Diary of a Press Photographer

scottcampbell

scottcampbell

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Over the next few months I'm going to write a daily diary of what I do whilst working as a press photographer for the national newspapers.

Monday 12th July 2010
Glasgow, Scotland

This morning I went to a photocall at Sense Scotland, an organisation in Glasgow that helps people with sight problems. They were launching a card for people with epilepsy, except the card is in braille so that it can be "read" by blind/partially-sighted people.

Alone as a story it may not have been one for the nationals, but a runner-up from Big Brother 9 - Mikey Hughes - was going to be at the launch.

It turned out that I was the only photographer in attendance apart from the organisation's own staff using P+S cameras. One of the staff members made a comment about the press 'not bothering' to turn up - she obviously didn't realise that I was sitting there.

After a slightly late start, the photo-taking commenced. The communications manager posed everyone so no problems there, although I was focusing on the Big Brother contestant. Got a few angles and after five minutes it was over.

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When I got home, I edited the shots and filed them into the image management system. After this, I notified all of the relevant papers on the list that the images had been sent (our system automatically sends the pictures out via FTP when they are uploaded).

At the moment we're approaching Silly Season, which is a time of the year when there is little major news. As there is a lack of major news, minor stories tend to get attention when they shouldn't. Due to this, it's really quiet right now especially in Scotland.

I spoke to a couple of picture desks but everyone has very little in the diary. I found a few assignments for tomorrow in Edinburgh which look interesting, although they are all quite close to each other in terms of time.

That concludes day one I guess!.

--

If you've got any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!
 
Very interesting Scott..I will be following it with much interest.

Do you freelance or work for an agency?

And if you do freelance, do you just ring up picture desks and ask them if they have assignments?

Cheers
Graeme
 
Grayman said:
Very interesting Scott..I will be following it with much interest.

Do you freelance or work for an agency?

And if you do freelance, do you just ring up picture desks and ask them if they have assignments?

Cheers
Graeme
Click to expand...

Hi Graeme, thanks for the response! I co-run an agency and freelance also.

A lot of it is finding the jobs and sending pictures in on spec, although once you've built up a reputation they'll call you with assignments - The Sun has been using the same photographers for the past 10 years.
 
It will be nice to see how the freelance life is up north.
 
You have time to write a diary whilst working as a press tog?!! Clearly you have a different boss to me :p
 
Lucky you :) North News. Probably would get more time to write if we didn't have an armed killer every month at the minute, not sure what's going on.
 
Interesting read, Scott (y)

One slight correction, if I may, Sense is actually a UK-wide charity in aid of those who suffer from deafblindness, rather than just "people with sight problems"
 
Interesting read.
I freelance for a sports and news agency (outside my full time IT job)

I often wonder if I could make a break from the day job, as many of the news events I'm either working, or like last night after work I arrived to shoot a major fire in London, as it was going out :(
 
Tuesday 13th July
Edinburgh, Scotland

On the agenda today were two photocalls in Edinburgh. I took the train fairly early in the morning to get there in time for the first, held at Lyon & Turnbull, an auction house.

The photocall was a press preview of some diamonds that they are selling on Friday. I arrived ten minutes earlier and was the second photographer there. I was sorting out a couple of things in my bag before taking the shots when two other photographers arrived. Unfortunately, these two photographers took in excess of thirty minutes each to get their pictures.

The next photocall was around 45 minutes away, so I let a TV station that had arrived do a quick interview and grabbed some shots of the diamonds while their lights were set up.

However, after TV was finished one of the other photographers decided to take more pictures, so I was left with ten minutes at the end (after waiting for an hour and a half!).

I tried something a bit different, but as I'm sure you can imagine there aren't many options when all you have is a specialist, white glove and the objects...

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After a short taxi journey I arrived at Holyrood Palace, opposite the Scottish Parliament. The place was surrounded with armed police officers and parking restrictions as the Queen was there. After getting through the gate, I took some general pictures of soldiers.

All of the photographers there (10+) moved over to a lawn area and took a set up shot of soldiers holding their medals. The problem is, as the shots will all be similar if one is published in the newspaper it will be difficult to tell who's it is.

Trying to get a different angle I moved a little closer and got this shot...

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And to finish off got these two pictures of composer James Loughran holding his medal, and newly-knighted Sir Angus Farquharson.

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Went across to the Scottish Parliament and sat in the seating area in the lobby to edit the pictures as well.

