I got an email from a photo editor this week asking for advice in a situation that he’s found himself in at a magazine. His Art Director is an “old-schooler” where you pick your images based on physical qualities like focus and level horizons. He also has a penchant for sunny blue skies. The editor on the other hand wants the literal translation of the story in pictures and will pick the worst image of the bunch as long as it contains the who, what, when, where, why or how of the story. Top that all off with the fact that the two of them have been around for a long time and tend to use the length of their experience as a way to push their same as it always was agenda.
This situation is a little unusual in that it’s usually only the editor that favors literal images and uses things like the meteorological conditions in the image as a point of argument for or against using something. In the past I’ve always had good luck teaming up with the Art Director to get things past the editor and I made a post awhile back about my techniques for getting new photographers past them for assignments:
1. Gang up. Get the Creative Director to back you in the meeting. “Oh yeah he’s great, I worked with him at my previous magazine and he always delivered.”
2. Shiny Objects. Toss out important people or magazines they’ve shot for. “He shot a feature in Vanity Fair recently.”
3. Padded Portfolio. Print the portfolio shots that back your case. “See, she really gets what we’re trying to achieve here.”
4. Play Dumb. Assign and feign telling them about it recently. “Oh, I thought we discussed that she was shooting this earlier.”
The same sort of ideas work well for getting the images you want published.
1. Stall- I used to find myself in a situation where the editor would end a layout review with “Let’s see if we can top that.” To which I would spend the rest of my time that month not trying top it, because I was perfectly happy with the images we had picked. I also recall a separate situation near the end of my tenure where I had commissioned a heavy hitter to shoot a portrait for the opener of the story. The editor was not pleased with the results because he was expecting… something more literal, so I was tasked with dredging up every little bit of stock that might work instead. I didn’t completely phone-it-in, so as not to arouse suspicion, but I did find it handy to read blogs instead of scour Getty for hours on end.
2. Withholding- The classic technique is to simply leave out the obvious choices. This is like playing chicken: “Is this all there is?” “Well, these are the best.” “Can I see all the images?” “I’m still working on it, can we try these first?” “Ok, but then after this I need to see the rest of the images.” “I have a doctors appointment so it will have to wait.”
3. Showdown- First, you need to lean on the Art Director to include your images in the layout choices for the editor. Looking at pictures in the layout is so much better than on your screen or the light table (sadly only used for printouts now) and brings you one step closer to the final OK. When your variation comes up on screen or is presented you need to fight tooth and nail to defend it. This is where reading books that talk about photography comes in handy. Defending an image by saying “I like it a lot” will get you nowhere. Sometimes, honestly it comes down to a fight where telling them they’re making a huge mistake and the picture they picked blows is your only choice.
4. Build Your Case- Changing someone’s mind about the photography they think is “good” can take months and possibly years of laying a foundation with examples of work you think is important. You need to provide examples and reinforcement of quality imagery in the field. I used to have a huge bulletin board where I would rip pages out of magazines, tack up promo cards and prints of the images they didn’t pick as sort of a massive mood board to the direction I wanted the photography to go. Also, buy plenty of magazines that are using photography well and show them to the editor whenever you get a chance. Anything redesigned by Luke or DJ at Pentagram is always a sure bet.
None of this is easy. Expect your stomach to be doing back flips and your hair to tingle as you try to steer the Titanic away from the ice.
Finally, I will say this about the future of magazines and photography. There is no future for magazines that don’t challenge and surprise their readers with original sophisticated imagery. The internet has set the ground floor and if you can’t rise above it, you will disappear.
19 Comments
thanks, this is nice.
…’meteorological conditions’.. hehe
[…] Tagged future, magazines, photography Rob Haggart: […]
best piece you’ve posted!
This reads like a chapter out of a seminal “How To Photo Edit” book.
Well done.
I spent my editorial career as a writer and all the tactics you mention could be applied to editorial content as well. I never had many problems with images — probably because the expectations for writers with cameras were so low that any identifiable image was considered a win.
Maybe this one would fit under your “withholding” category but the tactic of “planned rejection” is also useful. If you are working with an editor who always has to change something, deliberately give them something that needs minor adjustment. That way you wind up making trivial changes vs. starting from scratch.
Also things always get more acceptable as the deadline approaches. If you know your original work is going to be rejected, submit it just a tad early (so you get the brownie points for submitting things on time), let them reject it, then wait until the last second to submit your revisions. I had one editor where I rarely even made edits — just wait until 10 minutes before the deadline and resubmit my original. It always seemed to be “much better” 10 minutes before the deadline.
Yeah, this piece is really good… have you thought about becoming a life-coach?
Excellent information, it’s a good way to see how the photography is changing of old stereotypes, it’s a nice method to redefine the concept of photography in these days!
Great and useful post
Fantastic!
people can never call you a pushover Haggart, the good PE’s always go for the good fight. great post!
@andy anderson,
yeah, well I talk a big game… it’s always easier said than done.
Thank you for this post…as a brand new PE at a small publishing company, in my first month (January) I was convinced I was going to be fired every day cause I had opinions…
Lots of writers in charge here, and photo has always been an afterthought, it seems. As a photog, it saddens me to be in situation to bargain with folks I want to hire, but I figure its an excellent opportunity to advocate as well…as long as I have the patience for the fight.
I was just lamenting these points last night with a friend on the phone, and I was amused to find that you recommend base manipulation to get your way…I’m starting to see that’s how I’m going to keep my job and keep my lunch.
Not that I would ever employ such tactics (ahem), but this seems like a primer on how a photographer could convince a picture editor the pictures you delivered, that were nothing like the ones they requested, are in fact superior.
Sounds like the Dan Winters “deliver one frame” approach would solve this problem entirely.
Look to the Editor, and say, “Uh, we can use this good one, or uh, this good one”.
Problem solved.
Hear! Hear! That was an awesome post!
Thanks Rob! Great to see I’m not alone in this ongoing battle! Cheers,
PK
“There is no future for magazines that don’t challenge and surprise their readers with original sophisticated imagery.” Which is a surprise the biggest most well known (I wont mention any names butcha know who they are) are still around showing the same *@#$# year in year out…
Not this info isn’t stellar, I think it applies to a different context . I can’t help but think that risks are prevalently taken in good times and during economic conditions similar to the one were in now, along with the current anemic status of the industry, the old safe”senior” way will rule even more so.
[…] nostrani, soprattutto se all’inizio della carriera. Per avere un punto di vista diverso. In uno dei suoi post ha scritto, al fondo, questa […]
[…] “Finally, I will say this about the future of magazines and photography. There is no future for magazines that don’t challenge and surprise their readers with original sophisticated imagery. The internet has set the ground floor and if you can’t rise above it, you will disappear.” – A Photo Editor […]
Comments are closed for this article!