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Title: Making Your Camera Pay
Author: Frederick C. Davis
Release Date: March 29, 2011 [EBook #35709]
Language: English
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MAKING YOUR CAMERA PAY
By
FREDERICK C. DAVIS
NEW YORK
ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY
1922
Copyright, 1921, 1922
_Photo-Era Magazine_
Copyright, 1922, by
ROBERT M. MCBRIDE & CO.
_Printed in the United States of America_
Published, 1922
A WORD BEFORE
The demand of publishers for good pictures is increasing. Editors
are eager to use the best photographs that may be obtained. They
draw no distinction between the work of the amateur and that of the
professional photographer. If a photograph meets their requirements,
they buy it and care little whence it comes. The opportunity to sell
good pictures has never been better than it is to-day.
To give accurate and helpful information with regard to making the
camera a profitable investment is the purpose of this book.
Frederick C. Davis is well-known to readers of photographic magazines,
and is a practical photographer in addition to being a successful and
experienced professional writer. Mr. Davis has written this monograph
in a non-technical style that will entertain the reader and encourage
him to make the most of photography.
This little book is a practical, up-to-the-minute answer to the
question: "How can I make my camera-work profitable?"
A. H. BEARDSLEY,
Publisher, _Photo-Era Magazine_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
A WORD BEFORE v
I. WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT 1
II. THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE 6
III. WHAT TO PHOTOGRAPH 11
IV. WHAT NOT TO PHOTOGRAPH 23
V. SIZE, SHAPE AND FORM 29
VI. WHERE TO SELL 35
VII. A SURVEY OF MARKETS 43
VIII. SHIPPING THE PRODUCT TO MARKET 60
IX. THE PRICES PAID 65
X. ART PHOTOGRAPHS 72
XI. COMPETITIONS 74
XII. PRINTS FOR ADVERTISING 78
XIII. COPYRIGHTS AND OTHER RIGHTS 82
XIV. ILLUSTRATED SPECIAL ARTICLES 88
XV. THE HIGH ROAD 93
MAKING YOUR CAMERA PAY
I
WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
Whence come the thousands of photographs used every month by newspapers
and magazines?
More than that, whence do the photographs come which are used by makers
of calendars, postcards, for advertisements, and for illustrating
books, stories and articles?
At first thought, the answer is, "From professional photographers and
publisher-photo-services." But professional photographers do not
produce one-third of the photographs used, and publisher-photo-services
are supplied by that same large number of camerists that supply
publications with most of their prints.
No one can deny that the greatest number of prints published are bought
from amateur photographers in towns no larger than the average, and
sometimes smaller.
The camerist does not have to get in an air-ship and fly to Africa in
order to produce photographs that will sell. Read what Waldon Fawcett
says, himself a success at selling his photographs:
"The photographer is apt to think that all his ambitions would be
realised if only he could journey to foreign shores or to distant
corners of our country; or if he could attend the spectacular events
that focus the attention of the world now and then. _This is a
delusion. The real triumph is that of the photographer who utilises the
material ready at hand in his own district, be it large or small._"
And more, a person does not have to be an expert photographer in order
to succeed at the work. Here is what one prominent writer says about
it:
"The requirements of the field are well within the capabilities of even
the beginner in photography, viz.; the ability to make good negatives
and good prints, the ability to recognise news-value, and a methodical
plan to find the market where the prints will find acceptance. The man
or woman who can meet these requirements should be fairly successful
from the beginning, and will open up quickly new avenues of special
work and profit."
In short, ability to make metaphors, create lovely heroines or such is
not at all necessary to the successful selling of photographs to
publications.
Is the field overcrowded? _No._ If there were ten times as many
persons engaged in the work they could all keep themselves busy.
The field--how wide is it? Get out your map of the world. The field for
_making_ photographs extends from the top margin to the bottom, and
from the left to the right. The field for _selling_ photographs--which
is more to the point--extends over about five thousand publications
which use prints; not to speak of a few score of other markets.
The markets may be classified briefly:
(1) Newspapers
(2) Magazines
(3) Postcard-makers
(4) Calendar-makers
(5) Art-study producers
(6) Illustrations for books
(7) Illustrations for articles
(8) Prints for advertising.
And there are more, of more specialised branches.
And how does it pay? Please note: "A certain magazine once paid $100
for four prints of sundials. An amateur, who happened to be on the spot
with a kodak, made over $200 out of a head-on railroad-collision. A New
York professional netted $125 from the newspaper-use of a
wedding-party, of considerable local prominence, which was leaving the
church after the ceremony." One amateur "realised $300 a year for two
or three years from a lucky snapshot of eight pet rabbits in a row."
A set of South-Pole photographs brought $3,000 from _Leslie's_ and
$1,000 more from the International Feature Service. These all, though,
are very exceptional instances. The average print sells for about three
dollars. But there is absolutely nothing in the world to hinder a
wide-awake person with a camera from making from several hundred to
over $3,000 a year from his prints. If he becomes a specialist he may
earn as high as $5,000 or even more.
No discrimination is made between press-photographers. The person wins
who "delivers the goods."
However, I do not mean that the instances of $200 or so for prints
should be taken as the prices ordinarily paid. I do not maintain that
there is a fortune awaiting the man with the camera; but I do say there
are unlimited possibilities for salable photographs and almost an
unlimited number of markets for them. But there are not "barrels of
money" in it, for all. A person may add appreciably to his income for
having sold photographs; and having developed the trade to a high
degree, he may cash cheques to the amount of $5,000 or more a year. But
not every one. Just some. And it isn't like the log and the falling off
it. It's work--hard work--_hard work_.
Success at selling press-photographs does not depend on the size of the
town you live in, the cost or manufacture of your apparatus, or on your
literary ability. It depends on you and your worship of the homaged
gods of success if you would sell photographs. The gift of these gods
is the ability to make good.
II
THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Have you ever wakened in the drear dead of a dismal night, possessed
body and soul with a great desire--an incontrollable, all-moving,
all-consuming, maddening desire that knows no satisfaction--a desire
for a new camera or a better lens? It is a sensation more disconcerting
than that of the father who is detected by his small son in the act of
rifling the latter's bank for car-fare. Never would I be so unwise as
to cultivate that desire in any one; for that reason I do not here go
deeply into a discussion of the best kind of camera for
press-photography! Unless the camera you now possess is of a hopelessly
mediocre grade, it will do very well.
A reflex camera is of course the ideal instrument for the purpose, for
sharp focusing is so easy and so necessary. The high speeds of the
focal-plane shutter incorporated into such a camera will rarely be
utilised by the average user; but its other features are admirable.
However, the hand-camera of the folding type is supreme. It is so light
it can be carried for a long time without fatigue; the user of one is
inconspicuous when making exposures; the cost of operation as well as
the original outlay is comparatively small--and there are several dozen
more things in favor of it, including its greater depth-of-field, which
is most important.
The lens is the heart of the camera, and some cameras have
"heart-trouble." If you intend seriously to market photographs you
should possess an anastigmat lens; not necessarily an F/4.5 lens, nor
even an F/6.3 lens if too expensive; in that case an F/7.5 lens will do
very well. An F/7.5 anastigmat is slightly slower than a
rapid-rectilinear of U.S.4 aperture; but its excellence lies in its
ability--as with all anastigmats--to form images of razor-edge
sharpness, which is a prime requisite of a print intended to grace a
page of a periodical. A rapid-rectilinear lens will do very well if you
are always assured of sunshine or bright clouds to supply
exposure-light--and in such conditions even the lowly single-achromatic
lens will suffice.
Now you see I have agreed that virtually any lens that will form a
sharp image will meet the requirements. Indeed, to paraphrase Lincoln:
"For the sort of thing a lens is intended to do, I would say it is just
the lens to do it." In other words, each lens has its limitations and
abilities very sharply defined; and these limits the user must know and
appreciate.
And the shutter; it is folly to put a poor lens in a good shutter, and
just as absurd to do the opposite. An expensive shutter with high
speeds cannot be successfully used except with a lens capable of large
aperture--otherwise underexposure will result. A speed of 1/300 second
is the highest available in an ordinary between-the-lens shutter, and
that is sufficient for almost anything.
The slower speeds, as one-fifth, one-half and one second are in my
opinion more usable than the extremely fast ones. Speeds varying from
one second to 1/300 second are embodied in two well-known shutters: the
Optimo and the Ilex Acme. The one is on a par with the other. But no
such high-grade shutter is needed unless the high speeds are necessary
to the user, for the slower speeds may be given with the indicator at
B. But enough! This is not a manual on the elements of photography.
The requirements of the apparatus to be used for press-photography are
that the lens produce a sharp and clear image, the shutter work
accurately, and the whole be brought into play quickly.
I have used every sort of camera; reflex, 8 × 10 view, 5 × 7 view,
hand-cameras with anastigmat, rapid-rectilinear and single lenses, and
box-cameras, and they are all entirely satisfactory "for the things
they were intended to do."
The camera I have used most and which is my favorite is a Folding
Kodak, that makes 3-1/4 by 4-1/4 photographs, and is equipped with an
Ilex Anastigmat working at F/6.3, in an Ilex Acme shutter. To this I
have added a direct-view finder for reasons apparent to any one who has
tried to photograph high-speed subjects by peeking into the little
reflecting-finder. This camera has served me admirably for interiors,
flashlights, outdoors, high-speed work, portraiture, and anything else
to which I have applied it. Your own camera should do the same for you.
A photographer comes to know his camera as a mother knows her baby--and
if he doesn't he will be no more successful than the mother who does
not understand her child. The camera-worker must forget all about
manufacturers' claims and should judge his tool by experience; he must
ignore most of the theory and rely wholly on practice. In short, he
must know his camera inside and out, what it will do and what it will
not do; everything must be at his finger-tips ready for instant use.
Coupled with that is the need of the ability to produce, sometimes,
within an hour after making the exposure, crisp, sharp, sparkling
prints.
After all, no more qualifications are required of the
press-photographer than of most other photographers. He may have to
work like lightning, snap his shutter literally under the very hoofs of
racing-horses, rush out of a warm and cozy bed into a chill and bleak
night--but "it's all in the game." If any one of the old veteran
press-photographers were to lead the life of an ordinary business-man,
he would die of ennui. When the camerist makes photographs for
publishers it is zip-dash--and later, cash.
It is the exciting life of a never-sleep reporter, with a camera to
manage instead of a pencil.
III
WHAT TO PHOTOGRAPH
If you wish immediate wealth you have only to locate several
oil-pockets and dig into them. Similarly, if you aspire to success at
marketing photographs you have only to discover the needs of editors
and to satisfy them. But although there are not many more available
oil-pockets, there are many editors and innumerable editorial needs.
It would be as absurd for me to attempt to state precisely what you
should photograph as it would be for me to make a pencil-dot on a map
and to say: "There's an oil-pocket; go dig into it." The one way to
discover the needs of editors and how to satisfy them is to develop a
"nose for news."
