Professional Press, Editorial and PR Photography

Rating:
Summary: Read this before you start (I mean it!)
Review: This book should be required reading for anyone considering making a living in press, editorial, and PR photography in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. It sould be required reading for anybody considering to consider this profession, and any aspiring photographer could do worse than reading this book.

It is, essentially, an unsentimental guide to becoing a profesional photographer. It is unsentimental in the best sense of the word: it tells it like it is. "A staff position ... is no longer a job for life". So there: You'll need a variety of skills to make ends meet. He laments students who wants to take Tom Stoddart-esque picture stories but are only prepared to give photography a year or two, to see how it goes. In his realistic and unsetimental way he points out that you need commitment: "Tom Stoddart didn't start out covering ... life in Albania but, rather, was one of the pack who snapped Lady Diana Spencer..." True, even if many would rather hear differently.

This is above all a practical book with tips on everything from how to get a job to how to invoice your clients. It is lavishly illustrated with Tarrant's images from real assignments.

The final section describes the careers of a handful of famous photographers (Rod Ashford, Roger Bamber, Chris Bennet, Ken Lennox, Jim Marks, Paul Stewart, and Tom Stoddart): how did they start? how did they develop their careers? This section alone is worth the purchase price -- a true gem!

Rating:
Summary: Read this before you start (I mean it!)
Review: This book should be required reading for anyone considering making a living in press, editorial, and PR photography in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. It sould be required reading for anybody considering to consider this profession, and any aspiring photographer could do worse than reading this book.

It is, essentially, an unsentimental guide to becoing a profesional photographer. It is unsentimental in the best sense of the word: it tells it like it is. "A staff position ... is no longer a job for life". So there: You'll need a variety of skills to make ends meet. He laments students who wants to take Tom Stoddart-esque picture stories but are only prepared to give photography a year or two, to see how it goes. In his realistic and unsetimental way he points out that you need commitment: "Tom Stoddart didn't start out covering ... life in Albania but, rather, was one of the pack who snapped Lady Diana Spencer..." True, even if many would rather hear differently.

This is above all a practical book with tips on everything from how to get a job to how to invoice your clients. It is lavishly illustrated with Tarrant's images from real assignments.

The final section describes the careers of a handful of famous photographers (Rod Ashford, Roger Bamber, Chris Bennet, Ken Lennox, Jim Marks, Paul Stewart, and Tom Stoddart): how did they start? how did they develop their careers? This section alone is worth the purchase price -- a true gem!