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The first Photo Archive News interview with a UK picture editor.
How did you start in pictures?
I started as a photographer originally but it wasn’t until a brief spell on the Daily Express picture desk when my first real taste of picture editing started. At that time my role there involved watching the Foreign wires (AP, Reuters etc…) this meant printing out anything of news value.
Do you miss your camera?
I do miss the photography, the hussle bustle of running around either on a feature or news job. The excitement of never knowing and who you’d be meeting next, a hand shake with the prime minister or a one to one with a star.
When was the last time you saw a transparency, negative or a print?
Can’t remember. It’s a shame that as technology progress we see less and less of transparency, negatives and prints.
FTP or Email?
E-mail is something I prefer. The FTP is quicker and I think it will take over from e-mailing pictures but photographers still don’t know how to use this and do not know that papers are using it.
Which photo agency web sites do you use when you cannot find what you want on the wires?
Today there are so many agencies, if there is stock to find there are a broad spectrum of agencies to use anything from pap and Celebs (IDS) to The Garden Picture library. For news it is limited.
What do you find annoying when searching a photo agency site?
Slowness and searches coming back saying “nothing” when you know they have the image you are after.
What recent improvement have you seen in a site?
Usability and downloading.
Is it design, name or usability you look for in a site?
Tricky, mainly name (when I’m specifically looking for something) and usability.
How do you find sourcing pictures outside of normal UK office hours?
A big pain when you’re on edition or an editor wants images there and then! It doesn’t help when agencies aren’t around and are unable to contact.
So what would make your life easier?
More agencies both news and stock coming together, similar to a site called IDS (I forget what it stands for) which incorporates the likes of Splash, Wenn, Alpha etc, only one draw back to this is that agencies don't tend to put all their libraries online!.
Do you like to do your own picture research?
Yes.
Do you use lightboxes on a photo agency site?
Yes and No, sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t.
Do you like to download previews for layout purposes?
No! Previews cause problems at the layout stage. Layout people don’t realise that images downloaded are sometimes low resolution and place them in without checking. When printed it can look horrendous. And we get the blame.