A "nose for news" is simply the ability to determine the value of any
certain photograph to any certain editor. The several ways of acquiring
that very necessary ability are: (_a_) by experience, which consumes
the most time and is the most difficult; (_b_) by examining the nature
of photographs already sold to publications and printed in them, which
is less difficult and just as effective; and (_c_) by careful study of
prevailing editorial needs and market-demands, which is the best method
of all.
To succeed, mix thoroughly liberal quantities of (_a_), (_b_) and
(_c_).
Not many, other than the large metropolitan newspapers, employ
staff-photographers; and if a smaller one does, the photographer is
usually a reporter who has much scribbling to do besides. When most
newspapers require a photograph of something local, the city-editor
telephones to a commercial-photographer and tells him to "get it."
Thereupon, the commercial-photographer packs up his forty-pound outfit,
goes out and gets it.
However, a good many subjects are not of sufficient interest to cause
the city-editor to dispatch a commercial-photographer to obtain them;
but, if photographs of those same subjects were brought unsolicited to
him he would at once see their value and buy them. That is the biggest
advantage of the free-lance photographer with the newspapers.
If the press-photographer wishes to follow these tactics he may profit,
even in a very large city; for staff-photographers go where
city-editors tell them to go, and city-editors have much to think
about.
The kinds of subjects bought by newspapers from free-lance
photographers are those of local interest, brought to the office while
the interest in them is still keen. A large number of such subjects are
available daily. The news-photographer may glean his tips from a
morning-newspaper and sell his prints to an evening-journal. When he
becomes sufficiently well known, he may be called upon and dispatched
after a photograph just as the commercial-photographer. But first he
must impress the editorial mind by giving it, unasked, the very sort of
thing it wants.
The free-lance photographer should see possibilities in many subjects:
A public building burns.
A corner-stone is laid.
An illicit still is found.
A new building is erected.
A murder occurs.
A new fire-department truck is bought.
The governor comes to town.
Josh Jones finds a hen's egg three-times normal size.
A park is improved.
The first baseball-game is played.
The robber of the postoffice is caught.
I. Wright, the local author's new book, is published.
The local inventor again invents.
Any one of these suggestions holds possibilities for photographs useful
to a newspaper; and many more events are just as promising.
The types of photographs used by postcard-makers are known to almost
every one. The subjects run from famous buildings and historical
monuments to artistic human-interest pictures such as a small kitten
sleeping with its feet entangled in a maze of thread with which it has
been playing.
At that point, merge the demands of the calendar-makers. They use the
human-interest type, and run to landscapes, seascapes, and portraits of
pretty girls. Usually the demand of both postcard- and calendar-makers
is that the picture tell a story. If it can be used without an
explanatory caption, all the better. For an example of a picture-told
story, glance at almost any cover of the _Saturday Evening Post_ and
note how the whole situation is made clear without one word of
explanation. It is that kind of photograph that postcard- and
calendar-makers want. If you will glance over the postcard- and
calendar-illustrations you have at hand you will readily see the types
of photograph used.
Sometimes book-publishers send out calls for special kinds of
photographs they need in preparing certain books. In that case, they
usually advertise in an appropriate magazine and mention the kind of
photograph they wish; for example, historical prints if a history is in
preparation. The unlimited variety of books published calls for an
unlimited variety of photographs. Certain publisher-photo-services make
it their business to supply publishers with the photographs they wish;
but that is not hurtful to the prospects of the free-lance, for the
photo-services must obtain photographs of every kind from every source,
and must be stocked with a larger number and variety of prints than any
one magazine or publisher could possibly use. Thus, in fact, the
news-photographer has an increased market.
The largest field for the free-lance photographer I have left until
last; that is, the magazines. There are so many magazines and such a
variety of them that almost any print, if it is of interest at all,
should find a place with one of them. Besides the large magazines there
are many smaller ones; those devoted to almost any conceivable
vocation, and others to almost any interest or hobby.
Besides the publications issued for the great mass of the reading
public, there are magazines published solely for advertisers,
architects, real-estate agents, automobilists, bakers, confectioners,
cement-users, drug-stores, dry-goods merchants, electricians,
engineers, miners, bankers, financiers, fraternal members,
furniture-dealers, millers, grocers, hardware-sellers, historians,
hotel-owners, owners of restaurants, jewelers, labor-union members,
lawyers, insurance-agents, soldiers, sailors, municipal workers,
printers, publishers, railroad men, magicians, fox-raisers,
blacksmiths, fruit-growers, undertakers, stamp-collectors, and scores
of others, not to speak of almost two thousand house-organs issued by
manufacturers as sales-promotion literature or for the benefit of their
employees. And each of these uses photographs occasionally, if not
regularly. The photographer need not deplore a lack of sufficient
markets for his photographs.
The greatest influence toward the development of a "nose for news" is
the giving to it of several whiffs of news. A photographer may
"shoot"--a professional photographer never photographs--he shoots--he
may shoot and shoot, and have his every photograph returned to him as
useless for publication--but not if he first discovers what to
photograph and what not to photograph.
As a means toward that end I have selected, at random, issues of three
magazines whose pictorial sections contain prints which are, broadly,
just the sort of photographs the photographer in a medium-size town
produces. The magazines are _Popular Science_, _Illustrated World_, and
_Popular Mechanics_; despite their names, these magazines print
photographs of a very general scope--more general than one would
suppose. I have selected only photographs with short captions, or those
with explanatory articles not more than two hundred or so words in
length.
In _Popular Science_ I find:
An Apartment-House for Plants.
A Hospital on Wheels.
Potato-Gathering Made Easy.
This Rudder Makes the Boat Behave.
New Light for the Photographer.
He Wears a Showcase.
A Rubber Heel with a Noise.
Milking Cows by Electricity.
Anchoring Bricks to the Side of a House.
Sketching on Fungus, One Artist's Hobby.
Sampling the Soil.
Making House-Wrecking Easy.
A Machine that Harvests Crimson Clover Seed.
Wheel-Guards that Save Life.
Working Safely on High Voltage Lines.
A Lake that has a Crust of Salt.
Punching Your Votes.
Your Money is Safe in this Bank-Tank.
In _Illustrated World_:
Motorized Wheel-Chair for Invalids.
Whirr of Motors Replaces Song of Cotton-Pickers.
How Aristocrats of Dogdom Travel.
Perform Marriage-Ceremony in Oil-Filling Station.
Rail Motor-Trucks for Short-Line Road's Use.
No More Backaches from the Lawn-Mower.
Novel Arrangement of Air-Hose for Work-Benches.
Largest Milk-Tank in the World.
Comfortable Footrest for a Rustic Seat.
Dog Hurt in Auto Accident Wears Wooden Leg.
Street-Cars Adopt "Pay-As-You-Leave" System.
Dentists' Scales for Weighing Mercury.
Toy Makes Spelling Easy for Kiddies.
Small Check-Book in Silver-Case.
Nine-Story Building Collapses.
Traveling Mail-Box on Interurban Car.
Clever Method of Advertising Perfume.
Makes Suit Out of Stamps.
Wellesley Girls Have a "Sneezing Closet."
Raising Chickens on a Back Porch.
In _Popular Mechanics_:
Owner of Artificial Hands is Proud of Dexterity.
Imperishable Burial Robes Shown on Living Models.
Novelty Window-Sign Spells Words with Snowflakes.
Imposing New Bridge at Jacksonville.
Street-Sign Calls for Help if Robbers Invade Store.
New Style Log-Cabin Built Like Stockade.
Vines Completely Cover Office-Building.
Beautiful Ice Stalagmites are Pranks of Jack Frost.
Unique Wood-Sculptures are Work of a Decade.
Electric Warehouse-Truck Performs Heavy Tasks.
Hydraulic Jack Tears Up Street-Car Tracks.
Man-Power Onion-Planter Sets an Acre a Day.
Grotesque Images Reward Motor-Cycle Race Winners.
Weak Derrick Starts Work of Steel-Building.
Concrete Logging Piers are Used in Lumber-Industry.
World's Largest Clock Keeps Accurate Time.
Grotesque Face on Auto Advertises Carnival.
River-Bed Proves to be a Rich Coal-Mine.
Outlets of Odd Shapes Made for Irrigation.
Unusual Park-Playground Built in Circus-Form.
Giant Vase, Lawn-Ornament, is Made of Concrete.
Old Silo in Railroad-Yard Houses Little Store.
Street Rises so Abruptly Four Flights of Steps are Necessary.
Church Uses Bill-Board to "Sell" Scriptures.
This wide variety of subjects cannot but serve to show that even in
very small towns there are many opportunities for salable pictures.
More than that, there are markets for prints of:
Statues
Blacksmith-shops
Farm light-plants
Sheep
Landscapes
Paintings
Girls' heads
Farm-buildings
New inventions
New achievements
Live game
Birds in flight
Industrial arts
Fields of grain
Desert-views
Domestic animals
Poultry
Harbors
Garage-methods
Railroading
Concrete-construction
Flowers
Electrical appliances
Live-stock prize-winners
Art-museums
Motorboats
Musical work
Shoe-factories
Prize-dogs
Yachts
Farm-scenes
Mural decorations
Seascapes
Gardening operations
Interior decorations
Designs
Camping-scenes
Trapped wild animals
Freaks
Cattle
Orchards
Time-saving plans
Social progress
Fashions
Wharves
Paint-departments
Mills
New banks
Large estates
Factory-equipment
Show-window displays
Store-fronts
Motorcycles
Economic interest
Good and bad roads
Spraying-methods
Counter-displays
Blasting
Landscape-gardening
Sports
If you live in a large city you have the additional opportunities to
obtain photographs such as are published in the _Mid-Week Pictorial_
and the _Illustrated Review_, and also in some of the large national
magazines and in the rotogravure-sections of the leading Sunday
newspapers. Although the large city offers more opportunities for
photographs of celebrities and such, there is much competition. The
photographer in an average-size city may not have frequent
opportunities for photographs of renowned persons; but he has many
other chances for salable photographs, which evens up things.
Sometimes, a notable person does come to town; but I would no more
presume to tell you here to camp on his trail than I would dare to
remark to a duck-hunter: "Pardon me, old man, but you'd better pull
your trigger. There's a bird right where you've pointed your gun."
IV
WHAT NOT TO PHOTOGRAPH
Knowing _what_ to photograph is no more important than knowing _what
not_ to photograph. I cannot show you so easily by example the kind of
photographs editors will not buy; for a search of any number of
magazines will fail to unearth such examples.
Experience is an expensive school; but, sometimes, the others are
closed because of lack of patronage. It would seem that when you learn
_what_ to photograph you should learn automatically _what not_ to
photograph; and, indeed, you should; but you don't. However, there is
another way. After sending a photograph to a score of publications, and
after the photograph is returned from the same score of publications,
you may truthfully say: "Well, I've discovered one thing that those
editors don't want."
