Professional Press, Editorial and PR Photography (Professional Photography Series) [Paperback]

Jon Tarrant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1998 | Series: Professional Photography Series

Editorial, press and PR photographers need to be able to take a range of interesting and informative photographs - from celebrity portraits to magazine covers, news events, promotional pictures and fashion assignments. Success in these areas requires not just individual flair and skill, but an ability to market those talents in order to win space in publications. Based on the author's own experience of undertaking assignments for national and local newpapers, trade magazines, PR clients and book publishers - this book is a practical guide to the art of 'being professional'.

The book is packed with hints, tips and first-hand advice on the day-to-day running of a business, the equipment you need and how to organise your finances - all the things that professionals might wish they had known when they first started out. Advice on the best way to present your portfolio and how to deal with clients and work to a brief is also given.

Sections on practical technique show the best way to approach a variety of assignments, with suggestions for good composition, what equipment to use and how to get the best results. The examples range from location work, to press assignments, pack-shots, cover pictures, portraits, events and picture stories. The reader is then taken into the studio and shown the principles of lighting and how to control exposure with greater precision than is normally possible in the field.

Practical information for the aspiring professional on how to get the best results on different assignments
Must-have tips on running a business to you can see the full picture
Learn from seven photographers how they got started: Paul Stewart, Ken Lennox, Tom Stoddart, Roger Bamaber, Jim Marks, Chris Bennett and Rod Ashford so you can too!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This title would be a great help to students on photographic courses or anyone who aims to make a living out of any of these three branches of photography."
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER

From the Publisher

The book is packed with hints, tips and first-hand advice on the day-to-day running of a business, the equipment you need and how to organise your finances - all the things that professionals might wish they had known when they first started out. Advice on the best way to present your portfolio and how to deal with clients and work to a brief is also given. Sections on practical technique show the best way to approach a variety of assignments, with suggestions for good composition, what equipment to use and how to get the best results. The examples range from location work, to press assignments, pack-shots, cover pictures, portraits, events and picture stories. The reader is then taken into the studio and shown the principles of lighting and how to control exposure with greater precision than is normally possible in the field.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (December 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 024051520X
• ISBN-13: 978-0240515205
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,956,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this before you start (I mean it!), January 4, 2001

By 

Allan Engelhardt "Just Another Reader" (Bedfordshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional Press, Editorial and PR Photography (Professional Photography Series) (Paperback)

This book should be required reading for anyone considering making a living in press, editorial, and PR photography in the United Kingdom or elsewhere. It sould be required reading for anybody considering to consider this profession, and any aspiring photographer could do worse than reading this book.

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

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

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