Hire Yourself to Become a Better Photographer

By Mark Hoerrner

Photojournalism has always been about that one precise shot taken at that one precise moment when history was being made. Think of the images in the past as a firefighter carried a young child’s body away from the bombing in Oklahoma City, as Michael Jordan soared higher than any human being should be able to during his days with the Chicago Bulls and countless other images where life is happening at full speed but the photographer has managed to freeze that magic instant.

You’d like to shoot like that, but how do you get the experience of doing so when no one seems willing to hire you. The answer: hire yourself.

Decide from the start that you are going to hire yourself to cover a specific event. You can do this many ways, but you have to remember that your currency, your paycheck, is going to be provided in the form of experience. While that may not seem much at this point, it’s going to pay off tenfold in the future.

The event itself does not matter, but planning for the event and what you will take away from the process of learning and photographing is important. Find out where local football games are played, either at the junior level or in a high-school scenario. Most such organizations will allow amateur photographers on to the field. If not, offer to provide shots free of charge (they can buy reprints) to the team of special moments if you manage to capture them. Be honest; most coaches and principals are quite accommodating.

Before going out to shoot, plan your event. Pick a specific team and do a bit of research on the players. If you have time, visit the field before the game to get an idea of some of the best angles. Find out where the teams will be situated and pick a certain number of shots you want to get, such as the Quarterback in motion, a pass being thrown, a tight heap of tackles taking down a receiver, etc.

Also, consider some of the more human sides of the game – the cheerleaders, the teams at rest on the sidelines, the passion of the coaches – as these pictures are often wonderful illustrations of the human spirit and ones that the newspapers will often pay for.

Once you finish and develop the pics, even if this is in digital format only, review what you have done. Remember, you are on assignment. If you didn’t get the good shots, you should give yourself a good chewing-out, but not for less than constructive purposes. You must discipline yourself to get the right shot every time. Make note of the conditions, of what you did wrong, of where you were positioned. Deconstruct the situation like you were watching the Zabruder film in order to truly identify the areas in which you need improvement.

If you were successful, then congratulations! You’ve completed a paying assignment and have a nice addition to the portfolio. Shooting these hometown games, by the way, can lead to a little cash here and there as newspapers will often pay freelance photographers by the image for games they did not cover but that might provide a good community connection.

Remember – learn your camera flat so that you can make the equipment work for you and attack the job head on. Once you have put yourself in the position of thinking like a professional photographer, the role of professional photographer is not far away.