Editors have very clear reasons why they don't buy certain kinds of
photographs. The editor is there to produce a live, newsy, unusual
publication. He buys only live, newsy, unusual photographs. What could
be simpler?
Publications do not want photographs which are similar to other
photographs that they have already printed. The reason is obvious. To
take an example from my own early days: a shoe-dealer, for an
advertisement, placed a huge pair of shoes, size 35, in his window. I
grasped the opportunity to make a salable photograph. It did sell; but
not to _Popular Mechanics_, for the editor wrote that he was unable to
use it because he had printed, several months before, a picture of a
huge pair of shoes made for a circus sideshow worker. Consequently, the
subject of your photograph may be just the thing the editor would want
if he hadn't had his requirements already satisfied. Therefore, study
those photographs which have been printed, and make newer and better
ones.
When the King of England comes to town, it may be all very well to
command him to stand still, to look serious or to smile, for a picture
of him so posed may be literally "eaten up" by the local newspapers;
but a national weekly, such as _Collier's_, demands something
different. Posed photographs are at a discount. They are too plainly
"pictures of men having their pictures made." What is wanted are life
and action. It isn't necessary to ask the King to stand on his head.
Ask him to shake hands with the Chief-of-Police; or let him do
something else which shows he has the power of action.
On an invaluable rejection-slip prepared by a national magazine,
examples are given of "What we want and don't want." Under a photograph
of Senator Johnson with upraised fist, as if he were driving home a
point in his speech, is printed: "Here the upraised fist does the
business--makes action, life--and transforms what would otherwise be
just an ordinary likeness of Senator Johnson into a striking and
arresting picture."
But if a photograph is sufficiently unusual it may be without life and
yet may sell, although it gains materially by a show of action. Under a
photograph of a floating submarine, the rejection-slip notes: "No
action here; but it is safe to say that few of the readers of this
magazine skipped this one when it appeared. Submarines are common
today; but not the kind that carry huge twelve-inch guns." Similarly
under a photograph of three men standing in a row and looking with a
"where's-the-birdie?" expression at the camera, the caption is: "A
posed picture and, as is usual in such circumstances, a dead one. We
used it because a story centering around these men was a singularly
interesting one appealing to a large audience in America." But no
matter how extraordinary a photograph is, it gains a hundred-fold by
exhibiting signs of _life_.
True, a "dead" picture may sell; but a live one will sell more quickly,
and the photographer's work will be more in demand, and the resulting
cheque will be larger--much larger.
If you make a photograph of a building--even for instance, a new
arsenal--you will never sell it to such a publication as the New York
_Times_ roto-section. The rejection-slip says, under such a picture:
"There isn't even a human being in it to relieve the severity of the
building's hard lines and the flat expanse of water. We do not care for
such pictures." True, a photograph of a building--and of a building
only--may sell for a few dollars to an architectural magazine; but more
dollars and a bigger future come from putting life into photographs and
in getting your work into the national weeklies as a result.
Again, no magazine wishes to buy a photograph of something not new. A
monument, if photographed a moment after the unveiling and with the
crowd around it, is a likely seller; but if the photographer waits
several years, a print of the monument is unsalable. And that is not
strange: you prefer fresh to cold-storage eggs.
The big secret of the successful press-photographer is the introduction
of human beings into his photographs of inanimate objects. Human beings
have a deep interest in each other. When one is introduced into a
picture, human-interest is introduced at the same time; and, if the
human being is pictured in the act of doing something, the interest is
even higher. For no one ever outgrows the question, "What ya doin',
mister?"
_Popular Science Monthly_ says: "We want good, clear photographs of a
human being doing something of a mechanical nature. The subjects must
be new." If a new invention is pictured alone, it is lifeless and
meaningless. But let a human being operate it and a photograph of it
gains in value.
One has only to apply his common sense to the matter. If a murder is
committed in the city, the newspapers will not demand photographs of
the corpse; it will do very well to obtain a photograph of the
"arrow-points-to-the-scene-of-the-crime" variety.
One has to depend wholly on his "nose for news" and this sometimes
proves treacherous. "A human-interest photograph sometimes slips past
the trained nose of a photographer of twenty years' experience and is
picked up by a beginner," to paraphrase Charles Phelps Cushing. And, on
the other hand, the old-timer may snap away confidently at a subject
which the beginner has scorned, and then find he has an unsalable print
on his hands. Sometimes, so to say, "noses for news" contract colds and
are unable to scent a subject's salability. But colds may be cured and
the scents picked up once more. The best remedy is to stop, to think,
and to sniff again.
There is a market somewhere for every good print. There is no market
anywhere for a print that is not good.
The best part of the whole business is this: no one--not even old
Nick himself--can induce an editor to buy a photograph he does not
want; and if, on the other hand, he knows he can use it, he will buy
it at once, be it offered by Donald Thompson, who is a world-famed
press-photographer, or by John Brown of Smithville, whose first
attempt it may be.
V
SIZE, SHAPE AND FORM
Aspiring fictionists learn at some stage of their budding genius that
one long stride toward editorial favor lies in the proper preparation
of the manuscript. Just so, a photograph which is not prepared in
accordance with editorial standards suffers a handicap.
Some editors specify the size of photograph they prefer. Thus,
_Collier's_ prefers 4 × 5 prints; but it will use prints larger, and a
few smaller than that size. In the same way, _Garden Magazine_ reports
that it prefers 6-1/2 × 8-1/2 prints, and the Thompson Art Company says
it prefers the 5 × 7 or 8 × 10 size.
Other magazines make no mention of size. _Popular Mechanics_ reports:
"The size of the print is not so important as clearness and gloss."
Indeed, the greater number of magazines do not specify a preferable
size because by so doing they discourage contributors of prints which
are desirable, but not of the size specified.
If a magazine insists on having prints of one certain size the
photographer should not be discouraged because his camera does not make
photographs of those dimensions. The making of enlargements is now no
more difficult than the making of contact-prints; if the negative is
sharply focused and the lens of the enlarging-machine is good, an
enlargement will not differ much in quality from a small print.
To me, it seems that the ideal camera makes photographs of 3-1/4 x
4-1/4 inches. This is very slightly smaller than 4 × 5, and a less
costly "film-eater." Negatives of that size are sufficiently large to
make salable prints without enlarging them, and if a larger print is
desired, they are of good proportions for the operation of enlarging.
Prints of the 2-1/4 × 3-1/4 size are too small to offer to magazines
unless the subjects are all-commanding; however, the size is a very
good one, and not too small for the making of excellent enlargements if
the lens of the camera is good. I have heard of one photographer who
uses exclusively a vest-pocket camera equipped with a fast anastigmat
lens: he never attempts to market any of the small prints, whose size
is 1-5/8 × 2-1/2, but enlarges the prints to about 4 × 6. There are
many advantages possessed by the small camera over the large camera;
but 3-1/4 × 4-1/4 is the happy medium. I have never had a print of that
size returned because it was too small.
There is no need to limit one's self to the production of prints of
only standard dimensions. In the cases of magazines desiring artistic
prints, the prints gain materially by trimming them so as to produce a
compositional balance of masses. Also, some buyers specify prints of a
certain shape for use as covers and headings, to fit frame-cuts and
such. These buyers state their specifications, as "prints size 4 × 6,
with the long edges horizontal," or the opposite. It is not necessary
to produce prints trimmed to the exact size of the cover, either; all
that is necessary is to make the print of the same _proportions_ as the
cover, and the engraver will enlarge or reduce it to the correct size.
There is one best finish for prints intended for publication: that is,
black-and-white--_never sepia_--and glossy, burnished. Glossy prints
are not much more difficult to make than dull-surfaced prints, the only
necessary additional effort being the use of a squeegee plate, or
ferrotype plate. The preference for glossy prints results from the fact
that their surfaces are absolutely smooth and without grain. This
enables the engraver to make a clearer halftone, for a print with a
grained surface reproduces surface and all in the cut.
Glossy paper, when dried in the ordinary way, has a surface which is
perfectly smooth, yet half-dull. When glossy prints are dried in
contact with a ferrotype plate the surfaces are highly polished, and
this gives the prints more brilliancy. Prints so prepared are ideal for
reproduction-purposes.
Newspapers, as well as some moderate-priced magazines printed on
news-print paper, and printed at high speed, require coarse-screened
cuts; in these, fancy lighting is detrimental, and fine details are
lost; what is wanted are broad masses of light and shade.
Some editors prefer prints which are untrimmed and printed to the very
edges of the negative. Such prints give the editor opportunities to
trim the prints as he pleases. And in the case of simple
news-photographs and ones which have no claim to artistic
consideration, it seems to be the preferable method of submission.
Certainly, editors will not object to such prints, and they may welcome
them in preference to trimmed ones.
Single-weight paper is always preferable to double-weight, even in the
larger sizes.
Prints must be sharply focused and distinct--not "fuzzy."
A contrasty print is sometimes recommended as the best to offer; but
that is a mistake. The photo-engraver wants prints with plenty of
detail in the shadows, and with a tendency to softness; but with not a
vestige of flatness. "In the making of the screen-negative and in the
various steps of etching, he--the engraver--can introduce highlights
into a rather soft subject; but he cannot produce detail in harsh
lights and shadows," declares _Photo-Era Magazine_. The process of
halftone-making has developed so that the reproduction can be made
almost indistinguishable from the original. In any event, make the best
print possible--a normal and truthful representation.
Having produced your print, add your name and address to the back of
it, and then write, in pencil and on a hard surface, the caption that
should be placed under the photograph when it is printed.
Some editors decry the practice of writing the caption on the back of
the print; for the print goes to the engraver and the copy for the
caption goes to the printer. The alternative is to write the caption on
a slip of paper which should be pasted by one end to the back of the
print. In any case the photographer's name and address should be
stamped on the back.
An ideal print for reproduction and publication, then, should be:
Not smaller than 3-1/4 × 4-1/4 inches; on single-weight glossy paper,
burnished; very sharp; not contrasty or flat; correct proportions if
necessary; untrimmed, if preferred; name and address on back; caption
plainly written on back, or on an attached slip.
Prints passing this examination are ready to be shipped to market.
VI
WHERE TO SELL
Once upon a time a publisher had a remarkable inspiration. He would
publish a perfect book. He went about the task with painful care.
Months were consumed in the making of a book which would be perfect
from every viewpoint. After the publisher had corrected every
typographical error, had made every possible improvement, and was
unable to detect even one flaw in it, he made proof-copies of it and
sent them to men on the faculties of universities, to leading printers,
to book-making experts, to authorities in English, and to leaders in
every other branch of work from which it was possible to view
critically the making of the book. He asked them to examine the proofs
minutely and to tell him of any flaw, however small, that they might
find. Each one of the critics returned his proof with the statement
that he had not found the slightest imperfection. Thereupon the beaming
bookmaker published his perfect book and offered a large sum to any one
who could find a single flaw in it. And many months passed.
