Frederick C. Davis

“ Have you ever wakened in the drear dead of a dismal night, possessed body and soul with a great desire—an incontrollable, all-moving, all-consuming, maddening desire that knows no satisfaction—a desire for a new camera or a better lens? ”

“ A few blocks from here stands the largest writing-tablet factory in the world: a photograph of it would not be acceptable to the rotogravure-sections nor to Popular Mechanics, Illustrated World, nor to Popular Science; yet such a photograph would be useful to an architectural magazine, a stationers' publication, or a local newspaper. When a photograph may be viewed from several industrial angles, as well as from a new-achievement or from a human-interest standpoint, the more likely are markets to open for it. The press-photographer should not stop until he has tried every possible market. ”

“ The purchase of a Market Book is necessary if one desires seriously to make his way selling photographs to publications.
"Study the magazine" is the bromide flung always in the teeth of the beginner. But what if one can't obtain copies of the magazines which print material which the reader may easily find? Then he has only to request from the editor a sample copy of the magazine, using the address gleaned from the Market Book—and he then has the best information as to what that particular magazine wants. ”

“ To unwittingly sell to another magazine a print one magazine purchased as exclusive, would be likely to exile the photographer's work from those particular magazines. The photographer should remember that a print of his making is not his property once it is first copyrighted by someone else, unless he has sold only certain rights of it. It is nothing less than theft, to make a photographic copy of a published photograph and to offer it as original and unpublished. The photographer should never try to sell what is not his own work. ”

“ A photographer may "shoot"—a professional photographer never photographs—he shoots—he may shoot and shoot, and have his every photograph returned to him as useless for publication—but not if he first discovers what to photograph and what not to photograph. ”

“ An example of beautiful photography, at the same time picturing an unusual or artistic subject, will usually find a market in a photographic magazine, as Photo-Era Magazine or a magazine such as Shadowland. The Architectural Record demands that its prints, although of architectural subjects, be artistic and beautiful. Indeed, there is such a wide market for photographically artistic prints of beautiful subjects that the photographer is doubly rewarded who can supply these, as well as hot-off-the-bat news-photographs. ”

“ The big secret of the successful press-photographer is the introduction of human beings into his photographs of inanimate objects. Human beings have a deep interest in each other. When one is introduced into a picture, human-interest is introduced at the same time; and, if the human being is pictured in the act of doing something, the interest is even higher. ”

“ The unlimited variety of books published calls for an unlimited variety of photographs. Certain publisher-photo-services make it their business to supply publishers with the photographs they wish; but that is not hurtful to the prospects of the free-lance, for the photo-services must obtain photographs of every kind from every source, and must be stocked with a larger number and variety of prints than any one magazine or publisher could possibly use. Thus, in fact, the news-photographer has an increased market. ”

“ Indeed, the greater number of magazines do not specify a preferable size because by so doing they discourage contributors of prints which are desirable, but not of the size specified.
If a magazine insists on having prints of one certain size the photographer should not be discouraged because his camera does not make photographs of those dimensions. The making of enlargements is now no more difficult than the making of contact-prints; if the negative is sharply focused and the lens of the enlarging-machine is good, an enlargement will not differ much in quality from a small print. ”

“ If no mention of any rights or of exclusiveness is made at the time of sale, it is inferred that the publisher buys "All Rights." In that case the photographer loses all claims to the photograph; if he attempts to sell it again without the consent of the editor who first bought it he is breaking the copyright laws; in fact, he is selling another's property.
There is no need to affix any such terms to any photograph which can sell to only one, or which is to be offered to only one magazine. Magazines are more partial to prints which they can buy outright, and thus acquire "All Rights." ”

“ Popular Science Monthly says: "We want good, clear photographs of a human being doing something of a mechanical nature. The subjects must be new." If a new invention is pictured alone, it is lifeless and meaningless. But let a human being operate it and a photograph of it gains in value.
One has only to apply his common sense to the matter. If a murder is committed in the city, the newspapers will not demand photographs of the corpse ”

“ Competition is the life of business. Certainly, then, an aspirant for honors from publishers experiences no lack of life. Often, however, after a print has proved unavailable for publication, when offered by the regular process, it may be entered in a photographic competition where current interest is not essential; and so, perhaps, even bring home a larger cheque than it could have captured otherwise. ”

“ Then the making of more photographs and the writing of an article about them is the logical and the progressive and the more remunerative thing to do.
Indeed, subjects which would not sell otherwise may be made very useful to an editor by the writing of an enticing article around them. At once, there is a means of broadening one's market and of disposing of photographs, by themselves, unsalable. An illustrated article naturally calls forth a fatter cheque than would the text or the photographs alone. There is as much a demand for illustrated articles as there is for photographs ”

“ By far, most magazines pay according to the more desirable plan—upon acceptance. As soon as such a magazine decides that a photograph is useful to it, it mails a cheque to the sender. Sometimes, a receipt is sent with the cheque, which the recipient must sign and return; but, more often, the cheque itself is the receipt. Payment upon acceptance is by far the more desirable method, for with it the worker is paid as soon as his work is done; there is no waiting for weeks and months for payment, as in the case of pay-on-publication magazines. ”

“ Work all the time. Find out about this earth, this universe; this force and matter, and the spirit that glimmers up through force and matter from the maggot to Godhead. And by all this I mean work for a philosophy of life. It does not hurt how wrong your philosophy of life may be, so long as you have one and have it well.... ”

“ The demand of publishers for good pictures is increasing. Editors are eager to use the best photographs that may be obtained. They draw no distinction between the work of the amateur and that of the professional photographer. If a photograph meets their requirements, they buy it and care little whence it comes. The opportunity to sell good pictures has never been better than it is to-day.
To give accurate and helpful information with regard to making the camera a profitable investment is the purpose of this book. ”

