>implying you are paid in advance

enjoy your beheading

OP, i'd recommend the movie "Shooting Robert King".
It's a great documentary about a war photographer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew4OyneLv84

>>1401887

OP here.

Thanks, man!

you're a lot safer than you might think. they don't even let them near areas which might come under fire the vast majority of the time. kept in safe places, brought out under guard. the only things i can really think of that were dangerous in recent memory are guys who were with the rebels in libya.

if you really want government sponsorship, combat camera of any military branch. they will be attached to units, sometimes front lines, sometimes not, and document things as they happen. you will have to hump plate carrier, plates, your rifle and sidearm, plus ammunition, all on top of the camera gear, though.

>>1401893

The only thing stopping me right now is lack of credentials. I've already been on my own in Kosovo, Israel, The Palestinian Authority, Iran, Kurdistan, All places with a lot of things to phototgraph. but if things get messy I need a badge saying I'm not a spy or something... Will any small newspaper give me a Pass, just to get there?

>>1401895
>implying anyone there cares about a plastic card saying "press"
>implying they don't translate "press" as "infidel"

I'm interested in the same kinda things, but have you ever photographed something small like a demonstration? if you can handle the black block fucking around, throwing bricks and bottles and the police going full rampage, you might consider going on to warzones. if not, return shooting flowers.
Here in Germany, you can take part in a training of the Bundeswehr (army), which is especially for war-photogs & embeddeds, but you do not get in there easily. Inform yourself for your country.
Also, if you can afford it, just go there and try to sell awesome pics. If you can't, work your way up so someone's at least covering your travel costs.

Nachtwey is king every other "lolconflict" photographer is irrelevant.

Watch the documentary "War Photographer" Nachtwey is god. I hear he can fly and rescues photographers in need.

>>1401898

Well, the Army and the Military Police care...
Anyway, good point. Maybe I'll try my luck in the ethnic-"war" that's ongoing in Bulgaria...

>>1401903
if you haven't managed to publish photos before, i donä#t see why going to a conflict zone should give you insta-success. maybe post some?

>>1401919

"insta-succes" is not the point. This is interesting to me and am trying to kickstart it somehow.

But /ireally want to know what is the actual life of such a photographer.

I will go on my own at first, normally, and then I'll try to sell my images (more important: create a portfolio)...

Are you an adrenaline addict?

>>1401923

Yes, but not very important here. I have more powerful reasons to do this. But yes, I do enjoy rushes of adrenaline.

I had the same thoughts. However, I grew up, got a real job and plan to do such "trips" during my holidays. If you're no James Nachtway then chances are that you won't make a living.

>>1401893
> you will have to hump plate carrier, plates, your rifle and sidearm, plus ammunition

bull-fucking-shit

>>1401930

My thoughts exactly... That's why I'm getting my engineering degree first... :)) But it doesn't hurt to try, right?

>>1401898
>if you can handle the black block fucking around, throwing bricks and bottles and the police going full rampage, you might consider going on to warzones.
So weit so gut, nur würde ich das Verhalten der deutschen Polizei nicht als "full rampage" bezeichnen. Hast du Erfahrung mit dem Bundeswehr-Journalisten-Programm?

>>1401935
It will hurt if you realize how much you suck at photojournalism at the beginning - or if they take your head with a chainsaw; mexìco-style.

also uploaded a .pdf about the required behavior for whoever is interested:
>http://www.mediafire.com/?mk76gdre79xdeem
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>>1401935
>going to war zone
>not going to hurt
if you are doing it wrong.. well, your OP pic should tell enough.

after all those trips you mentioned, you still don't have a portfolio?
have fun trying, I will too as soon as possible, but university comes first (cultural & political sciences, somehow related)

you still wont share some of your photos?

snapshit from the 2010 castor transport

>>1401941
I've been in Hitzacker during the castor transport in 2010 but I seriously had no time to join the fun.

>fml

>>1401937
nein, ich hab grad erst abitur gemacht und fange an zu studieren, ich hab nur davon gelesen und kenne jemanden beim bund der das mal erwähnt hat.
und wenn berliner in hamburg eingesetzt werden (01, mai, schanzenfest, 03. oktober) gehts schon saftig zu, da werden auch imemr wieder journalisten opfer beider seiten. für den anfang soltle man das vielleicht mal probieren, ich denke auch deutsche autonome sind nichts im vergleich zu marodierenden volksgruppen im ausland..

very interesting pdf, thanks for that

>>1401942
got G+ or anything? where in the Reich do you live?

was really fun, i had the honour to join a journalist friend of mine so i could do what i wanted, police cooperated most of the time

>>1401945
>>1401947
also derp
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Another possibility is a photojournalism internship overseas. Everybody can do it, educational or social background and nationality don't matter. The great advantage is the involvement in creating photo stories and connections, brah.

