If you find yourself near a newsstand in Poland…

[chupathingie]

Congrats, Orionid… nice surprise in the email!

[orionid]

I like the picture, and it’s great that you can now brag that you are “a US-based photographer who works mainly in former Soviet-bloc countries exploring themes of torture and control on the post-communist psyche”.

I like that. I’m stealing it.

Regarding pay, I kind of gooned this one up. Really, it depends on the budget of the publication. I was mildly (read: really) excited about being asked, and assumed it would be a small accompanying photo. Plus I wanted to be able to put a publishing credit to my name, since I’m trying to convert to naval photographer, and prior publication helps considerably. So I low-balled my terms. A small (2×3) photo tends to pay $15-$50, so I asked for $10 and three copies of the publication. [insert facepalm here] 4×5’s / quarter-pages pay $30-$100, full pages pay $50-200, and spreads and covers pay $200-1000. I should have put a bracketed scale in my terms while still lowballing, something like $10 for 2×3, $20 for 4×5, $30 for half, and $75 for spread. Lesson learned.

Fashion stuff was another one for lots of foreign words. I remember translating something for a well-known bra manufacturer; that was hell.
And yes, I was about to type in “large bra manufacturer” before I realised the potential permutations

I remember an Chevy ad a few years back touting “There is no word for ‘truck’ in the Japanese language.”

“Bring that bra in here, Ed. I think we got a first down!”

[LeicaLens]

orionid
Steal away, steal away. I am only sad I forgot to work the word “juxtaposition” in there. Ooh, and “semelfactive” would have been nice too.

There is a word for truck in Japanese. It’s “Torakku”. Yeah. So basically Chevy got it right.

Actually, there is a word, but it’s never used. 貨物自動車. Using it would be like saying you ride the “omnibus” to work.

Interesting about the pay scheme. Not an easy way to make a living. I know a guy who sells some of his stuff to calendars, which pays a little. And the editor told you that next time you should factor in 20% for VAT?

[orionid]

He actually told me to factor it in this time, and gave an example. I forgot to mention that they requested an invoice to go with the contract/release, so I just listed it as a separate line item including their (polish) tax ID number.

[CauseISaidSo]

[insert facepalm here]

I wouldn’t beat myself up too badly about that. If that was my first time selling a photo to a professional publication, I could totally see myself doing that, too.

And like you said, you’ve now got a publishing credit, along with a pretty intersting story to go along with it.

[lokisbong]

Very cool! Congrats

[Curious]

Plus I wanted to be able to put a publishing credit to my name, since I’m trying to convert to naval photographer,

and being published in a commie magazine helps how comrade photographer?

[orionid]

and being published in a commie magazine helps how comrade photographer?

Published is published, my Curious comrade.

[Author]

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