Your feedback on these pictures would be appreciated!

Next entry tomorrow then.
 
Hi, thought I'd comment on them seeing as I was looking :) I only really have 1 comment and it's about the one with the diamonds... I can't really see very much of them. I don't know if it's the big white hand that detracts from them but as you said, I don't imagine there's much you could do with what you had to work with. I like the idea of the shot would just like to have seen more of the diamonds.
 
I like the first one, very Herald supplement :)

Not quite so sure about the second last one, I'd have been tempted to focus on the medal rather than the recipient or have both in focus instead...
 
Very interesting, look forward to reading more.

Would you mind giving us an idea of what sort of equipment you carry with you on an average day?
 
Benj said:
Very interesting, look forward to reading more.

Would you mind giving us an idea of what sort of equipment you carry with you on an average day?
Click to expand...

Macbook Pro, Nikon D200, 17-55 2.8, Flash, Flash cord, Batteries, Camera bag, Card reader.
 
Nice set. I would agree with flash in the pen with the second to last one. The first one I like the shot, the idea is great I would have liked a little more light on the gems but that is me being a bit hyper critical.

Iain.
 
Wednesday 14th July
Edinburgh, Scotland

Got a later train to Edinburgh today to take pictures of TV presenter Ben Fogle handing out free lunches to promote Nature Valley.

Waited a little while as he was making a speech inside a tent that had been set up, then took some shots of him handing out lunches. Eventually I got the picture I wanted; him handing a lunch to businesspeople; although I don't think it looks as good as I thought it would...

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Then did a close up shot...

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I got one of the free lunches (cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, water and a Nature Valley bar) and headed off to the next photocall at Edinburgh Castle.

The walk to Edinburgh Castle is rather steep and is particularly tiring after you've been standing taking pictures for an hour and a half. It only took about 15 minutes though, thanks to help from a local.

As I approached the castle, I was surprised at the amount of stands for the Military Tattoo later this month. Also surprising was the level of fog and I could barely see anything (weather pictures moved up the agenda).

Walked up to the one o'clock gun after being given a ticket. The photocall was the launch of a piping festival by former rugby player Gavin Hastins, aptly named Pipefest.

All of the photographers had to stand behind the chain, and the weather was truly horrible. Nothing could be seen over the walls of the castle due to fog.

After all the general shots, I got a bit closer to Gavin Hastings and after taking lots of photos he made a funny expression which I luckily caught...

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I decided to go to the Scottish Parliament to get a tour (never been on one before) and walked to it whilst chatting to Dan, a photographer from The Scotsman.

After going on the tour I got a weather picture. Here it is (plus another from the castle)...

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Edited my pictures in the Parliament again and sent them using free WiFi at Edinburgh Waverley Station.

Any feedback on the pictures or questions are appreciated!
 
I'm really liking this thread Scott, and it is a credit to yourself for doing it! I wouldn't have ever been able to do this at your age (I wasn't even into photography!).. I think you've got a bright future ahead of you :)

Anyway.. on to the photos.. I really like your medal ceremony shots, and the fog overlooking the castle is lovely :) I'm looking forward to seeing more!
 
Some really interesting posts - it's good to see what a press tog does all day.
 
Just come across this thread. Very interesting.

n.b. some very nice images (especially of the medals).
 
The GH shot is a cracker (as are all of the others (y)), not sure he'd be all that pleased if it was published, mind you :LOL:

As Phil says, you've got a bright future ahead of you :)
 
Once again a nice set of photos Scott the one of GH is a cracker.
 
With regard the story about other Photographers hogging the allotted time: you need to be more forceful.
Medals: as you can imagine we do a lot of these at the moment and take it from me, there's only one way to do it - photograph the medal next to the head, similar to what you've done with Sir Angus Farquharson: Pure Cheese; tight, bright, upright and shyte, but it works.
 
Subscribe - great idea for a thread. Keep it coming, and loving the pics too.

IThat's the difference between being a pro & an amateur, you HAVE to come back with the shots, you can't just say I'll come back tomorrow when the weather is better.
 
Not being funny but the amount of work seems rather low to be keeping a roof over your head... or maybe national newspaper jobs pay even more than my plumber charges me to fix a leaky tap - and even he has a dozen jobs per day to keep his family fed (on caviar and champagne presumably).

Having never shot any jobs for a national I couldn't tell you what they pay...
 
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