05.10.09
Tor McIntosh - Freelance Picture Editor
The right advice and inside track on how to get commissioned
How did you start off in the industry?
I was fortunate to get a job at Wanderlust travel magazine as soon as I finished my degree. Whilst studying I did a number of work experience stints at Wanderlust, along with paid work during my holidays helping with the Travel Photographer of the Year competition, therefore when a position became available on the picture desk I was offered the job. I was one of the few lucky graduates.
How did your career progress from there?
At Wanderlust I progressed to Picture Editor and co-ordinator/judge of the Travel Photographer of the Year competition. I then spent time as an Assistant Editor on a international yachting magazine before choosing to become a freelance Picture Editor specialising in landscape and nature photography.
At what point did you begin to become more involved with photography and in what context?
I grew up poring over National Geographic magazine dreaming of being the next Annie Griffiths Belt or Jodi Cobb. I started studying photography at A-Level and from that point right through my foundation course and degree, photography played a pivotal role and I always knew it would be central to my future career.
What does your job entail?
When working for publishing companies my job involves working closely with photographers and specialist photo libraries to source suitable images to match editorial content. This either requires commissioning a photographer to shoot a feature or liaising with photographers and libraries to supply suitable stock images. With strict budgets to adhere to there’s plenty of negotiating on reproduction rates too. When I’m working with individual photographers or picture libraries my role is to edit, sometimes quite harshly, a shoot or a submission by selecting the most commercially viable images. With individual photographers this can be a really valuable task for them, as from experience I know it’s very hard to objectively edit your own photos.
What do you look for in a photographer’s work when commissioning?
If it’s a new photographer to me I’m keen to see previously commissioned work, as that’s a telling way of seeing how they’ve approached and executed a brief. I also gauge a photographer on their knowledge of, and experience with, the subject of the commission. With the type of commissions that I deal with it’s also important to know where a photographer’s ‘stomping ground’ is, as location knowledge is key to excellent landscape and nature photography.
What are the most common mistakes photographers make when approaching you to show their work?
A portfolio that is crammed full of too many incoherent images; it’s crucial to edit your portfolio down to a ‘sound bite’ of your strongest work. It’s always appealing to see some structure in a photographer’s portfolio.
Where do you stand on the importance of creativity?
When there’s a glut of high quality photographs of, for example, African elephants available, creativity with light, exposure or composition can be crucial as a way of standing out from the crowd.
Where do you stand on the importance of technical competence?
Again, when certain subjects have been photographed numerous times leaving an overabundance of images available to image buyers, technical competence can be the difference between having your image selected or not. With the advent of reasonably priced digital SLRs on the market there’s been an enormous rise in the number of ‘photographers’ selling their work. However, photography is a science and an art form and takes years (for few) to master, not just a swanky camera.
Whose images really inspire you?
There are a number of wonderful landscape and nature photographers that I’m in awe of, but in particular the nature photographer Jim Brandenburg is a huge inspiration to me, especially his ‘Ninety Day Journey in the Northwoods’ project that saw him take one photograph a day for 90 days between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice near his home in Minnesota; the results are spectacular and a lesson in discipline to all those photographers that shoot far too many frames per subject! I was privileged to meet Jim at last year’s WildPhotos symposium, which I helped to organise, and he’s quite possibly the nicest man alive… in my humble opinion.
What was the experience of judging the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition like?
I’m thrilled to be on the judging team for such a prestigious international competition as the WPOY. For the past two years I’ve been a preliminary judge, which requires working with a fellow preliminary judge (a professional wildlife photographer) and between us we look through the many thousands of anonymous entries and select the strongest contenders to go through to the semi-finals. The great thing about being a preliminary judge is you get to see the full spectrum of entries – from the breathtaking to the simply atrocious. As one of the few people who gets to see all the entries it’s always interesting to see what images make it through to the final exhibition stage (last year quite a few of my top-rated made it through – luck or good judgement, I’m not too sure!), and what the final stage judges pick as the overall winner.
What tips would you give a photographer trying to get commissioned in nature and landscape photography?
The best tip I can give is to ensure you know your subject/location really well. Any commissioning picture editor is looking for a competent nature or landscape photographer who they can rely on to bring back results, no matter what the weather! Unlike portrait or fashion photography, where the photographer has an element of control over the subject, nature and landscape photographers are working with the unpredictable natural world, which is tricky to control therefore experience and knowledge is essential.
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