>>1401947
also ich hab auch schon persönlich aufs maul bekommen, von beiden seiten wohlgemerkt. aber ja, kameras mögen sie nicht.

bin selbst aus Lüneburg, entspannte nähe zu deutschen krisenherden

>captcha wtf

mit rotem punkt meinst du ein wetzlar-fabrikat?? was hat man ihr angetan?

OP here.

Thanks for the insight, pdf and, also, for sarcastic remarks... :)

I'm actually working at my photo-skills, using a SLR camera (Nikon FE), so no DSLR-portfolio. Anyway, the point isn't in judging my photographs but letting me know what this job is actually about. I have a very cushy office-programmer-job ahead, but the dullness and the sense that I'll be dead inside is just unbearable...

So, I'll return to my original question: How hard is it to, actually, get into this niche?

>>1401951
Selbst eine Leica hält einen Sturz auf den Bordstein aus 2 Metern Höhe nicht aus.

>>1401953
From what I've heard it's quite hard. You have the choice of either working for a magazine/paper and get assignments, which most of the time will be extremely boring, but even then it's hard go get a job. The other direction is the freelance photojournalist. There are a lot, since everybody calls himself a freelance *put random profession in here* lately. You got to catch some editors eye to be successful and by successful I mean being able to pay an apartment and your daily bread.

tl;dr: stick out in the crowd or get another job.

>>1401953
>wait until some photog gets shot
>fill his niche

seriously, it's not that easy. also there are shittons of photogs everywhere, i doubt that you make a living off selling press pictures to AP or such, even getting there can be hard. Do your best and offer your shots to a magazine. do this a few times, when you are good, they'll publish it, still you are not "in there", appears to be a struggle to establish in that niche.

>>1401956

Ok, that's what I'm talkin' about...

>>1401955
Also, this is what I'm talkin about :)

OP, maybe you can take over for NY Times war photographer Joao Silva.

I have a feeling he'll be spending more time indoors.
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>>1401962

Deutschland gegen US, alter spinnst du oder was?

>>1401965
>implying there aren't more European than American users on /p/ at this time of the day

>>1401966
Right, the famous "yuro" /p/ posters who never post any actual photographs they've taken. I've heard of you.

A larger danger of conflict photojournalism than bodily harm is mental harm. You can see so much suffering that your brain stops reacting to it, effectively making you a psychopath.

>>1401984
>4chan
>implying this hasn't happened already

>>1401984

OP here: very true - Kevin Carter couldn't take it anymore and commited suicide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Carter

>>1401990
Carter did not kill himself because of what he saw, but the because of his role in the world, which he realized when he was torn apart by greedy journalists and moralfags.

>>1401990
"I am depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money!!! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners ... I have gone to join Ken [recently deceased colleague Ken Oosterbroek] if I am that lucky."

>>1401934
If you join up with combat camera you're under military contract. You're a soldier who happens to have a camera with him, not a civilian anymore. You might not have a choice in where you're going but if you really want to get out there and on someone else's dime, you join that.

>>1402083
>combat camera

Wat.


You must be talking about enlisting into the military to be a photographer. That's different than simply being a photographer in a war zone.

>>1402083
Dude. If you're joining a unit/squad as a war photographer then your job is not to shoot people. If you are in the military and decide to take photos (although you have to delete them afterwards), then, yes, you're required to carry your fucking gun. Watch "The Devil Came on Horse Back" or "Robert Capa - In Love and War".

>>1402089
combat camera is its actual name
It's probably the easiest way to get sent out overseas to a conflict zone with a camera with a military unit (if you're American then you talk to your recruiter specifically about that MOS, pass the ASVAB, get Combat Camera in writing in your contract, and get through boot). Yeah, you don't have freedom to walk around by yourself, but I doubt you're going to have freedom to walk around a conflict zone no matter how you're in there unless you are unsanctioned by any government or press agency, nor would you want to. That and you're on contract for 4+ years.

>>1402109
>>1402089
>>1402083

Two types:

1. Embedded photojournalist: belonging to news agency, no weapons, neutral but riding with one of the combatants.

2. Army photographer: army/MC enlisted, has weapons, not neutral; purpose: document the actions of a certain unit for the Army/Marine Corps.

Enough with this shit, this should be pretty clear.

>>1402109
you carry the gun with you in the rare event that one more shooter is needed instead of a guy with a camera. In your case your primary is going to be a DSLR and your secondary is the rifle.

>>1402113
Isn't that exactly what I said? The latter don't get to do anything with their photos other than have them locked up in an archive.

>>1402122
if you're in public affairs their stuff is tasked specifically for release to civilians

deployment pictures you ask? I'm not Combat Camera, however I shot a shit-ton of photos in Afghanistan last year. Only a select few were 'confiscated' though I still have them on an external around here somewhere.

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>>1402140

looks like west texas

bump for more like this:
>>1401937