How pictures bought me my first nationwide newspaper writing fee

This month’s collection is all about pictures and the way, as journey writers, we will add it to our skillset to extend the chance of getting commissions. This first e-newsletter is by Scott Antcliffe, a writer-photographer who attended our Travel Writing Residential Course in 2025. Our next Travel Writing Residential Course is this November and there are a few places still available.

I’m comparatively new to the journey writing business, however I’ve already been revealed in The Guardian thanks to 1 key factor: my pictures.

I had at all times needed to work in journey media since I used to be a child obsessive about thumbing by means of copies of National Geographic and Wanderlust. When I picked up a digital camera in my teenagers and took my first flight after I was 21, the lens turned the first manner for me to know the world.

What adopted was a profession in marriage ceremony and occasions pictures, a enterprise with loads of punters. But the itch to journey and write continued and after taking the Travel Writing 101 residential course, I launched myself as a journey author with a lens.

I bought bylines with Scotland Magazine and Discover Britain journal within the early days, after which I bought a gig with The Guardian to take images for a feature by award-winning writer Ben Aitken. This stood me in good stead with the journey desk, and so I pitched a characteristic as a writer-photographer and bought my first nationwide newspaper fee inside 4 months.

I’ve little doubt that with the ability to provide each phrases and top quality photos made touchdown that first fee considerably simpler. But with the ability to take images doesn’t simply open doorways; it has basically formed how I write.

When you strategy a vacation spot by means of a viewfinder, you observe in another way. You be taught to hunt for moments somewhat than simply collect information. You take note of mild, temper, composition, and the small, sensory particulars that make a spot really feel alive. You begin asking editor-focused questions: “What single frame captures the soul of this experience? What detail will make a reader stop scrolling?”

Those visible habits feed immediately into your writing. An incredible journey {photograph} communicates a sense in 1/250th of a second; an awesome journey article does the very same factor throughout 1,000 phrases.

There can be a confidence that comes from realizing you may stroll right into a vacation spot and create your personal visible narrative. You’re now not ready for another person to provide the pictures or hoping a publication’s image desk will see the identical story you noticed. You can pitch with a clearer imaginative and prescient as a result of you recognize what the ultimate package deal may seem like.

From an editor’s perspective, pitching as a photographer-writer solves two big complications: finances and coordination. Publications are underneath fixed strain to ship content material throughout print, net, and social media on tighter budgets. Delivering a elegant characteristic with a ready-to-publish gallery means one bill, one level of contact, and a very cohesive story.

That stated, I don’t assume writers must develop into skilled photographers in a single day. You don’t want the costliest digital camera tools or hundreds of followers on Instagram. You want to know mild, composition, storytelling and learn how to create pictures that complement your phrases.

In a saturated freelance market, with the ability to provide each a compelling story and the pictures to assist inform it may be the distinction between merely protecting a vacation spot and actually bringing it to life. And it may be the distinction between getting that fee or not.

Travel author and wheelchair person Carrie-Ann Lightly at all times has fascinating views on journey writing with a incapacity.

Tom Robbins from the FT is on sabbatical this month, which suggests there’s a brand new editor for a short time — Harriet Green is protecting and is open to journey pitches according to her Instagram.

This newsletter by James Bosworth is an interesting perception into his strategy of utilizing AI to help in writing — and sparks a debate about what ‘human written’ actually means.

Finally, congratulations to Monisha Rajesh for the publication of the paperback model of Moonlight Express. It’s lower than a tenner, go get it now!

Want conventional journey writing ideas? We’ve bought on-line assets for journey writers here, and Meera Dattani’s webinars have takes from a few of the prime editors and freelancers.