for those excellent pro photogrpahers

Dragging this thread back again to the land of the (nearly) living!

You can live a long and fruitful life as an aviation photographer – if you redefine the meaning of the word long, into warm meals a week or something.
Of course you could charge megabucks for each image used and starve to death that way, or you could branch out and do other photography whilst also trying cover air shows too. It is a bit like the old story of Europe on £5 a day – the trick is to have another income to fall back on or a big bank account in reserve.

I started as a moley, a technician on my local paper, dev’ing films and printing photographs, working my way up as second camera when it was handy for the picture editor to have two cameras present but couldn’t spare two (proper) photographers. This route is probably well dead due to the age of the digital camera – why spend money on film, chemistry, and processor servicing costs when the same amount will buy 3-4 full Nikon digital kits annually?
I was sent on a two year long day release course 10 years ago and on the first day there were 18 of us – at the end of the first year so many had dropped out that we were merged with another similar stream so that the teachers could concentrate on all seven of us. (Incidently my boss at the time withdrew me from the course six months later when my D&P department was downsized from eight to four, and when I left it was down to just one since they didn’t replace anyone who left. Sick man management.) All the others left because the course didn’t match up to their expectations regarding job prospects (except for the guy who turned up with a compact auto-everything camera; he decided we were all too scary for him after just one week!), there being line after line of visiting professionals patiently explaining how difficult it was for inexperienced but trained photographers to find work (and I wouldn’t doubt that they were probably protecting themselves too!), but it could also have been the 08:30-22:00 working day that we were expected to do. My round trip was about 180 miles (depending on motorway accident diversions), and I usually had worked until 19:00 the previous night and start again the following morning at 07:00 – and it was not a skive for my fellow students either.
A chap I used to talk ‘plane with at work came up with the idea of setting up an aviation picture agency (on the side, separate to the day job), and was kind enough to include me in his fantasy. The idea was that one of us would always be somewhere in the country, attending an air show or visiting an airfield, for the weekend and then come back to work (where the facilities were readily available and free to use as long as nobody went overboard – 500 15x12s anyone?), D&P the films and then put ourselves about trying to sell the images. Would never have come to anything (he later admitted his girlfriend would have vetoed it on the whole weekend aspect for one thing!) and anyway, we had already seen that papers across Britain were quite happy to use pictures of the Jaguar and Tornado prototypes, or even Fleet Air Arm Buccaneers, during the run up to Gulf War ’91, why would they want to pay for a pic of something they already had just because it was newer? Same with the aviation press – they get sent photos to publicise nearly everything, from a newly restored Tiger Moth to new paint scheme, or they get an invite to send their own photographer along.
But, despite this, I went to air shows, took pictures, printed them up and submitted them to some local agencies. What you think should be used and what the agencies know will be wanted can be two totally and entirely different things. Most use will be gotten from ordinary record shots, preferably in flight, of current operational types. What we would regard as a beautiful piece of art would almost certainly only get used once by a specialist magazine – unless it is a timeless (and fairly anonymous by location) picture of a Spitfire. I am most pleased that a lousy shot of an F15E Strike Eagle, taken at an air show that I can’t remember the name of, was used by a magazine in Moscow (against the light and rather poorly composed, but suppose it looked a bit menacing), and my pic of Spitfire PV202 was used 3 times in April 2000 – for an obvious reason (and even then I had to tell the agency that it was PV202 that had crashed and that they had a picture of it available since they were quite happy putting out a pic of the BBMF! Strange that they are no longer operating as an agency…).
Personally, if you wanted to get into air show photography then I could not recommend your career shift going via a newspaper – if for no other reason than Saturday is usually their busiest day, closely followed by Sunday. Asking to have every weekend from March to August off would not make you any friends with your boss or workmates.
I would say don’t give up the day job – but work bloody hard every weekend, ingratiate yourself with everyone important that you meet at your chosen airfield (and the seemingly not so important too; being extremely pleasant to security guards, marshals, and mechanics will work wonders as long as you don’t expect it to work everytime. Thank them even if they are unable to help you, you never know what might happen next time…). Free prints go a long way (something my current bosses will come to regret soon) to getting you known. If you are lucky enough to be given a flight then ask if there is somewhere that they would like you to take a picture of – they can’t concentrate on photographing their home if they always seem to talk to approach everytime! Be there for the same reason they are there – push the aeroplane out of the hanger with them if you allowed airside, but go back immediately when told. Never do anything to deliberately upset people or you could ruin it for everyone else after you have been kicked off the site (not just at airfields, but anywhere where your safety or the safety of the participants could be put in danger. Several years ago I was duty technician when a phot came back on a Saturday afternoon and whinged that the organisers at a motoring event didn’t have a clue about pictures – and then I found out that he had jumped a fence and was snapping speeding cars at a major hill climb event from the very edge of the track! We were lucky not to have our credentials ceremonially withdrawn for that, as opposed to just the phot being kicked out and told that he, personally, was not welcome back, ever as was the case. Same idiot ran on to the pitch, at a league football match, to photograph a goal celebration, complete with police officers close behind him – needless to say he made a name for himself and was allowed to move on rather quick!). Anyway, if you really must go to the big shows try not going in but stooging around the fences at either end of the runway. You will get much closer to the action – the organisers might not like you for it though – but it will be different to the umpteen thousand-odd frames fired off from the crowd line. Try going to events that are out of the way – everyone and their favourite lens goes to Duxford and shoots every miserable Cessna that might overfly, but back in the days when I took photographs for fun I ended up in places that never got a mention except in the “this also happened (but we didn’t send anybody and nobody sent us any pix either)” columns. My mistake was to moan about Nothing-Happened-in-the-Glen never getting covered and not do something about it myself.
Not that I could have lived on whatever I would have got for covering little air displays for aviation enthusiast ‘flysheets’ (most would have printed your pix with a by-line and casually mentioned that it was better to be published than paid – I tried that but thought that the only thing that this would solve would be my weight problem!) – but even now I still hear bad news stories from amateurs who have submitted RTA (road traffic accident) pix to local papers and have been very lucky if they got a replacement roll of film for their troubles.