Then, one day, he received a letter that pointed out an error in the
book. Another letter followed; then another; and at the end of a year,
he had received a half dozen letters, each pointing out a different
mistake--and each was very noticeably a mistake. And that is the story
of the perfect book.
It is with that book in mind that I have decided not to give here the
usual list of buyers of photographs. Such a list may be complete and
correct when compiled; but by the time it could be put into print and
published, lo! some of the magazines would have suspended publication,
other new ones would have sprung up, other buyers would have changed
their requirements; so that after a year, the entire list would be
useless.
I do not add even a list of non-buyers who were once buyers, for the
reason that some of them may become buyers again at any moment.
Consequently, in my opinion, to place a list of photograph-buyers in
this article would be to waste much space, and with the possibility of
inconveniencing any photographers who might attempt to use the list
after a year or so of its publication.
Furthermore, there are magazines and other books issued yearly which
are devoted almost exclusively to listing markets for manuscripts and
photographs; these are in a position to make changes, additions and
withdrawals with each subsequent issue, and so to keep the lists
up-to-date and of value.
One such book is, "Where and How to Sell Manuscripts." This book
classifies photographic markets separately; and also lists elsewhere
many buyers of photographs. In addition, lists are given of newspapers,
postcard-and-calendar-makers, and lists of magazines devoted to the
household, agriculture, gardening, juveniles, sports, outdoors, the
drama, music, art, the trades, etc., all of which magazines use
photographs. The book is published by the Home Correspondence School,
Myrick Building, Springfield, Massachusetts.
Another such book, which is very similar and which contains such lists,
is "1001 Places to Sell Manuscripts," published by James Knapp Reeve,
at Franklin, Ohio. These are the only two market-books which are
enabled to keep their lists up-to-date and correct.
Writer-craft magazines, which maintain literary-market news-columns,
list markets for photographs; these supplement the market-books.
_The Editor_, published weekly at Book Hill, Highland Falls, New York,
publishes perhaps more market-notes than any other.
_The Writer's Digest_, 15-27 West Sixth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, is a
monthly writer-craft magazine which conducts a very good department of
market-notes.
_The Writer's Monthly_ is the name of another magazine that lists such
markets. It is published monthly. Its market-news, upon publication, is
rather older I have found, than that printed in _The Editor_. The
longer time necessary to print the magazine may account for that. This
magazine is published by the Home Correspondence School, Springfield,
Massachusetts.
_The Student Writer_, 1835 Champa Street, Denver, Colorado, published
monthly, maintains an excellent market-list. Their notes are many,
varied, and reliable.
Photographic magazines sometimes list markets for photographs, although
not frequently.
_American Photography_, 428 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts,
sometimes publishes market-notices in its "The Market-Place"
department, but they are scanty.
_Photo-Era Magazine_ lists, when available, market-notes.
Book-publishers wishing prints of special character have used this
magazine as an advertising-medium.
Besides the magazines noted, other writer-craft and photographic
publications may publish market-notes from time to time.
It is by no means necessary to buy both books and to subscribe for all
the magazines; but if you can do so without financial discomfort, it
cannot be otherwise than to your advantage. By all means, obtain one of
the market-books and subscribe for one of the writer-craft magazines;
and if you can add a photographic publication, so much the better. Even
a market-book alone is a great aid; indeed, it is a necessity. Obtain
one or both and you will be amazed at the number of times each can say,
"Open Sesame" without stuttering.
The best salesman in the world could not induce a sane blacksmith to
put in a stock of groceries. If the salesman has groceries to sell, he
goes to a grocer and talks. Similarly, a photographer cannot hope to
sell the most remarkable photograph in the world, unless he sends it to
the right market.
Each magazine has its own particular needs; but the needs of different
ones overlap so far, and are sometimes so similar, that a print offered
to one and rejected by it may be very desirable to another; this
applies to _classes_ of magazines as well as _individual_ publications.
As an instance: _Popular Mechanics_, or _Illustrated World_, although
requiring unusual photographs, rarely buy photographs of human
freaks--but nevertheless the _Saturday Blade_ (Chicago) uses just that
sort of thing.
A few blocks from here stands the largest writing-tablet factory in
the world: a photograph of it would not be acceptable to the
rotogravure-sections nor to _Popular Mechanics_, _Illustrated World_,
nor to _Popular Science_; yet such a photograph would be useful to
an architectural magazine, a stationers' publication, or a local
newspaper. When a photograph may be viewed from several industrial
angles, as well as from a new-achievement or from a human-interest
standpoint, the more likely are markets to open for it. _The
press-photographer should not stop until he has tried every possible
market._
After one or two rejections, the photographer is apt to form the
opinion that editors are prejudiced against his work because he is a
beginner; but nothing could be further from the fact. One national
magazine says; "Should we return what you submit, do not be
discouraged. Sooner or later, if you study our needs carefully, you
will succeed in finding what we are after." The same thing is true of
every other magazine. There is not one of them but is eager to buy your
wares if you offer them the kind of goods they want.
A rejection is not a rebuke. It is a challenge. It means that your
"nose for news" has failed you--has played you false; or that you have
tried to sell groceries to a blacksmith. Rest assured that no editor
will willfully refuse to accept, pay for and print any photograph which
possesses enough merit to warrant acceptance. The editor holds his
chair only so long as he produces the kind and quality of magazine its
owners want him to produce; and he can do that only by co-operation
with contributors. Without contributors he is at sea in a tub. The
editor is the best friend the press-photographer can have.
It matters not how much "pull" you have with an editor, or how near a
relative you are, or how good a friend, you can't sell a photograph to
him unless you "deliver the goods."
Elliot Walker observes: "The way to sell is to give editors what they
want and in the way they want it." If you do that you can't fail if you
try.
Nor will any editor reject your photographs because of his personal
feelings. "The magazine-editor, in the first place, keeps his personal
feelings tied up; in the second place, he would be foolish, indeed, to
allow them to influence his decisions; and, in the third place, the
editor 'ain't got no' personal feelings when it comes to buying
material for his magazine."
There is only one course to pursue--send the photograph to every
possible market for it in its special line; then see if it can be
viewed from another magazine-angle, and try every magazine of that
trend; then repeat and repeat and ship it away again and again. _Don't
stop until it has been returned from every market with the slightest
possibility of buying it._ Then sit up nights to discover another
shipping-point for it. Keep on to the bitter end; but if your "nose" is
working and you keep on steadily, the end will come rather suddenly,
and it will not be bitter.
VII
A SURVEY OF MARKETS
What follows is no attempt to list and classify existing markets, but
to offer a generalized survey of magazine needs by class. While the
success of the small-town press-photographer is not in proportion to
his city's size, the magazines which find their ways to him month after
month do not disclose the whole field of markets to him. He needs
something more--something to reveal to him the broad needs of
magazines. This chapter has as its mission the summarizing of the needs
of magazines of every class.
Thus, photographs taken all over the world, showing the beauty and
commerce of the old and new eras, are eagerly sought by several
magazines. _Travel_, 7 West Sixteenth Street, New York, wants
photographs of out-of-the-way places, unusual methods of producing
world necessities, and photographs of general travel interest.
The same may be said of the _National Geographic Magazine_, though the
photographs and articles used by this publication are so specialized
and exhaustive that it is rarely a free-lance writer can supply their
needs--for they maintain their own staff of writers and explorers.
However, if you are able to catch vivid photographs of wide travel
interest, here is a most excellent market.
If you are interested in picturing homes, _Country Life_, _Garden
Magazine_ and _House Beautiful_ are waiting for your prints. These
magazines are very artistic and use only the best work; but they are
interested in unusual gardens, beautiful lawns, landscaping, interior
decorating. A house remodelled from a common building to an unusual or
striking residence will find ready sale to them if photographs of the
"before and after" variety are offered. Nature, sport, and building in
the country are the specialty of _Country Life_, Garden City, New York;
_Garden Magazine_ is interested in nothing but gardens and ornamental
horticulture, preferably of the personal experience trend. Same address
as _Country Life_. _House Beautiful_, 3 Park Street, Boston, wants
photographs of unusual types of interior decorating and landscape
architecture. What a wealth of material a well-kept, modern home
contains! Owners should readily give consent to photograph if the
photographer explains his purpose.
_Arts and Decoration_, 470 Fourth Avenue, New York, also uses garden
and house material, but runs also to the arts. Photographs of
architecture, interior decorating, etc., here find another market.
So it is with the broad field of country-life magazines generally, as
an example. House furnishing and "before and after" remodelling
pictures are easily obtained and easily sold if well done.
Every class of magazines uses photographs: Literary magazines, Women's,
Farm journals, Juvenile, Religious, Outdoor, Photographic, Theatrical,
Musical, Art, and Trade publications. The following notes generalize
the needs of each of these fields.
GENERAL MAGAZINES
This excludes most fiction magazines; those which do use photographic
illustrations buy the work of professional studios already established
and perhaps specializing in that type of illustrating. The beginner may
develop into one of these illustrators--many magazines use them, as
_Love Stories_, _Cosmopolitan_ for special articles, _National
Pictorial Monthly_, etc.,--but these markets are not open to the
free-lance photographer.
_Current History_, Times Building, New York, New York, is an example of
a news-magazine which uses timely photographs of wide interest.
_The Literary Digest_ is of similar nature, but this second magazine
does not buy photographs from the open market.
The Curtis Publishing Company occasionally uses photographs of a scenic
or artistic nature as fillers. These magazines comprise _The Saturday
Evening Post_, _The Ladies' Home Journal_, _The Country Gentleman_.
These are always available, and a glance through several numbers of
each will disclose the type of photograph wanted.
_Grit_, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, uses many photographs, and short
articles written around them. This publication wants common,
human-interest subjects treated carefully.
The needs of _The Illustrated World_, _Popular Mechanics_ and _Popular
Science_ have been made very clear in previous portions of this book.
_The Scientific American_ always wants photographs of new inventions of
wide interest, accompanied by brief articles. Address 233 Broadway, New
York, New York.
_Physical Culture_, 119 West 40th Street, New York, New York, always
wants photographs of persons having splendid physical development. A
glance through this magazine will disclose the types of poses desired.
Straight front, back, etc., views are never used; action in the picture
is essential.
WOMEN'S MAGAZINES
These magazines use generally pictures of home improvements, remodelling
of residences, flower gardens of unusual variety, and use short
illustrated articles on house-building, interior decoration, rugs,
gardens, domestic science, etc. The magazines listed below are only a
few of the many which use photographs and illustrated articles of
interest to women.
_The Ladies' Home Journal_, Philadelphia, Pa.; the _Woman's Home
Companion_, New York; the _Delineator_, New York, and _Good
Housekeeping_, New York, are all generally fiction magazines with a
homey flavor which do not offer a good market for separate photographs
or short illustrated articles, although they are in the market for
suitable material of this sort, in a limited way. Others are:
_American Cookery_, 221 Columbia Ave., Boston.