“ The sky-high cheques come to the camerist who, night and day, through sunshine and storm, earthquake and cyclone, is always "hot on the trail" of the salable photograph that is tucked away somewhere, where only a keen scent and a large amount of perseverance can lead him ”

“ It is wiser to write first to the advertising-manager of the particular company favored, and to inquire if he is buying photographs that show plainly the unparalleled merits of his excellent product, and if so—etc., etc.
Some advertisers will ask you to name a price for your work, and on such an occasion you should judge fairly the value of the print to them. If they require the negative also, raise the rate. Any prints should be worth $10.00 even to a small manufacturer, and if it is acceptable at all, a larger firm should pay from $25.00 to $1,000.00 for suitable propaganda. ”

“ Makers of camera-shutters also buy photographs which were made with cameras equipped with their shutters. Usually, the point emphasised in the pictures bought is the shutters' ability to "stop motion" at their high speeds. As press-photographers frequently find it necessary to use the shortest exposures given by their shutters, they should have something in their negative-files which the shutter-makers should be eager to obtain.
Makers of photographic material other than lenses and shutters often buy examples of work done with their goods. ”

“ A rejection is not a rebuke. It is a challenge. It means that your "nose for news" has failed you—has played you false; or that you have tried to sell groceries to a blacksmith. Rest assured that no editor will willfully refuse to accept, pay for and print any photograph which possesses enough merit to warrant acceptance. The editor holds his chair only so long as he produces the kind and quality of magazine its owners want him to produce ”

“ Never would I be so unwise as to cultivate that desire in any one; for that reason I do not here go deeply into a discussion of the best kind of camera for press-photography! Unless the camera you now possess is of a hopelessly mediocre grade, it will do very well.
A reflex camera is of course the ideal instrument for the purpose, for sharp focusing is so easy and so necessary. The high speeds of the focal-plane shutter incorporated into such a camera will rarely be utilised by the average user ”

“ Sometimes, retouching must be applied to a print in order to make it suitable for reproduction; and, as the service of a retoucher is expensive, something is deducted from the photographer's cheque to pay for the work. Popular Science is a magazine of that policy. The photographer can avoid such deductions from his cheques by supplying photographs of such quality that they will need no retouching. ”

“ Not many, other than the large metropolitan newspapers, employ staff-photographers; and if a smaller one does, the photographer is usually a reporter who has much scribbling to do besides. When most newspapers require a photograph of something local, the city-editor telephones to a commercial-photographer and tells him to "get it." ”

“ If you are interested in picturing homes, Country Life, Garden Magazine and House Beautiful are waiting for your prints. These magazines are very artistic and use only the best work; but they are interested in unusual gardens, beautiful lawns, landscaping, interior decorating. A house remodelled from a common building to an unusual or striking residence will find ready sale to them if photographs of the "before and after" variety are offered. Nature, sport, and building in the country are the specialty of Country Life, Garden City, New York ”

“ Or you may devote all your time to the making of calendar-photographs, or to illustrating stories photographically, as is the fashion now with some magazines, see True-Story. There are so many opportunities to grasp that if you look about you and select the specialised branch in which you desire most to work, there is no reason in the world why you should not do it—and, perhaps, earn $10,000 a year at it. "Do one thing better than anyone else and the world will beat a path to your door." ”

“ A photographer who is wide-awake and moving ought not to find it difficult to sell at least ten prints each week, if not more, when one considers the large number of available subjects and the multitude of magazines.
Newspapers pay for prints according to their breadth of circulation. A widely-read daily will pay more for photographs than one of small circulation. Very often, newspaper-editors prefer that the press-photographer send a bill for his services. ”

“ One has to depend wholly on his "nose for news" and this sometimes proves treacherous. "A human-interest photograph sometimes slips past the trained nose of a photographer of twenty years' experience and is picked up by a beginner," to paraphrase Charles Phelps Cushing. And, on the other hand, the old-timer may snap away confidently at a subject which the beginner has scorned, and then find he has an unsalable print on his hands. ”

“ It is so light it can be carried for a long time without fatigue; the user of one is inconspicuous when making exposures; the cost of operation as well as the original outlay is comparatively small—and there are several dozen more things in favor of it, including its greater depth-of-field, which is most important.
The lens is the heart of the camera, and some cameras have "heart-trouble." If you intend seriously to market photographs you should possess an anastigmat lens; not necessarily an F/4.5 lens, nor even an F/6.3 lens if too expensive ”

“ If you live in a large city you have the additional opportunities to obtain photographs such as are published in the Mid-Week Pictorial and the Illustrated Review, and also in some of the large national magazines and in the rotogravure-sections of the leading Sunday newspapers. Although the large city offers more opportunities for photographs of celebrities and such, there is much competition. The photographer in an average-size city may not have frequent opportunities for photographs of renowned persons ”

“ The needs of The Illustrated World, Popular Mechanics and Popular Science have been made very clear in previous portions of this book.
The Scientific American always wants photographs of new inventions of wide interest, accompanied by brief articles. Address 233 Broadway, New York, New York.
Physical Culture, 119 West 40th Street, New York, New York, always wants photographs of persons having splendid physical development. A glance through this magazine will disclose the types of poses desired. Straight front, back, etc., views are never used; action in the picture is essential. ”

“ The requirements of the field are well within the capabilities of even the beginner in photography, viz.; the ability to make good negatives and good prints, the ability to recognise news-value, and a methodical plan to find the market where the prints will find acceptance. The man or woman who can meet these requirements should be fairly successful from the beginning, and will open up quickly new avenues of special work and profit. ”