was on a regular schedule as a stringer for them. After a few more years, I went on
contract guaranteeing me so many days of work each year (as a stringer) and then was offered a
staff job at EPA in 2010.
SB: As a staff photographer, what are your major responsibilities? And what work gets
outsourced to freelancers?
Sean D. Elliot: As chief photographer I have two major divisions in my duties. I am responsible
for all the scheduling and assignment editing for the photo staff (down to four from the six we
were when I assumed the post). I scrutinize all photo requests from the newsroom and assign
them to photographers each day as well as track upcoming story needs and watch for staffing
shortages.
As a staff photographer I’m responsible for the full range of potential photo coverage. We’re a
small newspaper, so we’re all general-assignment photographers. There’s not room for
specialists at a small paper. We all chase the spot news, cover general news (meetings, parades,
schools, and the like) as well as sports, human interest features, and we all have to spend time
searching for stand-alone photos when the story budget is not generating the photo assignments.
In an ideal world we’re also responsible for generating ideas for long-term projects.
Our paper has very little budget for freelance work. We publish a series of weeklies and a
smattering of the assignments for those papers may go to a stringer here and there. Generally
those are the community news assignments that are destined only for the pages of those weeklies.
We do occasionally hire a freelancer to bolster our staffing during major events and busy times
such as election nights, high school graduation season, and some high school sports playoffs.
© Moraine Valley Community College
Glenn Carpenter: I work at a college so I shoot everything from receptions, meetings, sports,
graduations, portraits, scientific, and nature photography. I work in the marketing department;
therefore the bulk of my work is geared to promotion. But anything that contributes to the
mission of the college is high on the list. I view the position as a “visual historian.” It is very
important to capture what happens at this college every day. We use freelancers for larger events
like graduation or installation of a new president, any event that would be unmanageable by the
staff shooters. Freelancers are also employed when the staff photographer has a scheduling
conflict.
Larry W. Smith: EPA in North America has staff photographers in different locations in the
United States, with our director and chief photographer-North America living in Boston. Each
staff photographer covers professional sports and major news stories in their area on a daily
basis, as well as major events across the US. These are assigned by the director, North America.
Freelance assignments are given to local freelancers who we have worked with in the past when
a staffer is not available to cover an event or when more than one photographer is needed to
cover an event. New freelance photographers are used occasionally when coverage is needed in
an area in which we do not have a regular stringer.
Eliot VanOtteren: My primary responsibilities are to provide professional photography to
support marketing and communications efforts for Sea Island Company. This can manifest itself
in the form of corporate portraits, events, food and beverage, retail, real estate, architecture,
lifestyle, aerial, etc. I am responsible for fielding and fulfilling requests for photography
production and/or existing images from our library to be used internally and externally for
agencies, organizations, editorial outlets, and vendors.
It is my responsibility to oversee the organization and management of our image library of over
50,000 select images spanning more than 80 years, ensuring proper archiving, file formats,
organization, and searchability (Peter Krogh’s book, The DAM Book: Digital Asset
Management for Photographers is a great resource).
On the production side, I am responsible for all aspects of preproduction, production, and
postproduction, including location scouting, scheduling and planning, acquiring talent, props,
model releases (I use Easy Release on iPad), pre-lighting, digital capture, image processing,
metadata, keywording, retouching, derivative file preparation and delivery, and validated
archiving. Lastly, it generally falls under my umbrella to come alongside freelance photography
efforts at Sea Island in the role of producer from the resort side. Special projects are often
outsourced to established professionals. All video projects are outsourced at this time.
Lucas Jackson: My main responsibility is simple: to get the picture. Our clients and subscribers
depend on Reuters to provide images to all corners of the globe. We have to be everywhere and I
am part of a global team that has to deliver quality images as fast as possible. Sometimes the
images are stand-alone features, sometimes it is content for a story that a reporter and I have
been working on over time. No two days are alike. Sometimes you have to cover a movie
premiere or concert. Some days you find yourself waiting outside a courthouse for someone like
Bernie Madoff. Some days you are covering a sports event like the World Series. But what is
constant is the need for speed, accuracy, and quality in our work. News happens live in the
digital world now and our clients depend on our pictures to tell the story visually as it happens.
Reuters has an extensive global network of staff photographers and freelancers. Freelancers are
invaluable to our work as they can cover areas where we do not have staff photographers, are
experts in certain fields or geographical areas, and can provide additional help at busy times and
when we are covering large events.