_Better Times_, 70 Fifth Ave., New York.
_Canadian Home Journal_, 71 Richmond St., West, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada.
_Farm and Home_, Springfield, Mass.
_Mother's Magazine_, 180 No. Wabash Ave., Chicago.
_New England Homestead_, Springfield, Mass.
_Vogue_, 19 West 44th St., New York, uses exclusive photographs of
society in New York, Newport, etc.; photographs of handsome homes of
well-known society people, beautiful and unusual gardens, etc.
_Woman's Weekly_, 431 So. Dearborn St., Chicago, uses short articles of
home interest, illustrated.
FARM JOURNALS
The needs of farm journals are specific. They form an important
division of published magazines, and a large one which uses a great
amount of material. Articles on farm improvements, etc., are always
used, and photographs also. A conjunction of the two, in an illustrated
article, forms a much more marketable commodity. The farm work is
composed of many divisions--agriculture, bee culture, botany, breeding,
cheese-making, etc. The following are a representative few of the
agricultural markets which are always buying material:
_American Agriculturist_, 315 Fourth Ave., New York.
_American Bee Journal_, Hamilton, Ill.
_American Botanist_, Joliet, Ill.
_American Breeder_, 225 West 12th St., Kansas City, Mo.
_American Farming_, 537 So. Dearborn St., Chicago.
_American Forestry_, 1410 H St., Washington, D.C.
_American Fruit Grower_, State Lake Bldg., Chicago.
_American Poultry Journal_, 542 So. Dearborn St., Chicago.
_American Seedsman_, Chicago, Ill.
_Bean-Bag_, Syndicate Trust Bldg., St. Louis, Mo., is devoted to the
bean industry.
_Canadian Countryman_, 154 Simcoe St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
material of Canadian interest.
_Country Gentleman_, Independence Square, Philadelphia.
_Dairy Farmer_, Waterloo, Iowa.
_Farm and Fireside_, 381 Fourth Ave., New York.
_Farm Journal_, Philadelphia, Pa.
_The Horse World_, 1028-30 Marine Bldg., Buffalo, New York.
_Jewish Farmer_, 174 Second Ave., New York.
_Kennel Advocate_, 636 Market St., Sierra Madre, Cal.
_The Milk Magazine_, Waterloo, Iowa.
_National Alfalfa Journal_, Otis Building, Chicago.
_Orchard and Farm_, 1111 So. Broadway, Los Angeles, Cal.
_Potato Magazine_, Room 605, 139 No. Clark St., Chicago.
_Power Farming_, St. Joseph, Mich.
_Rabbitcraft and Small Stock Journal_, Lamoni, Iowa.
_Southern Agriculturist_, Nashville, Tenn.
_Wallace's Farmer_, Des Moines, Iowa.
JUVENILE PUBLICATIONS
Almost every magazine uses juvenile material, and there are many that
specialize in it. The following markets use the well-known type of
photograph and illustrated article which are of interest--travel,
how-to-make-it, etc. A great field is open here to picturized
activities of boys.
_The American Boy_, 142 Lafayette Blvd., Detroit, Mich.
_Boy's Magazine_, Scarsdale, N.Y.
_Classmate_, 420 Plum St., Cincinnati, Ohio.
_Forward_, Witherspoon Bldg., Philadelphia.
_Girl's World_, 1701 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.
_Junior Christian Endeavor World_, 31 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, Mass.
_Kind Words_, Nashville, Tenn.
_Open Road_, 248 Boylston St., Boston.
_St. Nicholas Magazine_, 353 Fourth Ave., New York.
_Youth's Companion_, 881 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass.
RELIGIOUS PAPERS
Religious publications are not given to printing many photographs,
although there is a market of appreciable size here. This field is a
difficult one to generalize upon, but the following may be taken as
such a list:
_Adult Student_, Nashville, Tenn.
_American Messenger_, 101 Park Avenue, New York, New York.
_Christian Advocate_, 810 Broadway, Nashville, Tenn.
_Christian Endeavor World_, 31 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, Mass., uses
photographic covers.
David C. Cook Company, Elgin, Illinois, publishes about forty
magazines, which use a great amount of photographs and illustrated
material.
_Epworth Herald_, 740 Rush St., Chicago.
_Front Rank_, 2710 Pine St., St. Louis, Mo.
_Lookout_, Cincinnati, Ohio, uses photographs for covers.
_The Missionary_, Apostolic Mission House, Brookland, Washington, D.C.
_Sunday School World_, 1816 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.
_The Watchword_, Otterbein Press, Dayton, Ohio.
OUTDOOR MAGAZINES
Here is a group of magazines which is deeply interested in unusual
fishing-trips, hunts, and such excursions--it wants material on the
animals in water or air or on land, that its readers may bag them the
more easily; it desires material on bird-dogs, on outdoor devices and
tricks, on tennis, motoring, baseball, cats, dogs, golf, horses,
yachting, and on every phase of outdoor and sport life. Photographs of
men prominent in each line are wanted; prints of hunting, fishing,
camping, canoeing, sailing, and everything connected with the big
outdoors. Here is a large and remunerative market for open-air
photographs and sport prints.
_Aerial Age_, 280 Madison Ave., New York, wants material on aviation.
_All Outdoors_, _Outing_, _Forest and Stream_, _Field and Stream_,
etc., want the wide variety of outdoor material that appeals to any
sort of sportsman. These magazines circulate widely, and a study of
them will disclose their needs.
Dogs are the subjects of such magazines as _American Beagle_, 639 West
Federal St., Youngstown, Ohio; _Dogdom_, Battle Creek, Michigan; _Dog
Fancier_, Battle Creek, Michigan; _Dog World_, 1333 So. California
Ave., Chicago.
Material about cats is welcomed by such as _Cat Review_, 196 Centre
St., Orange, New Jersey.
Fishing material appeals to the general run of outdoor magazines,
including _American Angler_, 1400 Broadway, New York.
Tennis appeals to _American Lawn Tennis_, 120 Broadway, New York, and
the _Tennis Review_, California Bldg., Los Angeles, Cal.
Golf material is used by _American Golfer_, 49 Liberty St., New York,
and _Golfer's Magazine_, 1355 Monadnock Block, Chicago.
Motoring appeals to a long list of such publications as:
_American Motorist_, Riggs Building, Washington, D.C.
_Mileage_, 4415 No. Racine Ave., Chicago.
_Motor_, 119 West 40th St., New York.
_Motordom_, 110 State St., Chicago.
_Motor Life_, 239 West 39th St., New York.
_Speed_, 809 Shipley St., Wilmington, Del.
Then there are a variety of different subdivisions of this class, the
mere names of which are sufficient to disclose the great variety of
material they use:
_American Checkers_, 1846 So. 40th Ave., Chicago.
_American Chess Bulletin_, 150 Nassau St., New York.
_American Cricketer_, Morris Building, Philadelphia.
_Baseball Magazine_, 70 Fifth Ave., New York.
_Billiards Magazine_, 35 So. Dearborn St., Chicago.
_Bird Lore_, 29 West 32d St., New York.
_Bowler's Journal_, 836 Exchange Ave., Chicago.
_The Horse World_, 1028-30 Marine Bank Bldg., Buffalo, New York.
_Spur_, 389 Fifth Ave., New York--raising prize winners.
_Yachting_, 141 West 36th St., New York.
PHOTOGRAPHIC MAGAZINES
These magazines pay more attention to the photograph itself than to
what it pictures. Here is a market for artistic prints, for prints
showing new working methods, and such material interesting to
photographers. Artistic taste and technical accuracy are instrumental
in getting you into these magazines.
_American Photography_, 428 Newbury Street, Boston.
_The Camera_, 210 No. 13th St., Philadelphia, Pa.
_Camera Craft_, Claus Spreckels Bldg., San Francisco, Cal.
_Photo-Era Magazine_, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
THEATRICAL MAGAZINES
Theatrical magazines embrace the following representative few who
desire prints of current news in the show world, new theatres,
interviews with actors and actresses and photographs of them, etc.
_The Drama_, 306 Riggs Bldg., Washington, D.C.
_Theatre Arts Magazine_, 7 East 42d St., Detroit, Mich.
_Theatre Magazine_, 6 East 39th St., New York.
MUSICAL JOURNALS
Photographs of bands, orchestras, leaders, band-stands that are unique,
artists, composers, etc., are used by this class.
_Musical Courier_, 437 Fifth Ave., New York, New York.
_Musical Enterprise_, Camden, N.J.
TRADE PAPERS
These include magazines published and devoted to every trade
imaginable. One magazine will be cited for each division of trade, the
title of which is self-explanatory, and which uses photographs in its
particular field:
Advertising: _Advertising and Selling_, 471 Fifth Avenue, New York.
Architectural: _American Builder_, 1827 Prairie Ave., Chicago.
Automobile: _American Garage and Auto Dealer_, 116 So. Michigan Ave.,
Chicago.
Baking and Confectionery: _Baker's Helper_, 327 So. La Salle St.,
Chicago. _Western Confectioner_, Underwood Bldg., San Francisco.
Cement, etc.: _Concrete_, 314 New Telegraph Bldg., Detroit, Mich.
Drug, Oil, Paint, etc.: _Druggists' Circular_, 100 William St., New
York. _Painters' Magazine_, same address.
Dry Goods: _Dry Goods Reporter_, 215 So. Market St., Chicago, Ill.
Electric: _Journal of Electricity_, Crossley Bldg., San Francisco.
Engineering: _Everyday Engineering Magazine_, 2 West 45th St., New
York.
Financial: _Financial World_, 29 Broadway, New York.
Fraternal: See particular paper referring to particular fraternity or
lodge in list given in Market Book.
Furniture: _Furniture News_, Wainwright Bldg., St. Louis, Mo.
Grain: _Grain Dealers' Journal_, 315 S. La Salle St., Chicago.
Grocery: _National Grocer_, 208 So. La Salle St., Chicago.
Hardware: _Good Hardware_, 211 So. Dithridge St., Pittsburgh.
History: _Hispanic American Historical Review_, 1422 Irving St., N.E.,
Washington, D.C.
House Organs: Some two thousand of these are listed in the market books
named.
Jewelry: _Jewelers' Circular_, 11 John St., New York.
Labor: See particular division desired by consulting Market Book.
Law: _Casualty Review_, 222 East Ohio St., Indianapolis, Ind.
Lumber: _Lumber_, Wright Bldg., St. Louis, Mo.
Medical: See division desired, as Dental, Hospital, etc., in Market
Book.
Military: _American Legion Weekly_, 627 West 43d St., New York.
Municipal: _American City_, 87 Nassau St., New York.
Printing: _The Inland Printer_, Inland Printing Co., 632 Sherman St.,
Chicago.
