Fine Art Pet and Animal Photography West Sussex | Featured in Photo Professional Magazine

One of the great things about being a portrait photographer is the sheer breadth and scope for exploration, diversification, and personal development. If you were to interview some of the best photographers in the world I’m pretty sure they will all say that we never, ever stop learning. Photography is an infinite subject and even if we appear to reach the top of our game we can still feel as though we’re scratching the surface. Whilst we might sometimes feel tired and lacking in creative vision, it’s true to say that we’ll never grow bored in the process. Sometimes we reach a place where we can start to give back to others, and share what we’ve learnt with newer photographers who are hoping to find their own niche.

Contributing to well-known photography magazines and journals can be a great way to do this. If I have inspired somebody to pick up a camera and get out and take pictures, then that makes me happy. If the information I share in magazine features and on my Blogs can help another photographer to better manage their business affairs, or if what I write simply helps them to feel better about their future, then I can think of nothing more rewarding.

I was recently approached by Terry Hope, the Editor of Photo Professional magazine, and I was asked to submit an editorial feature about how I’ve incorporated pet and animal photography into my portrait photography repertoire. You can read the five page feature in the current edition of the magazine, Issue 90, which is on sale now.

A word of advice though. Magazines are profit-making bodies. Everyone is paid, from the editors through to the people who clean the offices at the end of the day. Yet magazines will do everything they can to avoid paying their contributors. Very often they'll hope that photographers will succumb to 'vanity publishing'. After all, it must be nice seeing your name in lights and your photographs in a top-flight journal, right? Well, wrong actually. Like everyone else, photographers have to make a living, and it isn't easy. Why should we give our work for free?

It's a complete myth that publications will bring you clients. I can tell you that in over a decade of being published in some very prominent magazines I have never had customers from it. But I have had a lot of amateur photographers bombarding me with questions about how I do my work. Unless you're being offered the front cover of Vogue magazine or Time magazine (which will have genuine marketing potential) make sure that you’re paid a fair rate for your work. And make absolutely certain that you have a clear understanding (or 'contract') with the magazine stating what they may and may not use your photographs and wordage for. In this case the content was supplied for one-time use in one publication of the magazine, and payment terms were agreed before any content changed hands.