Freelance?

[enigma]

Anybody selling photos to local newspapers? I have a police scanner and there is always something going on, had a cement truck flip yesterday and the picture in the paper was horrible, it was 3 miles from my house! How much would a newspaper pay for aerials of crashes, protests, etc? Do you need some sort of press credentials to get past police lines? I'd like to hear from others who have experience with this angle of the business/hobby

[rkeith2]

This is a very good subject and I am anxious to hear the other views ...

[Nitrospazzz]

I am not sure about police lines and that sort of thing. But I talked to Ethan from InstantAerials at the Owatonna Rotory Ringout. He has been giving photos to the local paper for a while and said it is the best advertising he has found. I believe he said they are free to the paper as long as they put his website and give him all credits.

Its a really good idea and I hope to start that with the couple local papers in town. Might even try for the college paper

[Brady Longmore]

I'm not sure about newspapers, but I used to make a living as a TV news photographer.

In my experience the press has to obey police roadblocks, and caution tape the same as everyone else. Sometimes the police would be a little more leniant with me just cause I was the press, but it was just out of their good graces I was allowed near stuff.

I would have to heavily assume that a typical newspaper isn't going to shell out much $$ for a pic unless it's something pretty spectacular. Like maybe say Spiderman leaping from a building or something.

I don't want to discourage you though. Give it a try, you've got nothing to lose. As far as the police go, I'd be prepared to obey the blocks just like everyone else.

[Nate Dogg]

I get $300 a clip for video for the local news, its usually only 5 seconds or so. The papers don't want to pay because they have staff photographers that shoot all they need.

[LoopBaCK]

I did the same as mentioned by Nitrospazz about Ethan - started offering free pics to the local newspapers (all owned by same company) in return for photo credit. Any time they want a unique angle of an event I get it. It is by far the best advertising I've had.

Something else I do is when the paper gets a pic and runs it I create an invoice for full price then discount the fee. In my accounting software I mark that fee as an advertising cost and therefore another expense.