Anyway, one big word of warning. Not really an historical aviation problem, but no matter how intimidating they look always try to make yourself known to the local police (if they happen to be patrolling your chosen airfields perimeter) or the security personnel if it is a military base. They might tell you to go forth and multiply, and if so then you are on your own, but this does save having to prove who you are and why you are there when an anonymous transit van suddenly pulls up behind you and you find yourself in custody because someone thought that you were toting a rocket launcher – it has happened to me at the top of the car parks at Gatwick about 5 years ago, it happened to an old chap I used to know when he was detailed to photograph the newly implemented security measures at a military base from the comfort of a pub car park on the day Desert Storm started in 1991, and it recently happened to an associate who had told the guard room at an army base that he would be there and was wearing a reflective vest so they could see him!
Public highway sometimes means nothing if it is MoD Plod!

Flood.

Philo,

I wasn’t at Fairford on Monday, I was at Fairford only on saturday (07-19-2003). I took these two photos of the JU in France (La Ferté Alais). In fact i live near the town where this JU is based and i can take lot of photo of this one

Franck,
On the Monday of RIAT were you at the far western end of the airfield in the park and view towards the end of the day. I was stood not far inside the gate and there were two french gentlemen next to me with some serious looking camera gear.

No Coanda, I was just on the runway during take off

here you could see my photos and some of my friend Philippe Noret at Fairford this year : http://www.pegase-airshow.com/search.php?Venue=18

Philippe Noret use a Canon 10D

thanx for the replies…..have to be in more places at more times!

