First steps

Last week I took my first steps toward editorial photography, by sending samples of my work to photo editors at five magazines that I would want to work for and, more important, where I could see my work fitting in. I know it’ll take follow-up and persistence to get into these places, but I specifically chose just five—as opposed to sending out a blast of hundreds of promo cards—because I want to build relationships with these editors and their publications, and that takes effort. I sent handwritten notes to each editor, with five or six 5-x-7-inch archival prints of my work—prints I know may have already ended up in the recycling bin, but ones that had some chance, I think, of at least being stuck up on a bulletin board. My next step is to follow up in a month with a few more images. And it’ll go on from there.

In my other life, as a freelance book editor, I’ve done well for myself—getting plenty of work from a core group of clients—by working to foster those relationships. Part of it, of course, is just that you want to work. But a bigger part of it, for me, is that I want to work for people I like and respect, and publications that I admire. As an editor, I’ve had the occasional one-off project—some publisher calls me up and asks if I can work on such-and-such book on a rush schedule and politely haggles with me over my rate—and while it’s nice to pick up a little extra cash here or there, those aren’t the publishers or projects I remember. The ones I care about are the ones that I’ve worked with for a decade, people who respect my work and whose books I actually like. That’s what I’m looking to do with my photography. It isn’t just about adding a magazine to my client list—it’s about the long haul.

I also sent my book to a rep I met a few months ago. She represents some photographers I really respect, and she’s given me some excellent advice—advice I put to use when I decided which magazines to contact and how to do it. I want this woman to be my rep someday. Why? Because (1) I like the diversity of photographers she represents, (2) she gets the interplay between fine art and editorial/commercial and she encourages that in her stable of photographers, and (3) I had a ton of fun talking with her when we met. Again, it’s all about building relationships, so I e-mailed her to ask if I could share my book with her, she said she’d like to see it, and it’ll be delivered to her today. Do I think anything significant will come out of this one experience? Nope. I think I’ll need to work at this for at least a couple years, continuing to show her my work, continuing to produce work and put it out there (in galleries, in contests, in magazines), continuing to seek and heed her advice. And then, maybe, if she has as much fun dealing with me as I have dealing with her, she’ll rep me.

In the meantime, back to my day job. Today’s assignment: Finish copyediting a travel book on Egypt. I keep hearing The Bangles in my mind.