P: On the programme today we have Fern Davies, photo editor of Vogue magazine and Tom

Constable, photo journalist and photo editor of the Daily Mail. Welcome to the programme.
Fern, Tom

F/T. Thank you.

P: Now, Fern, the first question I have to ask you is how you got into photojournalism in the
first place.

F: Well, I’d like to say that my way in was unusual, that my work was spotted by a talent
scout, and they just had to have me but in fact that would be lying. Mine was the normal way
to do it. I sent thousands of applications and finally I got an internship at a magazine’s photo
department. I won’t say which one to avoid any embarrassment. It wasn’t a great job, I was
treated as a gofer, you know, go for this, go for that, returning art to people, calling up PR
asking for photos. All very glamorous stuff, as you can see. Even so, it was useful experience.
It takes you a while to find your feet. Fortunately there’s always someone who’s been there
for a while so they can show you the ropes. Eventually I got the hang of it so I started
getting more important jobs. I gradually worked my way up and the rest, as they say, is
history.

T: Yes, that actually sounds very familiar. Unless you’re related to the boss, there aren’t any
shortcuts in this job. Start at the bottom and work your way up.

P: Great. Well, I’m sure there are a few aspiring photo editors who’d appreciate some tips
as to what to do once you are there. How can you get better at the job?

T: I can think of a couple of important points - feel free to jump in, Fern. First thing you
need to do is to develop your eye for photography. Unless you were born with the golden eye,
you need to edit tons of photos because looking through all the bad pictures to find the gems
is what develops your eye for what makes a good image. It’s also helpful to track images from
your edit to the final printed product so you can see which images make the final cut. Of
course, if your editor and/or art director are useless, all the great images never
make it on the page but that’s another story.
You should keep a list of editorial photographers. You need to begin learning the names of all
the great editorial photographers and try and keep track of the various shoots they’ve done
over the years. This means visiting the newsstand and writing down the names of
photographers whose work you like. If the only photographers’ names you know is Annie
Leibovitz, who by the way is under contract with Conde Nast, you’re in trouble because you
will never persuade her to do a photo shoot . I’ve tried. It ain’t pretty. The list of top
editorial photographers is not long and you should know who many of them are.

Fern: Yes, I agree, but I’d also say you need to work on your institutional knowledge of
photography. If you can recall the photographers who shot Penelope Cruz in the last 5 years,
that is valuable, not only if you need to find images that aren’t already in circulation but
also to help inform how you will photograph her for the story you’re working on. Because you
don’t want to do exactly the same thing, you’re looking for something new. And you should
develop relationships with photographers. In the end, you will be hired to work at a magazine
based on your relationships with great photographers. Not everyone can work at a glamorous

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magazine with massive budgets and movie stars to take pictures of and so you really need to
develop relationships with photographers, especially when they are young and hungry, so that
later on you can rely on them to help you out when you’re in need.

P: Sort of you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, then?

F: Exactly - it’s like everything else - who you know is important.