Reading through the post and all of the comments I see that so many of you have so much more experience than I… so I have to ask… I do often get the opportunity to shoot editorial. I assist, I do production assisting, I accept anything that I believe at the time will benefit my photography. It has worked in some cases, in may it has not. I think though, I have always learned.

Editorial seems to be another monster in itself. I see how it can be a privilege though. It can give you a lot of freedom to show what you love to shoot…. Here is the dilema:

I am asked to shoot an editorial. Cool. I am excited. So I agree… She says she has NO photography budget. I tell her that we need money for permits and a small location fee, that if she wants the 10 shots she asked for I have to pay an assistant and a make up artist. She tells me she has ABSOLUTELY NO budget… but I can shoot what I want, how I want, with the model I want…

So I have this idea. I also have a friend that is an accomplished wardrobe stylist visiting who says she wouldn’t mind helping me out cause she could use some new stuff in her book so I say o.k. and call in favors from everyone I know.

Then the editor calls and says well you can shoot this idea you have but you have to use my advertisers. I will have them fed ex you boxes of clothes. The day before the shoot 3 large fed ex parcel boxes show up. Nothing in any of the boxes contain anything that is remotely cohesive to what where and how I will be shooting. So I call her back and say that there is nothing useable in the boxes. She tells me I can suppliment the shoot with wnatever I want…. but it has to be from her advertisers. So my friend the wardrobe stylist and I call in favors… We go to show rooms, we call friends that work for clothing companies, we drive about 150 miles back and forth from location to location looking for clothing from her “advertisers.”

We get what we can although it is a strech from what we had asked for and what the original idea was we make it work and we shoot.

Here is the clincher for me…. Her “advertisers” are clients that I would like to have. Her magazine is delivered directly to their offices and dropped right down on art director’s desks.

So in the end we have this editorial. There is a little of me in it, there is a lot of compromise and there were a lot of unpaid hours and favors. Is the fact that this magazine with this 10 page editorial will wind up directly in the hands of who I want to see my work worth it? Or will it just be another piece of junk they flip into the garbage can?

How come no one says they like my picture?

I think my goal is to get to a place where editorial can be used creatively, because I do think it is a privilege, in some way, although being an interchangeable widget is certainly not. Having the freedom to do what you want by being distinct can go a long way to getting that leverage and freedom, because if they do want you, specifically, things can get a little easier with advances, travel money, etc. But I am getting ahead of myself, I have more up my sleeve than that.

A very few of us are talented enough, have the right contacts, are aggressive enough, and a big enough sense of entitlement to stand out and get noticed. A trust fund or well employed spouse goes a long way to ensure longevity in this business.

Magazines will continue to abuse those who will do the work an accept the rates, and then discard those who grow fed up because there are always another 150 shooters ready, willing and able to step in and do the work.

The real key is to diversify your income stream as Robert mentioned. There are many types of other clients that need good work and are willing to pay good rates to get it. You just have to be willing to go out and look at the different types of organizations and institutions that use images.

After 20 years of editorial and corporate work, I’m now a full time employee of a university in NJ as their photographer. It’s a good gig, steady pay, benefits, retirement plan, sick days (imagine that!) and all the other hoohaa that goes with it. Not bad really and I sometimes even have time to shoot what I like for pure pleasure. There are other ways to make it work. You might even find that you can be happier in the long run.

Meanwhile, I’ve always maintained that it’s better to borrow, or rent anything you can’t pay off in three months or so. Actually, my general feeling is, if you can’t pay cash for it, you can’t afford it (although, if you can get a no interest loan, do it.).

My number one rule is. Go for something other than editorial. It doesn’t pay enough. Sure I do editorial jobs, if, it fits my schedule, I don’t have to act as a bank, and I think I’ll enjoy it. Working for most magazines is not a privilege, and often times the exposure gets you nothing.