I’ve been taken photography as a “serious hobby” in the past 4 years, give or take a few months. Within that time, I’ve managed to publish a few images from my underwater adventures in local printed media- specifically geographical and scuba diving magazines. Recently, a picture I took while mountain biking in the Alps in 2007 have reached the cover of a free edition of “Big Bike” Magazine, and has been printed in the thousands.
This proves a point- even if you’re not a commercial or professional photographer, being at the right time and the right place can get your photographs printed and published for the world (or at least a few thousands of people) to see. What then, makes a time and a place right? I’ve given it some thought and here are my tips on how to get your images published and printed:
1. Photograph things you love. My published photographes all came from areas I like, my hobbies. I think that when photographing an object or situation you’re connected to, you will effortleslly bring in good energy to your photography.
2. Photograph a lot. Once you’re out there, taking planned and well staged shots with high quality equipments is great, but don’t forget the occasional snapshot. In the bottom line- more photos mean more options, and with everything digital, any limitation on quantity is only virtual.
3. Share your photos. Whenever I’m on a vacation, if I take pictures of random people or of crouse friends I’m out with, I always try to take the time later to sort and share the images with more people. It’s fun, most people will appreciate and enjoy a good photo of themselves, and in turn will remember you. Just as the case with the image shown above- Joseph Pauly, photographed in this image, sent me an e-mail asking if he can send the image to Big Bike Magazine for print- over two years after it’s been taken. Another way of sharing is online, through popular platforms or more humble ones, such as The Wide Lens.
4. Enter Competitions. Online, local, by theme or reigonal- if you find a competition that looks like fun to enter, do it! You might just win something and get good recognition (and prizes). Competitions can promote your work greatly, as they are often coupled with printed media covering the results.
5. Offer your work. Most of us have a theme we like to photograph, go online and look for organizations, companies or magazined that you think might be interested in your work and send them some samples, they might refuse- but you’ll definetly not get a yes without trying.
If you want to publish your photographs here on The Wide Lens- follow this link.
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i have a shot that is amazing, it is a old Schwinn bike that has a Oak tree growing out of its spoke i call it “Spoaked” Can someone tell me how to get it to print its sooo cool I have never done photography but this is one in a million
Why don’t you send it over through the “publish photos” page (top menu)?
I have been intrested in photography for the past couple of years and now want to try to get somethig published. I was wondering what magazines you sent your pictures into that published you. I do nature photography.
Hey I got an idea for an own art related site while reading a few of your blog articles. As a matter of fact I don’t have any experience with web development
Did you create this website all alone? I am thinking about a small personal site and therefore I am not going to to spend any money. Maybe you can recommend a few easy tools. Of course the site doesn’t have to look as professional as yours 
@poster above me
nicely spoken!
thanks I enjoyed the post
Well the best advice I can give you, is to send materials to magazines that A. are accesible (National Geographic for instance would probably be a hard place to start with). B. Cover fields you like to photograph.
Me for instance, I like photographing underwater and mountain bikes. These are the two places I got to publish some work. Another usefull this will be to couple your photos with an article…
Hi Paula,
Yes I’ve made this site on my own.
If you don’t want to spend any money, you can do a bit of studying on WordPress.org – this is the platform I’m using.
You can decide if you have the time or rather get some help.
If you need any advice you can contact me.