Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Pro Business Discussion => Topic started by: Petrus on April 12, 2019, 03:22:55 am
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Does anybody have any idea what Geo Magazine headquartered in Germany is paying for large photo reportages (4-5 spreads of pictures & text).
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Why not just ask the magazine?
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Why not just ask the magazine?
A fine example of a smart-ass help 😞
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A fine example of a smart-ass help 😞
So, then why don't you do better and answer the question?
Cheers,
Bart
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So, then why don't you do better and answer the question?
Because if I do not know the answer, I keep my mouth shut.
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At least in the past magazines like NG did publish their daily/page rates for assignments, and they were GOOD (I mean like 30 years ago). Now not so good anymore. So I was hoping somebody would have some sort of idea what to expect or ask without being a fool in either way.
It does not work "how much are you prepared to pay?" but "I want XXXX euros". I need to make the opening bid. Getting in the approximate ballpark would be helpful. If somebody actually knows PM would work also if not wanting to go public.
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Ballpark? I reckon $2,000.
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I wrote and photographed articles for several familiar North American magazines for years. The "ballpark" figure of $2,000 is accurate.
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A fine example of a smart-ass help 😞
Tell me what is smart ass about that answer. Do you believe a bunch of anonymous people on the net or the horse's mouth?
Seems to me your quick response is the smart-ass here.
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Because if I do not know the answer, I keep my mouth shut.
Well it seems like you don't know the answer and your mouth is flapping away. Take a bit of your own advice and STFU.
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...Do you believe a bunch of anonymous people on the net or the horse's mouth?...
Anyone who has ever participated in any negotiations would say that coming prepared, knowing what to expect, is rather beneficial, if not crucial. Hence the OP question is a reasonable one.
As for "anonymous," many of us here are not. Many of us here have been published. So it is perfectly reasonable to ask for advice.
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At least in the past magazines like NG did publish their daily/page rates for assignments, and they were GOOD (I mean like 30 years ago). Now not so good anymore...
My single images, published in photographic magazines a couple of years ago (not in NG though), would range from $150 to $250, up to $650 for a cover. Some of my friends, who used to shoot for major architectural magazines, would get a couple of thousands years ago, but barely under a thousand these days.
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Well it seems like you don't know the answer and your mouth is flapping away. Take a bit of your own advice and STFU.
And the "F" stands for...?
It seems you are just as eloquent and gracious as you are helpful.
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At least in the past magazines like NG did publish their daily/page rates for assignments, and they were GOOD (I mean like 30 years ago). Now not so good anymore. So I was hoping somebody would have some sort of idea what to expect or ask without being a fool in either way.
Petrus,
Forty-three years ago (1976) when I was still in school and almost 21, I did my very first illustration for McCall's magazine. It was an double page spread for a short story and I was paid $2,000. I thought I was dreaming and so it went for years, and then in 1987 a "slight" economic correction changed all the rules. No more double page spreads and rate cuts went across the industry. As the years went on all magazine rates became impossible to justify, so the paperback cover industry became my game...That paid very well for quite awhile. With the late 90's the illustration world that I wanted to work in was all but gone. Thankfully I saw this coming, and I evolved. I started doing landscapes as solutions for many a paperback...I got paid to learn a new genre and weened myself away form the industry.
In 2000 I started to paint, show, sell and teach. The work I do is on my terms and I should have done this much earlier.
Doing what one likes is a wonderful gift, of which I am very grateful.
Peter
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Petrus,
Forty-three years ago (1976) when I was still in school and almost 21, I did my very first illustration for McCall's magazine. It was an double page spread for a short story and I was paid $2,000.
I retired almost 2 years ago after 40 years in business, first freelancing during the college, then staff position in a national newspaper, 3 years of great freelancing (early eighties), then almost 35 years in the nationally leading weekly news magazine. Looking back it looks like the best possible time to work in photo journalism. It was all downhill during the last 10 years (except the gear...), less freedom, more (pointless) work. I got out just in time, the photo department which was 25 people strong 5 years ago is now cut to 7 or so. My pension is 30% better than the union pay new photographers (if any) are getting. This Geo deal, if it comes through, is more a hobby, so I need not give my pictures for free for publicity, and not really needing the money means I can just walk away instead of adding to the problems present day photographers are facing.
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Good overview how various magazines pay for photos or reportage (images+text):
https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/photography/who-pays-photographers-jobs
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Good overview how various magazines pay for photos or reportage (images+text):
https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/photography/who-pays-photographers-jobs
Boy, have things got tight!
Rob
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Boy, have things got tight!
Rob
The talent now subsidizes the publisher...how nice! It's all vanity press.
Peter
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As my agent used to say when confronted by such derisory payments, "you also want to fuck my wife?"
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As my agent used to say when confronted by such derisory payments, "you also want to fuck my wife?"
I like your agent at once!
;-)
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I think that a huge part of the problem now is that the client thinks they know about digital photography.
I wouldn't claim to have a clue what's involved in the work of a plumber or an electrician.
But, everyone, however tangentially, is involved in photography now in a way that they never were in the days of film. Social media is the main culprit in this regard, in my view. There is a perception that it's both cheap and easy. So, how can I be charging what I'm charging?
Film photography was bloody hard work, and I was paid well for it. But, now I turn up with multiples of the value equipment that I had in film days (more so if one takes into account what's back at base for processing and storage) and I'm expected to work for less than the plumber who has equipment overheads less than mine.
Now more than ever, you have to be offering something the next guy isn't. Even then it has never been tougher.
I'm in my late 50s and have had a good run. But, if I was in my mid-20s I wouldn't be considering the freelance commercial route again if I wanted to be in photography. I would be considering staff work, teaching or some such.
It's never been tougher out there.
D.
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The ‘vanity work’ has been going on for a long time. I had a major syndicated TV fishing show hire me to fly up to the Northwest Territories to do their still work. They were so full of themselves they actually thought that I would do it for free, but they would cover my travel, food & accommodations. I told them to stuff it. But they found someone who couldn’t wait to be in their presence. Excuse me while I puke.