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Sports Illustrated DP Brad Smith Gives Tips to Freelance Photographers

Chris Gampat
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02/08/2015
1 Min read

Last Updated on 02/08/2015 by Chris Gampat

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We all know that Sports Illustrated let go of all their staff photographers, but that doesn’t mean that the company still can’t give great advice on how approach editors. A.A. Productions recently released a video interviewing SI’s Director of Photography Brad Smith and he says that email is actually one of the toughest ways to get through to an Editor. Mr. Smith reasons that it can get caught in spam and there are just so many of them to deal with that an editor can be overwhelmed.

In fact, though he doesn’t outright say it, Mr. Smith recommends sending some sort of photography pitch/package, calling to try to get 15 minutes of his time, or other more interpersonal forms of communication such as a portfolio deck.

Additionally, you should make it easy to find more out about you. All of your contact information should be in one spot and your pitches should be precise and to the point.

Beyond that, look and present yourself as a professional. After all, he’s hiring you represent his company at an event.

The video is after the jump. But also be sure to read the words of Damian Strohmeyer and Peter Reed Miller on shooting Super Bowls and general tips as well.

#BehindtheGlass | Sports Illustrated DP Brad Smith on Freelance Photographers from a.a. productions on Vimeo.

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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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