I do have to ask, how the hell did you get the first pic of the ju frank?

were you following along air to air, or stood almost on the runway?

coanda

Coanda,
Pretty much all of what has been said is correct and good advice.
I have tried for years to make a breakthrough in aviation photography, I started with two other mates at about the same time, some umpteen years ago and we all wanted to be centerfold ,front cover and calendar working for all of the top mags,supplying picture libraries and selling freelance. Well reality and experience will tell you that you aint going to do it, certainly not all three of you and certainly not to the same market. There are 10,000 and 1 other photographers like us, look at the amount of people taking pictures at airshows. Despite a couple of earlier comments I firmly believe that top equipment is very important, having said that we are in this transition period from real to digital photography, so just what is top equipment is quite difficult to define at the moment. For me its a couple of good Nikon bodies and a range of lenses, i’m pretty sure that I will buy the new Sigma 80-400 OS very soon, at least when some dealers have it and have forced the price down a bit .
But back to the question, and lets not deflate your enthusiasm, if you want to get some reward from this, it wont be financial however, concentrate on the non mainstream events or local stuff, small fly-ins etc or follow restoration projects and static ‘movements’ and write some text to support it (take a leaf out David Burkes book) and keep sending to the publishers, you will get something published one day, but don’t take a motgage based on it !.
Anyhow the three of us that started out all those years ago are still at it, one is now very much involved in the Shuttleworth collection and has been reasonably well published over recent years, the other is a regular contributor to mags in particular ‘Aircraft Illustrated’ and has done some commisioned work and then theres me.Well I have made a little niche out of it by giving slide talks to groups on aviation photography and history as well as the odd publication. I do still have to work however to pay the bills.
Earning from a passion is just a dream for the majority of folks I’m afraid, but like I say you keep doing it.
Phil

this same JU (from AJBS, France) at La Ferté Alais Airshow

Phoot taken with D60 and 100-400 lense

Mark 12 – I must admit that was pretty amusing that month – both magazines with a Fennec on the front from memory!

Although it is blindingly obvious, try photographing something that is new, different or special. A scoop photograph on an ‘Instamatic’ will beat a Canon ‘digital’ from a well attended event every time.
Another little tip – keep an eye on the dates these journals go to press, so aim to submit ‘hot pix’ to the two obvious candidates during the second week of the month.
If it is a really ‘hot pic’ syndicate it around the world but try to avoid direct duplication to competing journals – port side to one starboard to the other etc. It is the ultimate black mark, and it has happened, two mags on the news stand with almost identical covers from the same air to air shoot.
Nobody ever got rich in freelance aviation photojournalism – but they had a lot of fun!

Mark

I don’t 100% agree with stevieb here but there is a grain of truth in what he says.

There is no way anyone is ever going to convince me that guys like Paul Bowen and John Dibbs are not genuine, talented artists. Taking a good aviation photograph is emphatically NOT just about having the right gear and being in the right place at the right time. There are important elements of planning and shot composition that rely on individual talent and years of hard-won experience.

That being said I’m also pretty sure that good personality and networking skills are extremely helpful in making it to the top of that profession.

It’s not what you know (or how good you are); it’s who you know.

Steve

www.pbase.com/stevieb

Let’s say that it is almost inpossible to earn your money by shooting aircraft (alone). The market is limited, and there is a very fierce competition. Apart from that, the payment isn’t that big eather. To make a photographic career in photography, it is better to look for other (photo) targets. If you want to try it in aviation photography, just sent in material to the mags. If it is refused, sent another batch, and again, and again and again. Someday, one of your pics get published and in due course (or maybe never) you get more regular publications. But keep in mind that you can not live from what you earn this way, unless you are part of the editorial team and you get your money every month. When I was a student at the universaty (some 23 years ago) I started as a photographer for the local paper, doing the graveyard shift (22.00 till 07.00) during weekends, which ment shooting car accidents most of the time. After being promoted to sports I stopped within 3 weeks (I hate football so I didn’t like to visit 12 or more games every weekend) and I started to work for a Dutch aviation mag. From than on I worked for more mags, and now I write/photograph for some 15 aviation mags in Europe and South America. However, I still can not live by the money I get paid for that, so I only shoot in the weekends, and from Monday to Friday I bore the students with 15th and 16th century language, history and sociology at a university.

BW Roger