Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Today during my DC Photojournalism trip class we met virtually with Quentin Nardi (photo editor/ five years), Jeff Campagna(photo editor/ fifteen years) and Alum Donny Bajohr,(photo editor/ six years) from Smithsonian Magazine.

Quentin believes photography is powerful and there needs to be more honest and driven storytellers to keep it alive. She did a good job explaining the procedure. of how a story gets published in the magazine. First, a story comes down from the editors then between the three editors( Quentin, Jeff. and Donny) they decide who would like to do the feature stories. Whoever is assigned to.work on the story works with the photographer to make an edit. Then the editor talks with the art director about which edit they think works and those that aren't as strong. The art director works on the layout and is the one who approves the images.

According to Jeff what makes this magazine really interesting is that it is a general interest magazine. They can work on subjects as diverse as archaeology in the Middle East to technology and science stories. the wide variety of what the magazine covers is what makes it interesting. Jeff believes they are able to learn a lot as editors.

Donny explains how he kept in touch with Molly Roberts from when he took the PJ DC Trip and by staying in touch he was able to get the opportunity for the Smithsonian. He was hired as the jr. photo editor. Most work consists of archives.

There were various key takeaways from our meeting.

-Smithsonian has a tight budget. The editor only hires individuals close to the story they are working on. Quentin hires the photographer for their particular vision (hiring a photographer most likely where the story is). Once chosen she discusses shot list, who you will be interviewing, where the subjects are, what the objects and events are.

-Editors work with diverse subjects and hires a wide range of photographers (different styles of. photography/ different locations), The publication needs to know a lot of different people and places for hiring purposes (pays to know who is doing what, where and when).

-All the articles for the. Smithsonian Magazine they commission pretty much all the photography. for features for the. Magazine from freelancers and all the articles end up going on the website as well.

-In a typical year, Smithsonian has ten issues a year(two double issues). In a single issue there are four-five features. The four features would generally require four photographers that they would hire to shoot those stories. Considering they would only be hiring forty photographers a year it is definitely not a job I would be able to live on.

-Quentin suggested that we should always be thinking of ideas to pitch editors because it is an excellent way to get your foot in the door.

-Jeff suggested.big date's(50th, 75th, 100th, etc) help your story to run.

-Quentin mentioned that the key while writing a pitch to an editor is that you need to keep in mind is your audience (know who your pitching too)

-The magazine makes connections between the past and current stuff.

-Magazines demographics are around the fifties and older.

-Have good day rate plus expenses and assistant.

I do not see myself working for this publication. I enjoy doing news stories which they do not do in addition to video and arial photography.