Am I famous yet?
No, no I’m not. Sure, the pictures are no work of art. It was midday when I shot them and all the light was so harsh. The article is not about the photos themselves, but to have photos that I’ve taken in a national magazine is a pretty cool feeling…before I realized a fatal mistake. Before that, let’s go back to the beginning;
In the summer of last year, I offered to take photos of a seeded metal detector hunt for a club that my father is in. It’s a fairly small club and they obviously never had a photographer on one of these hunts, so it was kind of a way to support my father and his interests without getting into metal detecting, which I have zero interest in.
After the hunt, I was asked by one of the writers for Western & Eastern Treasures that was at the hunt if he could use three photos that I took. I obliged, stating that my only request is that I receive a copy of the magazine when it’s published. Unfortunately, I did not request to be credited, a mistake that I will not make in the future. Who knew that if you don’t specifically state that you want to be credited for your work, you won’t?!
So, I sent said photos and…heard nothing. Summer turned to fall, fall turned to winter. In February, I emailed the writer asking if the photos were ever used. He stated that he was just a “stringer”, whatever that means, and that I would have to contact the editor about my request.
So, I did.
And heard nothing.
Last week I emailed yet once again and finally got a response with two pages in PDF form. Here’s the first one:
Other then the weird three stooges hack of a Photoshop at the top (I have no idea what that’s about), this page is all photos that I took, cropped, but apparently unedited. Great, looks good. Next:
Woah. Wait a minute. First, I only submitted three photos, and I don’t remember taking the bottom one. In fact, I know I didn’t because it’s obviously an unedited camera picture. Notice the awning in the background that’s tilted. The back lit shadowed faces.
And then I looked at the one that looks like a child or little person took. It didn’t look right. I would never sit down or kneel down to take a picture of someone that is standing up (unless I’m going for that overpowering effect). This one stumped me the most, because it was identical to the one I remember sending, save for the way it was shot.
So, I looked up the one I sent.
Yeah, they didn’t use this one. Sad, really. This one is so much better. Though, now that I look at them side by side, I notice that, as that page in the magazine is, my photo would not fit in that crop. One or both of their bodies would be cut off.
So, what did I learn from this experience?
- Ask to be credited, or don’t give consent.
- Go into contract with any request, including the request to be credited.
Well, at the very least, I can say that I got two mediocre photos that I took in a national magazine. Yay me.
I’ll finish this up with a few photos from that hunt that I’m actually fond of. Enjoy.
Mike Wade Photography 