photography for newspaper

[Curtis Cunningham]

I've been asked to quote on doing the photography for a single image to be used in an article that is going into a regional newspaper here in Canada (the article will be on a local small business here in Smithers, BC). To be specific, it is the owner of the small business being interviewed for the story in the paper that will be paying me for the photograph.

The only things I know for sure are the newspaper's circulation (13,000) and the size of the article (full page). I don't know how big the image will be within the full page (likely somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 page).

What recommendation do you have as far as how I go about pricing for this job?

[PaulCosmic]

I assume the newspaper will want the digital file so there are no print costs involved. Just charge for your time including travelling time of course. Not being from your area I have no idea what a fair rate would be, maybe $75 if it is local?

[David_Buzzard]

It all depends on the usage. If it's a paid 'Advertorial' kind of thing, then a basic shot fee is probably okay. I usually charge $100.00 to come and take quick shots of stuff, and that's all you probably need to do for this shot.

If it's an editorial piece, that's a little trickier. Editorial rates, especially in rural Canada, are stupidly low. I know one newspaper in my local area that pays $15.00 per printed photo, and which is less money than they were paying for photos 23 years ago when I was shooting for them. It would also be really unusual, and editorially questionable, for the subject of a story to have to hire their own photographer for a picture.

David Buzzard's Technical Blog

[EricC]

Two of the papers here used to pay a flat rate of $50 for the first 2 printed images and $12.50 for each additional image. Now they don't even want to pay that and claim that they can get their content from the readers.

Dave questionable yes, unheard of no. Last year one of the kid's in the NFL Pass Punt and Kick contest was a local. The paper wouldn't even cough up a licensing fee to use one of our images. I dug in too, and the parent ended up paying the licensing fee to get the kid's picture in the paper.

Soon you'll have to train Uno to sniff out a moral at any paper on the planet.

[KevinStecyk]

Originally Posted by EricC

Soon you'll have to train Uno to sniff out a moral at any paper on the planet.

The newspapers are facing many of the same challenges that photographers are facing. Most newspapers are experiencing declining readership and declining advertising dollars. And thus, they are looking to reduce costs everywhere, just as you and I would do.

Not so many years ago, we all opened our papers and watched the evening news to become informed of the world around us. Today, we have choices. And along with those choices comes increased competition and often lower fees paid to writers, journalists and photographers. The reality is, the newspapers can't afford to pay more.

Have a look at the New York Times stock chart.

NYT: Summary for N Y TIMES CL A - Yahoo! Finance

There are no easy choices. And if your career depends on the traditional print media, you need to plan and adapt now.

[EricC]

Originally Posted by KevinStecyk

The reality is, the newspapers can't afford to pay more.

[RANT]

Kevin with all due respect...... BULLxxxx

Afford is a VERY relative word. I see all kinds of people on the sidewalk with their hands out who "can't afford" to buy a meal yet they CAN afford a pack of cigarettes. To prove my point, when said editor informed me of his financial crisis I offered to exchange the images that he 'needed' for an area equal to roughly 50% of the space in AD SPACE. So if he ran the photo 5 col. inches I was asking for 2.5 inches of display space in return to run my ad. Funny he couldn't AFFORD that either.

He went so far as to ask me if I knew of anyone who followed the town youth sports and would be willing to write a weekly piece for the paper (3 papers really) and the website. Of course he couldn't pay for the writer either. I'm all charitied out when it comes to newspapers. Pull an annual report for GateHouse or any of the other holding companies buying ink by the barrel or bits by the bucket and see what kind of pay cuts the management (the REAL management not the ankle nipping editors) are taking.

Oh BTW one of the 'POOR' papers did afford to run a photo of Tom Brady with the famous cast and shelled out $10K for the license.

If newspapers can't afford to stay in business then they deserve to die out and quick.


[/rant]

[KevinStecyk]

EricC,

I trust you're a better photographer than business analyst--because you are absolutely dead wrong about the print industry. Absolutely dead wrong.

Examine any major newspaper you like, they're all suffering my friend. And so are most magazines. You obviously haven't followed the tribulations of that industry.

Anyway, not interested in debating religion with you.

Back to regular scheduled programming, Curtis.

Regards,
Kevin