Railroad: _The Railroad Red Book_, 2019 Stout St., Denver, Colo.
Shoes: _Boot and Shoe Recorder_, 207 South St., Boston.
This survey gives a general idea of the wide market open to photographs
which fall within each magazine's requirements. No attempt has been
made to give the needs of magazines, or to present what is usually
called "a list of markets." We have been concerned here with
generalizing the market--pointing out to the reader who never sees most
of the magazines named that they really exist and buy photographs. The
purchase of a Market Book is necessary if one desires seriously to make
his way selling photographs to publications.
"Study the magazine" is the bromide flung always in the teeth of the
beginner. But what if one can't obtain copies of the magazines which
print material which the reader may easily find? Then he has only to
request from the editor a sample copy of the magazine, using the
address gleaned from the Market Book--and he then has the best
information as to what that particular magazine wants. And at a cost of
only two cents per copy.
VIII
SHIPPING THE PRODUCT TO MARKET
When a print is to be offered to a local newspaper, the photographer
starts out, sometimes, as soon as one hour after making the exposure,
with the print in his hand, and, arriving at the desk of the
city-editor, he allows him to examine it. In such a case, mailing the
print would delay it; perhaps delay it until its interest has cooled,
and so make it worthless. But when submitting prints to magazines one
should always invoke the aid of Uncle Sam's mail-service, no matter if
the editor lives just next door and the publication-office is but a
block distant.
The shipping of your prints to their markets merits special
consideration. If the photograph, after being wrapped, can be bent
easily, it is apt to arrive at the editor's desk in a cracked and
crumpled condition. Then the editor could not buy it if he wished. And,
when it is returned, its maker finds it to be so mutilated that it is
useless to try to market it elsewhere. Proper protection of photographs
when shipping them is an aid to both editor and contributor.
Photographs which are 4 × 5 inches in size can be sent safely in a No.
11 envelope of heavy manila paper if a sheet of cardboard is placed in
the envelope too. The cardboard prevents the breaking of corners, the
bending, and the cracking of the print. For a return-envelope--_never
omit to enclose an envelope addressed to yourself and adequately
stamped for the return of the print if it is unavailable_--for a
return envelope, a No. 10 manila envelope is the best.
Prints which are 4 × 5 inches or larger should be sent in larger
envelopes--in clasp-envelopes. These envelopes can be obtained at
stationers' in sizes suitable for almost any photograph. The envelope
should be about an inch larger each way than the print. The print, as
well as a piece of cardboard--which should be somewhat larger than the
print--can be sent safely in the clasp-envelope container. _On no
occasion forget to enclose a return-envelope, which should be
self-addressed and stamped._ The return-envelope may be of the same
size as the outer one; and, if it is folded, it may be easily inserted.
The envelopes mentioned, I have found by experience, are the best
containers that can be used for photographs that are to be mailed.
Never roll a print and insert it in a mailing-tube. If there is
anything an editor does _not_ want you to do, it is that. Prints so
sent never lose the violent curve they acquire in transit, and then
they are no more amenable to reason than a temperamental mule. Prints
should always be sent _flat_--never rolled or folded, nor in any other
condition except perfectly _flat_.
The envelope should be addressed to "The Editor" of the particular
magazine selected. Do not address it to the editor by name, for it
might arrive at a time when he is on his vacation, and so it will
follow him all over the country and perhaps become lost. There should
be no enclosure other than the photograph; except, when it is
necessary, a sheet carrying an explanation or a short article to be
printed with the picture. Do not write a letter to the editor unless
the photograph is timely and should have an immediate decision. The
professional news-photographer submits his work without letters, and
with no identification except his name on the back of each print--and
it isn't what's on the back, but what's on the front, that counts.
Photographs properly require only third-class postage rates. The
addition of a caption to the print, or any other written matter
included with it, automatically raises the rate to first-class. Even if
nothing but the photograph alone is sent, I advise the use of
first-class service for several reasons: the print is then carried more
quickly; it is handled more carefully; and the sender may seal the
container, which he is unable to do with third-class matter. Always,
then, send your photographs by first-class mail.
Editors do not maintain special funds for the purpose of paying for
postage-due stamps. That is, if a package of photographs arrives at the
editor's desk with the postage not fully prepaid, the payment by the
editor of the postage due does not make his attitude kindly toward the
work itself. There are a good many editors who will not accept
contributions from the postoffice which have postage-due stamps
attached because of the neglect of the sender to fully prepay the
postage. There are a great many more editors who will not return
photographs unless a stamped and self-addressed envelope is enclosed
with the offering. The attitude is entirely justified, for the
supplying of postage to careless contributors in such cases would cost
a magazine hundreds of dollars every year.
Never send your photographs by registered mail unless their value is
extraordinary; and never send them by special-delivery mail unless the
prints are addressed to a newspaper and possess burning-hot news
interest. To send photographs of average quality by either registered
or special-delivery mail is a trick of the novice struggling for
recognition. Use ordinary first-class service and the editor will feel
more kindly toward you than if he is made to stop his work and sign a
mail-receipt.
Not all photographs are accepted by the very first editor who sees
them. Very often it is the fifth, or the tenth, or even the twentieth
editor who buys them. So if a print comes back, immediately send it out
again and again and again. _Don't stop, for the very next time you
might sell it._ If it's a good print, there is an editor somewhere
waiting for it.
IX
THE PRICES PAID
The most remarkable news-photographs ever made--they were exposed at
the South Pole--brought $3,000 from _Leslie's_ (now no longer
published) for "First Rights," and $1,000 more from International
Feature Service for "Second Rights." Some photographers have realized
hundreds of dollars from lucky shots; an extraordinary photograph may
bring from $25 to $100; but the average price paid is $3.00; and,
indeed, there are some editors who unblushingly offer as little as ten
or twenty-five cents for prints; and some who find it impossible,
unwise, or unnecessary to pay for prints at all.
Although the average price paid is not astounding, it is a good return
on the cost of making; also, the abundant opportunities for salable
prints compensate for what each cheque lacks. A photographer who is
wide-awake and moving ought not to find it difficult to sell at least
ten prints each week, if not more, when one considers the large number
of available subjects and the multitude of magazines.
Newspapers pay for prints according to their breadth of circulation. A
widely-read daily will pay more for photographs than one of small
circulation. Very often, newspaper-editors prefer that the
press-photographer send a bill for his services. If you are asked to do
that, do not hesitate to charge a price you think is entirely just; but
don't grasp the opportunity to profiteer. Better, discover the price
asked by the newspaper's favorite commercial-photographer, and mark
down your price accordingly. That is business; it isn't taking an
unfair advantage.
Whatever the price that is paid, don't object if you think it is too
low; accept the payment and seek a more remunerative market next time.
This applies to magazines as well as to newspapers.
The prices paid by magazines vary likewise, but none of any reputation
pays less than one dollar per print. There are many factors which
decide the size of the cheque which the press-photographer receives.
The first is the circulation of the publication, for its financial
reserve depends on the number of buyers. The size of the print in some
instances decides the price paid. Thus, one magazine pays $1.00 for
prints of one size and $2.00 for larger ones. However, there are not
many magazines who pay according to the size of print.
Sometimes, retouching must be applied to a print in order to make it
suitable for reproduction; and, as the service of a retoucher is
expensive, something is deducted from the photographer's cheque to pay
for the work. _Popular Science_ is a magazine of that policy. The
photographer can avoid such deductions from his cheques by supplying
photographs of such quality that they will need no retouching.
If a photograph is offered for the exclusive use of one magazine it may
bring a higher price than if it were non-exclusive. Thus, _Collier's_
pays $3.00 for non-exclusive prints and $5.00 for exclusive ones. Some
few magazines rarely accept any print that is not exclusive; indeed,
non-exclusiveness may be a reason for rejection. Calendar-makers and
postcard-makers, of course, buy only exclusive rights. A publisher is
always more favorably inclined toward an exclusive than toward a
non-exclusive print; and, very often, the added favor means added
dollars to the payment.
The use to which a print is put is also a deciding factor in payment. A
print bought for use as a cover-illustration will bring home a bigger
cheque than if it were used merely as one of many illustrations. Too,
_Illustrated World_ pays $3.00 and more for prints used in its
pictorial section, but $2.00 for those used in its mechanical
department. Other magazines do not make this distinction.
After all, the price paid depends wholly on the usefulness and quality
of the print. If, sometimes, as in the case of the _Ladies' Home
Journal_, the payment is made with a view to the photographer's
reputation, it is only because news-photographers of experience produce
prints of a higher average quality than beginners do. But, if a
beginner "delivers the goods," the editor is just as glad to pay to him
the large cheque as he is to pay it to any one else.
A few examples of prices paid will be of interest. _Collier's_ pays
$3.00 for non-exclusive prints and $5.00 for exclusive prints, and from
$25.00 to $100.00 a page for layouts (spreads). _Illustrated World_
pays $3.00 for each print. _Popular Mechanics_ pays $3.00 and up, and
$25.00 a page for layouts. _Popular Science_ reimburses at the rate of
$3.00 for each photograph, and sometimes more. The _Saturday Blade_
pays $2.00 for each. The Thompson Art Company pays from $1.00 to $5.00.
Underwood and Underwood pay from $3.00 and up, according to the value
of the print. The Woodman and Teirman Printing Company pays at rates
varying from $5.00 to $50.00.
"But when is payment made?" you ask. The answer is, "Either upon
acceptance or upon publication."
By far, most magazines pay according to the more desirable plan--upon
acceptance. As soon as such a magazine decides that a photograph is
useful to it, it mails a cheque to the sender. Sometimes, a receipt is
sent with the cheque, which the recipient must sign and return; but,
more often, the cheque itself is the receipt. Payment upon acceptance
is by far the more desirable method, for with it the worker is paid as
soon as his work is done; there is no waiting for weeks and months for
payment, as in the case of pay-on-publication magazines.
There are a few magazines who wait until the photograph actually
appears in the pages of the publication before payment is made. In such
cases, the photographer has no recourse but to wait until the editor is
ready to print his contribution whenever it may be.
In the case of pay-on-publication magazines, notice is usually sent
that the photograph has been accepted for publication and that it will
be paid for as soon as it is published. Sometimes, no notice is given
at all of publication or acceptance; and in that case the photographer
must scan each issue of the magazine in order to find his contribution
when it appears, or he must wait until the cheque arrives that denotes
publication. Either method is uncertain; but there is nothing to do
but to endure it. Some publications even wait for some time after
publication before making payment, as in the case of the _Kansas City
Star_, which pays on the fifteenth of the month following publication,
and the _Saturday Blade_ which also mails all cheques the month
following publication. This is a discouraging policy; but as the cheque
always arrives in the end, there is little to be said in condemnation
of it; the photographer is obliged to make the best of it.
