Freelance Writing and Photography

Wanting to be a freelance writer means that sooner or later you will have to travel. The lucky ones get their expenses paid up-front, but most have to get their expenses reimbursed from the client.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, therefore if you are writing an article it goes without saying that some photographs of the subject will add value to your article, and lets face it, you are not going to do any freelance writing for free. So the better the article the more money you make.

It isn’t too difficult to take clear, focused and colorful photographs, anyone can do this. The difficulty is taking photographs of pertinent subjects that relate to the articles you are writing, and then getting paid. Every magazine editor wants photos, but are they willing to pay for them.

Rule number 1 of freelance writing is “Get It In Writing” and get a signature. The days are gone when you could do a deal with a handshake and then be sure that it will be honored. You need to have the offer in writing, better still, in an email, detailing everything.

If your client asks you to do something or go somewhere that isn’t covered in your contract get him to redo your contract before you comply with his wishes. You could find that you have gone to a lot of extra expense, and not get paid for it.

You will need to know how many photos he is willing to pay for. What photos he wants, and what the subjects are to be. How much per photo are you going to get paid, and who holds the copyright.

Some editors will want the copyright of any of the photos that you take. If you can avoid it never sell your copyright, let alone give it away. As a newcomer you will feel under pressure to hand over your copyright to your employer, don’t. A professional will never give away his rights and will only sell them for a large fee.

To the uninitiated it may seem a waste of time and effort to take so many pics of the same subject. But it is better to have too many photos than to have the few that you take turn out to be useless and amateurish. Take lots of photos then you won’t have to go back to your location to re-shoot if something goes astray.

This is why digital photographs have become much more popular. Taking hundreds of photos on film was a very expensive exercise. With a digital camera you can take thousands of photos, download them onto your computer, chose the ones that you want to keep and discard the rest and it wont cost you a cent.