On 22/3/04 5:44 pm, in article c3n8lp$2aeqtv$1@ID-172789.news.uni-berlin.de,

The Bureau of Freelance Photographers offer a postal course with no
qualifications, but a bias to selling images. It is good value, as former
photo mag editor John Wade does the crits and tutoring, and if you finish
the course, all the half-hearted punters who give up after lesson 1 are
paying your subsidy! (anyone who really uses the course can get great value,
attention and personal help).

City and Guilds, or the Royal's LRPS distinction, are both worth going for.
You can not aim for LMPA or LBIPP without actually being a professional
first (catch 22) but you can attend many of the MPA or BIPP seminars and
training courses as an amateur or semi-pro; they are not so proud they won't
take a fee and admit you.

Oddly enough, some top pro training courses are Mickey Mouse - a real con,
just talk and snake oil - while some lowly HE evening classes are wonderful.
All down to the tutor.

As for a press pass, there is no such thing. Even the NUJ pass or membership
is not all that much of a passport to events, it may help with police or
some informal situations, but these days, you often need a special pass for
each event. Generally, if you can show a magazine editor's letter of
commission or interest, you have a good chance.

In FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER magazine we publish a diary of press calls and
public events where there is a press officer issuing passes, with all the
details. It is provided by the BFP. You get the phone number for the event
and you just call. Most photographers get a pass, or instructions on where
to go, who to see, and how to get into the enclosure or whatever.

Your local paper can not get you a press pass, either. Your best bet is a
letter of commission and a business card which describes you as a freelance
motor sports photographer in this case, and if they won't budge, well, just
forge a press card.... Since there really is no such thing, they probably
won't be any wiser!

David

Any website yet?

Well, that's what you want. The hard part is almost over. Just ensure you
don't under charge people and in doing so, devalue the work of others who
do currently earn their living from photography.

Some of what I'm going to say below, you may not like and you may think I'm
being 'hard' on you. I'm not, I'm just telling you how it is - you take it
how you wish.

So ?

'tis fine. All professionals, such as myself, were amateurs once.

Well, I don't have any 'letters after my name'. I do have 'formal
qualifications' in the shape of NCTJ (National Council for the Training of
Journalists) certificates, but that's all. They're not necessary - I put
more emphasis on a person's work than paper qualifications when I interview
people.

I can try.

Well, I'll largely leave that to the other replies you've had so far, but a
lot depends on which area of photography you wish to specialise in. For
instance, BIPP qualifications mean sod-all to press-photography....

Dunno - do YOU think you need training ?

In terms of distance learning, in my opinion, none. You'd be better off
spending it on film and learning that way. Yes, you may say that you've got
no-one to criticise your work / give you help and I understand that.

I'll make an offer to you, which stands for anyone here. If you wish to get
into my line of work, i.e. press-photography/photojournalism, then you're
welcome to send me a couple of examples of your work and I'll give it to
you straight as to its competency / how it may be improved and its
'saleability'. Hell, if you're in the Midlands and want to come and see me,
then that's also fine. However, if you want someone to expound your virtues
rather than tell you the truth, then don't come to me....

Do you ????

It *may* help you, but none of my photographers have ever had such a thing,
nor do I know any full-time staff photographers who have had such a thing,
either. I realise that being staff rather than freelance may make a
difference, but I send out freelances to do stuff and I know that they
haven't had such a thing, either.

What do you mean by 'school-based events' - what do you intend going to a
school to do, exactly ?

Whilst it is perhaps a sad reflection of our times that such is considered
necessary, I do despise the insiduous political correctness that I am
seeing creeping across many of our schools.

In my organisation's circulation area, we have about 100 schools - from
infant to secondary and college. Out of them, we have about 4 that refuse
to give names of children in photos. As a result, we simply no longer go
there anymore - I am not having the ridiculous situation of captions that
say, "A group of children from XYZ school do such and such" or, "Pupil X
from school Y does Z". When I explained my newspaper's policy on this, as
supported by myself up to the Managing Director, one head teacher accused
my newspaper of 'promoting paedophillia'. I had to take a deep breath to
stop myself metaphorically biting his head off and after a frank exchange
of words, shall we say, he ended up apologising for such a comment. This
really must stop.