The contributor should always keep a record of prints accepted and to
be paid for on publication. Otherwise, by an oversight, a cheque for
published material may never come, and the photographer may never miss
it. Too, a cheque may arrive unexpectedly from a forgotten source and
cause an attack of heart-failure.
The beginner does not achieve mountain-top prices except by a lucky
shot now and then. Prices increase with your experience and your
reputation.
The photographer who develops his "nose for news" until it can scent a
salable photograph in every conceivable situation is the photographer
who has the large cheques forced upon him.
The sky-high cheques come to the camerist who, night and day, through
sunshine and storm, earthquake and cyclone, is always "hot on the
trail" of the salable photograph that is tucked away somewhere, where
only a keen scent and a large amount of perseverance can lead him; and
when he arrives, the subject will be singing truthfully, "Shoot me and
the wor-rld is tha-hine." There are enough of these subjects to shame
the biggest choir on earth by their "singing." However, the
photographer must know good music when he hears it.
X
ART PHOTOGRAPHS
An art-photograph may be either of two things: a photograph, itself
artistic; or a photograph of some artistic thing. There are markets for
both. Artistic photographs are used by calendar and postcard makers;
also, by photographic magazines, and magazines given to the beautiful
in art or literature. When submitting such photographs to makers of
postcards and such, they should be submitted in the usual manner.
The subjects used by card- and calendar-makers are interesting
landscapes, beautiful seascapes, pretty girls, attractive children, and
animals, as every one knows. Such pictures are sometimes bought
outright--indeed, they usually are; but some firms pay according to
their value as indicated by the demand for them after publication.
Thus, one firm pays on a fifty-fifty basis.
An example of beautiful photography, at the same time picturing an
unusual or artistic subject, will usually find a market in a
photographic magazine, as _Photo-Era Magazine_ or a magazine such as
_Shadowland_. The _Architectural Record_ demands that its prints,
although of architectural subjects, be artistic and beautiful. Indeed,
there is such a wide market for photographically artistic prints of
beautiful subjects that the photographer is doubly rewarded who can
supply these, as well as hot-off-the-bat news-photographs.
Artistic photographs are printed on sensitive-paper of a surface suited
to their subjects, and are trimmed so as to carry the correct
compositional balance; and after, they are tastefully mounted.
Photographs which are not themselves artistic, but which are of
art-subjects, may be prepared as are other photographs intended for
publication. Such photographs are of statues, pictures, new
art-museums, art-collections, paintings, mural decorations, drawings,
and anything at all of interest to artists. Material of such sort is
sought by such publications as _American Art News_, _Art in America_,
_Art and Decoration_, and others that appreciate the very best.
In short, the photographer may market his game among a wider patronage
if he can bring down birds of paradise as well as ducks and geese and
the common denizens of the air.
XI
COMPETITIONS
Competition is the life of business. Certainly, then, an aspirant for
honors from publishers experiences no lack of life. Often, however,
after a print has proved unavailable for publication, when offered by
the regular process, it may be entered in a photographic competition
where current interest is not essential; and so, perhaps, even bring
home a larger cheque than it could have captured otherwise.
The two leading photographic publications, _Photo-Era Magazine_ and
_American Photography_, conduct monthly competitions. The monthly
prizes for the Advanced Competition of _Photo-Era Magazine_ are $10.00,
$5.00 and $2.50 in value of photographic goods. Although cash is not
paid, a prize awarded will go a long way toward obtaining for the
photographer a desired piece of apparatus, or in supplying sensitised
material, developing-agents and such with which to produce photographs
intended for other magazines. "The contest is free and open to
photographers of ability and good standing--amateur or professional."
The publisher of _Photo-Era Magazine_ assigns subjects for each month,
as "Winter-Sports," "Speed-Pictures," and so on. Since the photographer
must buy supplies in any event, the awarding of such to the amount of
$10.00 is a distinct help.
_American Photography_ also conducts monthly photographic contests. For
these no subjects are assigned. The prizes for the Senior Class are
$10.00, $5.00 and $3.00, paid in cash. "Any photographer, amateur or
professional, may compete." This magazine last year held an Annual
Competition, which it intends to repeat, with prizes of $100.00,
$50.00, two of $25.00, and ten of $10.00, not to mention one hundred
subscriptions for the magazine. Highly artistic work is necessary for
recognition in the Annual Competition. Both _Photo-Era Magazine_ and
_American Photography_ supply data-blanks which must be sent with
entries.
Competitions for amateur photographs are also conducted by the
_American Boy_, which offers monthly prizes of $5.00, $3.00 and $1.00
for "the most interesting amateur photographs received during each
month." These are worthwhile.
Photographs of popular interest are used in monthly competitions by
many magazines; and many manufacturers conduct occasional, if not
regular, prize-contests.
Probably the largest company to offer prizes in competitions is the
Eastman Kodak Company. The Eastman company for many years conducted a
yearly contest with thousands of dollars in prizes offered. Last year,
it decided on an innovation; the running of a monthly contest with
prizes of $500.00. This practice has been continued for many months and
shows no signs of being discontinued at this writing. Prizes are
offered for four classes of photographs, the class being determined by
the camera with which the photograph was made. In all, twenty prizes
are awarded each month, the highest being $100.00 and the lowest $7.00.
Frequently one person wins two or three prizes. The photographs entered
must be of good workmanship, of human-interest and must preferably tell
a story. No subjects are set. Upon writing to the company, a leaflet is
sent which gives rules and an entry-blank. A good many photographers
have cleaned-up in these competitions.
Now and then, different manufacturers and magazines, who do not
ordinarily do so, offer prizes for photographs. At every opportunity,
the press-photographer should enter his prints, for if they win a
prize, he has the advantage of a larger remuneration as well as a
boosted prestige among editors and publishers.
XII
PRINTS FOR ADVERTISING
Advertisers who are manufacturers are all possessed of the belief that
the buying public is painfully ill-informed of the unequalled merits of
their products. Consequently, any photographic evidence of the
superiority of their goods which will enlighten the public is welcomed
with open arms.
Any photograph that shows plainly the excellent service that any
product has given will bring the photographer's own price from the
manufacturer. The demand is almost universal.
Makers of camera-lenses are continually on the lookout for unusual
photographs made with their products. The Wollensak, the Bausch and
Lomb, and the Goerz companies frequently buy negatives that portray
vividly some features of their lenses.
Makers of camera-shutters also buy photographs which were made with
cameras equipped with their shutters. Usually, the point emphasised in
the pictures bought is the shutters' ability to "stop motion" at their
high speeds. As press-photographers frequently find it necessary to use
the shortest exposures given by their shutters, they should have
something in their negative-files which the shutter-makers should be
eager to obtain.
Makers of photographic material other than lenses and shutters often
buy examples of work done with their goods. Thus, the Ansco Company
"uses photographs of natural scenes for advertising-purposes," the
photographs being made on _Ansco_ film and _Cyko_ paper, or other Ansco
products. Burke and James, makers of _Rexo_ cameras, "use photographs
for advertising-purposes which must be of unusual interest and must
illustrate their goods in use, or be made with their cameras or films."
Inasmuch as the news-photographer, in his daily work, finds many
unusual things, he should find no difficulty in selling a few prints to
camera-makers.
An advertiser is always seeking any information likely to help sell his
product. If, in your work, you see an old storage-battery with electric
energy still unimpaired, or a well-preserved tire, or a shaving-brush
of "strong constitution" unweakened by much use, it would very likely
prove profitable to photograph it and describe your find to the company
that makes the product.
Thus, an insurance-agency may buy a photograph of a garage destroyed by
fire, the cars in which were fully protected by their insurance. A
maker of strong-boxes may appreciate a photograph of one of his boxes
raked out of, perhaps, the same fire, the box having held valuable
papers which were fully protected from the terrific heat. The makers of
a portable typewriter once purchased a photograph of one of their
machines which had fallen from an airplane and which had to be dug from
the ground; but which, of course, suffered no injury whatever because
of its fall and burial. If you should unexpectedly come upon Irvin Cobb
writing a masterpiece with his Neverleek fountain-pen, snap him (with
his permission) and see what the makers of Neverleeks say.
Manufacturers of patent roofings use photographs of roofs covered with
their products; makers of steam-rollers want photographs of roads
tamped by their machines; and so on and on and on.
It is wiser to write first to the advertising-manager of the particular
company favored, and to inquire if he is buying photographs that show
plainly the unparalleled merits of his excellent product, and if
so--etc., etc.
Some advertisers will ask you to name a price for your work, and on
such an occasion you should judge fairly the value of the print to
them. If they require the negative also, raise the rate. Any prints
should be worth $10.00 even to a small manufacturer, and if it is
acceptable at all, a larger firm should pay from $25.00 to $1,000.00
for suitable propaganda. This branch of press-photography is little
used by many workers, yet it is remunerative.
Besides furnishing the manufacturer with advertising for his product,
the photographer supplies himself with some advertising to the effect
that "he delivered the goods once, and could do it again, so there."
XIII
COPYRIGHTS AND OTHER RIGHTS
If, as often happens, one photograph is useful to more than one
publication, is it all right to sell the one photograph to as many
magazines as will buy it?
When a publication prints a photograph on its pages, it copyrights it
in the name of the publishing company. The photographer then has parted
with his _entire rights_ to it, and cannot sell it elsewhere, _unless_
one of two precautions has been taken.
The first precaution is the writing on the back of each print: "First
Magazine-Rights Only." Those "mystic" words mean that the print is
offered for publication only one time, after which it again becomes the
property of the photographer. That is, the magazine, when buying such a
print, buys only the right to print it the first time. Immediately
after its publication, it becomes again the property of the
photographer, although he cannot of course sell "First Rights" again,
any more than he can sell the same horse twice at the same time.
After "First Rights" has been sold, the photographer may then sell
"Second Rights," _provided_ those words are written on the back of the
second print. "'Second Rights' is the right to publish a photograph in
some other publication than the one in which it originally appeared."
For instance: a photograph of a novel shop-window display may be
acceptable to _Popular Mechanics_, which buys a print _marked_ "First
Magazine-Rights Only." But the same photograph may be acceptable too to
an advertising-magazine, and so it buys "Second Magazine-Rights."
Unless these terms are written on the backs of prints which are sold to
more than one magazine, trouble is apt to result.
Another plan by which it is possible to sell a photograph to more than
one publication is the labeling _each print_ as: "Non-Exclusive" or
"Not Exclusive." When that is done, the photograph may be sold to as
many editors as care to buy it.
If no mention of any rights or of exclusiveness is made at the time of
sale, it is inferred that the publisher buys "All Rights." In that case
the photographer loses _all_ claims to the photograph; if he attempts
to sell it again without the consent of the editor who first bought it
he is breaking the copyright laws; in fact, he is selling another's
property.
There is no need to affix any such terms to any photograph which can
sell to only one, or which is to be offered to only one magazine.