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Melina Mara: As the national political staff photographer I cover the White House, Capitol Hill,
national campaign trail, and national political issue stories locally and throughout the US. During
tough economic times at newspapers, more and more of the issue stories are being given to
freelancers. I do the issue stories that we feel, because of their importance and/or better visual
opportunity, should be done by staff photographers.
SB: What skills or areas of expertise (other than photography) do you think are most important
for career opportunities as a staff photographer?
Mike Bizelli: The ability to get along with all sorts of people is paramount for this job. Some
business sense is also vital. Understanding budgets, profit and loss, and lots of salesmanship
skills are also needed. Our department charged for our services via a “charge account” system.
We could prove our value to the company with those numbers. I think today a degree in
computer science/graphics is a plus. But you still have to know how to light a scene, compose,
shoot, and process the final image.
Glenn Carpenter: Professionalism and be the friendliest person on staff. The photographer asks
people to do what they view as on par with going to the dentist. Most people leave the room
when the photographer shows up. You need to be able to put people at ease, get them to relax,
and make a great photo, sometimes in 15 minutes. People skills are essential.
Eliot VanOtteren: A staff photographer must maintain an organized and efficient workflow,
operate under strict deadlines, and have the ability to clearly evaluate a request and overcome
obstacles to execute a project. A staffer must be a team player, have loyalty and commitment to a
shared cause, and have strong communication skills across a large network.
Sean D. Elliot: I often encourage students to study something other than photography.
Knowledge of wider society is vital. I like to see applications from photographers with
backgrounds in history, sociology, and anthropology.
Curiosity is probably the single most important trait. It’s not enough to want to make good
photos of what passes in front of one’s lens, one must want to dig deeper, seek understanding,
and tell stories from off the beaten path. Those things do not come packaged with the camera and
one does not learn them in a darkroom or staring at a computer screen. I think seeking an
advanced degree and getting a good liberal arts education is part of that process. You can obtain
some of that just through hard work and curiosity. Clearly as the industry evolves the visual
journalist must also have multimedia skills, audio and video gathering capabilities. It’s nearly
unheard of these days for a newspaper to hire someone without those skills.
Eliot VanOtteren/Sea Island
Melina Mara: Your camera bag, metaphorically, should have a collection of skills that aid you
daily, such as getting to an assignment early and staying late. You need to get beyond the
obvious of the visual coverage, keep yourself open to the nuances and unexpected at beginnings
and ends (as well as transitions). Patient persistence on any assignment is a skill that will serve
you well; you must never give up and patiently pursue the storytelling moments. You need a
unique visual dynamic in your pictures. A photographer who people like to be around will get
better access—simply be easy to be around. If you are genuinely well liked, communicate well,
and ask good questions you can make subjects understand that you care deeply about your
journalistic craft and the story itself. People love to help a journalist with a passion for what they
do.
Lucas Jackson: It might sound like a cliché, but I think the most important skills are the obvious
ones—spend time learning how to use your equipment so you have total control and confidence
in the pictures you are taking. An explosion, celebration, or goal in a football game only happens
once, so there are no second chances to capture that moment on camera. It’s also important that
you follow the news and know what images are needed to illustrate a particular story. It is often
just as important to think your way around a story as it is to shoot your way around it. An editor
will always appreciate a photographer who is able to figure out what sort of image will best and
most honestly capture what is going on and which helps tell the story.
Larry W. Smith: I really think the biggest thing when working as a staff photographer is being
able to get along and work with a team of other photographers with the same company. Do what
you are asked without needing an explanation and come back with usable images. Ask questions
if you don’t understand something and don’t be afraid to say you don’t know how or understand.
Know the business of photojournalism. It is based on facts, truth, and the trust that what we shoot
and write is true and real. Don’t manipulate any photos using computer software. Look at other
people’s work but don’t try and copy their work; come up with your own style, be creative when
the opportunity is there.
Web Resources To learn more about our interviewees, please visit these sites:
• Mike Bizelli: www.bizelliphotography.com
• Glenn Carpenter: www.morainevalley.edu
• Sean D. Elliot: www.theday.com
• Lucas Jackson: http://blogs.reuters.com/lucas-jackson-/
• Melina Mara: www.washingtonpost.com
• Larry W. Smith: www.epa.eu
• Eliot VanOtteren: www.seaisland.com
http://www.shutterbug.com/content/staff-jobs-photographers-payroll-pictures