Rant over.

Uh huh. Which circuit would this be ?

Ahhh, the magic 'press-pass'. If only such a thing existed.

Far too many people starting out in professional photography obsess about
'accreditation' and 'press-passes'. Don't fall into this trap. Please.

I started work on a newspaper in 1988. I've now been in newspapers 16
years. I show my 'Press Pass' perhaps once or twice a year. Really.

You see, whilst there are undoubtably occasions where you need specific
accreditation to get into an event, one hell of a lot of it is how you act
and 'carry' yourself. Act like a pro, think like a pro and you'll probably
pass as one - just don't fall for your own hype, however.

In press-photography, I'd say that perhaps less than 25 percent of the job
is actual photographic technique. The other 75 percent is what I term
'people handling' - being able to deal with all manner of people and get
from them what you want, be it entry into an event or simply their
co-operation for a photograph. This is the real skill in newspaper
photography and having a card that says "Press" on it makes no difference
here. You cannot teach this, but only learn through experience.

The only official "Press Pass" that is supposedly recognised by all police
forces in the UK (hah !) is one that is issued by several 'gatekeeper'
organisations - these are the Newspaper Society, the NUJ, the IOJ and a
couple of others who's names escape me at the moment. It has a 24hr
telephone number on the back for New Scotland Yard that a person may call
to verify that the owner is who he says he is.

But, for 99.9 percent of all other events, you either need specific
accreditation to get it, or sheer cunning/brazen ability to get in.

Don't offer to 'work for free'. I realise this may seem like a good idea to
you, but you won't impress other photographers if you do. Build your
portfolio from events that you don't need fancy accreditation to get in -
go to events where professional photographers have no or little extra
vantage points than amateurs have. If I see a portfolio comprised of such
and I know how they've been obtained, that means more to me.

It's very easy to get carried away at your stage and set your heights
perhaps a little too high - you want to go to all the big events and cover
them. Realise that this isn't going to happen and even if you get in,
you're likely to get cut to ribbons by experienced photographers who will
be unlikely to make room for you, so to speak.

My advice to you is to make contact with your local newspaper. Introduce
yourself as an amateur who wishes to take on professional work and who
would be keen to listen to any guidance that they can give you and ask if
you could perhaps spend some time with their photographers, say at weekends
etc. It's how I started and it served me well.

Send in some examples of your work - let them see what you are capable of,
but keep it brief - no more than 20 pictures and if you're going to send
them electronically on a CD, for instance, PLEASE don't embed them in some
kind of multimedia presentation. They piss me off no end and results in
their rapid filing in the round filing cabinet in the corner of the
room....

If you get offered the chance to do some commissioned work, don't be picky
- grasp it with both hands, however boring or tedious you may think it is.
Realise that you're not going to get sent out to cover Premiership
Football, or Formula 1 - it simply isn't going to happen. More likely
you'll end up with local league football or something similar - I assure
you that initially it will be stuff that staff photographers don't want to
cover, either due to what it is or when it is - i.e. at an anti-social
time.

Do a damn good job - all that is asked for and a little bit more. Be
competent, not flash. By all means do the odd 'different' pic, but check
their styles and ensure you fulfill the brief as required.

Keep that up and you may be surprised at what avenues can open up for you.

I've just come back to this post before I send it, as I've been having
a look at some of your photos. I realise you're relatively new to this
and I don't want to be too hard on you, but your bike pictures are only
'average' - you've got far too many side-on shots with pin-sharp
backgrounds as well as foreground subjects.

I've quickly knocked up a brief selection of a few images that I've got
on my computer here (I have thousands on our archive at work, but I
can't get to that at the moment) as some examples:-

http://www.nbarker.org/examples.htm

I don't set them out as 'world beaters', just the sort of thing to
aim for.