Magazines are more partial to prints which they can buy outright, and
thus acquire "All Rights." Indeed, there are very few prints of enough
value to sell to more than one magazine.
Now we plunge deep into the mysteries of copyrights. When a print is
copyrighted it is unalterably the property of the person _first_
copyrighting it until he signs "Transference of Copyright." A
copyrighted print may be published in a dozen publications if they will
buy it, and it still remains the property of the one who first
copyrighted it. Copyright laws were passed for the benefit of those who
"promote the progress of science and useful arts." This is done "by
securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right
to use their respective writings and discoveries." Under this law,
"author" includes makers of photographs, and "writings" includes
photographs.
The process of copyrighting a photograph is not an involved one. A
request should be addressed to the Register of Copyrights at
Washington, D.C., for a few copyright-blanks, form J1. (Form J1 is for
photographs to be sold, J2 for photographs not to be sold.) One of
these cards is then filled out, and two prints of the photographs sent
with it to the Copyright Office, as well as the necessary fee. "The fee
for the registration of copyrights ... in the case of photographs, when
no certificate (of copyright) is demanded is fifty cents; for every
certificate, fifty cents" additional. A certificate is not usually
necessary, and is useful only in cases of disputed copyright ownership,
etc. The fee should be sent only in the form of a money-order to the
Register of Copyrights, and the photographs must bear the mark of
copyright, which is "either the word 'Copyrighted' or the abbreviation
'Copr.' accompanied by the name of the copyright proprietor. In the
case of photographs the notice may consist of the letter C inclosed in
a circle _provided_ that on some accessible portion of such copies ...
the name of the person copyrighting shall appear." Upon the Copyright
Office receiving the photographs, the sender is notified; and again,
when copyright is granted, he is sent a small card notifying him, or
the certificate is sent to him if he has ordered one. Then the print is
considered copyrighted.
It is useless to copyright any except those prints of extraordinary
value, the rights of which the photographer wishes to retain at all
costs. The average quality prints are not likely to be stolen, and so
the copyrighting of them is unnecessary. If the photograph is merely to
be offered to two or more publications it is only necessary to mark
each print as directed in the foregoing paragraphs.
Publishing companies are business-institutions which are of necessity
conducted according to the highest ethics. To unwittingly sell to
another magazine a print one magazine purchased as exclusive, would be
likely to exile the photographer's work from those particular
magazines. The photographer should remember that a print of his making
is not his property once it is first copyrighted by someone else,
_unless_ he has sold only certain rights of it. It is nothing less than
theft, to make a photographic copy of a published photograph and to
offer it as original and unpublished. The photographer should never try
to sell what is not his own work. But since not many have the urge to
do so, undue emphasis on that point would be offensive.
"The sum of the foregoing advice is that the author (photographer)
should exercise common sense in disposing of rights," says J. Berg
Esenwein, editor of the _Writer's Monthly_, in one of his books. "In
most cases it would be better to allow the publisher to have 'All
Rights' than to forego the chance of a sale; but nearly all
magazine-editors are disposed to be reasonable and will agree to share
any future profits that may arise from supplementary sales of a
manuscript (photograph). The chief point is that author and publisher
should clearly understand each other, without the author's losing his
rights, yet, without harassing the publisher by making unnecessary
stipulations regarding a trifling matter."
The law of copyright should be followed strictly when attempting to
submit the same photograph to more than one publication or buyer. If
the photographer keeps an eye on what rights he has sold when he cashes
his cheque, and governs himself accordingly, he will sail along without
trouble of any kind.
XIV
ILLUSTRATED SPECIAL ARTICLES
It would require a surveyor of extraordinary skill to mark the boundary
between the lands of _Photographs-With-Explanatory-Data_ and
_Articles-Illustrated-With-Photographs_. Since the dividing line is so
vague it is not difficult to pass from the one to the other.
The jump from the making of photographs to the writing of non-fiction
is not a difficult one to make. In his rambles after salable
photographs the press-photographer may unearth a subject to which a
single photograph does not do justice. Then the making of more
photographs and the writing of an article about them is the logical and
the progressive and the more remunerative thing to do.
Indeed, subjects which would not sell otherwise may be made very useful
to an editor by the writing of an enticing article around them. At
once, there is a means of broadening one's market and of disposing of
photographs, by themselves, unsalable. An illustrated article naturally
calls forth a fatter cheque than would the text or the photographs
alone. There is as much a demand for illustrated articles as there is
for photographs; so that the photographer with the ability to tell
facts simply and clearly has two avenues of revenue.
Many illustrated articles sold to magazines are just groups of
photographs with interesting texts written about them. A search through
a few magazines reveals a broad variety.
From _Popular Mechanics_:
New Mountain-Road Now Open to Traffic.
New Orleans Public Elevator.
Artistic Roof-Garden Features City-Factory.
Steamer Repaired in Eighteen Days.
Where the Earth Collapsed.
Flying Anglers Troll for Deep-Sea Fish.
A Four-Track Concrete Railroad-Bridge.
Waterfalls Near Big City Just Discovered.
Concrete Smokestack Difficult to Demolish.
Vast Stores of Mineral Paint-Pigments in Salton Sea.
From _Illustrated World_:
What the Circus Does in Winter.
Snow on the Overland Trail.
City over Coal-Mines Slowly Sinking.
Running the Farm by Windmill.
Truck Equipped for Sealer of Weights and Measures.
Marvelous Development in the Hemp-Industry.
Public Camp-Conveniences.
Mud-Splashing Guards for Autos.
Work for Waterfalls Everywhere.
Building the Road to Fit the Car.
Heading Off Mountain-Floods.
Lawn-Pools and Fountains in Concrete.
From _Photo-Era Magazine_:
Children in the Snow.
The Quartz-Meniscus Lens.
Introduction of Figures in Landscape-Work.
Photographic Greeting Cards.
Balance by Shadows in Pictorial Composition.
Mounting and Framing Photographs.
The Photographer and a Goat-Ranch.
In Nature's Studio.
From _Science and Invention_:
Science Measures the Athlete.
World's Largest Clock.
Making Microphotographs.
How Cartoon Movies are Made.
A Miniature "Sky."
Curing Soldiers' Ills with Electricity.
Largest Electric Crane Lifts Complete Tug-Boat.
Wintertime Uses for the Electric Fan.
Monster Italian Searchlight.
These are articles written around several photographs--not merely
illustrated by them. Besides the classes of magazines mentioned there
are numerous others--almost any publication that uses illustrations in
fact--which are in the market for illustrated articles. Such magazines
cater to outers, hunters, sportsmen, business-men, physical culturists,
travelers--almost every class of reader.
Having produced and sold articles written around the illustrations, the
writer-photographer cannot other than form an idea, now and then, of an
article a magazine should want which may be illustrated; but to which
the illustrations are supplementary rather than basic. In such cases,
the writer will have greater chance of acceptance if he, by means of
his camera, makes several photographs to illustrate the text.
Even if an article is acceptable without illustrations, it will bring a
bigger cheque nevertheless if it is illustrated. If the lack of
illustrations makes the article unavailable, then the photographer has
the means of making a cheque grow where none grew before. His camera
stands him in good stead. There is no editor but prefers an illustrated
article to an unillustrated one--unless his magazine is pictureless
from policy.
Then, from having his pictures printed without his name attached, the
photographer blossoms into a writer whose work appears under such a
head as "_'How Fruit is Raised on the Moon_,' by John Henry Jones,
with Illustrations by the Author."
Although the jump from the making of photographs to the writing of
non-fiction is easy, you may slip at the first attempt. But hammer away
and soon the nail will go in. "For know ye, there isn't a
magazine-editor in the business who wouldn't buy an article from his
worst enemy if he thought it was good stuff for his magazine."
The photographer must not only "smell out" news; but he must, by the
sensitiveness of his "nose" tell just how much the news is capable of
being worked up. He will find it comparatively easy to write
illustrated special-articles where before he sold just photographs. And
such ability stands not far below that of the fictionists.
XV
THE HIGH ROAD
Not much of an exalted vocation, the selling of photographs? Not,
perhaps, proclaimed from the housetops as a handsomely paying vocation;
but one which may be cultivated into almost anything having to do with
inveigling publishers into writing cheques.
When you receive your first cheque your sensation is something like
that of the man who has passed through a cyclone and has come through
with his "flivver" still in the barn. But when the first contribution
is _printed_! The world is yours! You have broken into print! If not
into type, at least into printing-ink.
When the excitement wears off there are many branches that beckon. The
press-photographer may specialise--he may devote all his efforts to
some one branch of the work, as the making of photographs of
celebrities, of microphotographs, of almost anything. Witness the
amateur photographer who quietly went about photographing the interior
of every church in New York, and who then "cashed in" on them to the
amount of $4,000. You may even obtain a position--or job--as
press-photographer on a big metropolitan daily, with all the world
before you and part of it dropping every Saturday afternoon into your
pocketbook.
Then, you may be sent overseas--and be paid great oodles of money. Or
you may devote all your time to the making of calendar-photographs, or
to illustrating stories photographically, as is the fashion now with
some magazines, see _True-Story_. There are so many opportunities
to grasp that if you look about you and select the specialised branch
in which you desire most to work, there is no reason in the world why
you should not do it--and, perhaps, earn $10,000 a year at it. "Do one
thing better than anyone else and the world will beat a path to your
door."
Having broken into printers'-ink, it is comparatively easy to break
into type. From selling photographs one may easily advance to the
writing and illustrating of non-fiction. And your fame as a
non-fictionist, together with the training you have gleaned, may cause
you to forward a work of fiction to an editor acquainted with your
name--and lo! from the ranks of the "snap-shooters" you have risen to
the highest class of scribe--the successful fictionist.
And that, too, is not difficult for him who wills and works. "And work.
Spell it in capital letters, WORK," advised Jack London. "Work all the
time. Find out about this earth, this universe; this force and matter,
and the spirit that glimmers up through force and matter from the
maggot to Godhead. And by all this I mean work for a philosophy of
life. It does not hurt how wrong your philosophy of life may be, so
long as you have one and have it well.... With it you may cleave to
greatness and sit among the giants."
Another agrees: "Draw long breaths of confidence, of faith in yourself
and your work.... Strike 'despair' out of your dictionary! Get into
your chair! Do your stint! Be just as much of a fool as you like. It is
your privilege and mine. Then you will have amusing reminiscences. No
great writer but can look back and say, 'What a fool I was!'"
Realisation results from "ten per cent. inspiration and ninety per
cent. perspiration." A liberal quantity of this mixture will bring one
to the High Road. The High Road is smooth. But anyone may travel it who
wishes--and works sufficiently hard. Not much, the making and selling
of photographs? The start of the trail may be barren and unpromising;
but the persevering fellow who follows it persistently will find that
it suddenly widens and blossoms and lo, opens full into the High Road.
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's Making Your Camera Pay, by Frederick C. Davis
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