My name is Simon Bennett, (call me Si). I am a press photographer based in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, Australia. I guess you could say that I am pretty lucky to be in this situation. The answer is yes i am, but there was a lot of hard work that went into it as well.
I have now been shooting professionally for the last 18 months. Everyday i pinch myself still to make sure its not a dream. Being a press photographer is very interesting. There is pretty much something new everyday of the week.
I shoot many different things, yesterday i photographed the Deputy Prime minister of Australia and the Premier of NSW. Today i had to talk my way into someone’s home and photograph them for a series of pictures about local people. i just turned up out the front of his his house, he had no idea who I was and I had no idea who he was.
I will be honest there are some boring things i do have to shoot, and there is some upsetting things i have to shoot. Boring like ads for the newspaper, upsetting like a deceased farmer that passed away in the paddock.
Life is busy as a press photographer and you have to provide images of exceptional quality all of the time. It is work but is is fun work. I still try to find time to shoot personal work, I am glad I do. Some of my passions is music photography, protests and conflicts are also high on my list. I guess i am just a massive fan of photographs of people. i would like to get some more work, shooting skateboarding would be really interesting. Time will tell on that one.
6 Tips on getting into press photography:
1 – Photograph people. Shoot family and friends and use interesting things about them and use those things with them in a picture.
2 – Courses do help. Its a great networking source as well.
3 – Be prepared to do some work experience and get images online, photoblogs are greta for that.
4 – When taking photos use different angles, shoot from high above or down below, far way or close up. Use different lenses, each lens will create a different picture.
5 – Network, try to get to know photographers in the industry, don’t be afraid to make phone calls to newspapers
6 – Go check out photo galleries and exhibitions, look at news photos from all over the world. It is important to look at other photographers images so you can see styles that work for you and don’t.
Profile :
Oh yeah, by the way it would be great if you stop by and check out my photoblog at www.stayclassysydney.com you can follow me on twitter @SiBennett_ also. The paper i shoot for is www.liverpoolchampion.com.au
this seems like such a cool job!
Hey Si! Wow you’re probably the closest person to me in terms of distance than the other folks here! I’m in the western suburbs of Sydney as well, practically neighbours! Which newspaper are you working for?
I just checked out your website, your latest blog, the picture of the chinese store, thats in Blacktown hey? I live literally 10 mins away! How did you get into press photography? i know you mentioned it took a long time to get into it but maybe I could get some tips off you? or where you could do work experience at? especially in Sydney, it’s so competitive!
great meeting you on here! hope to see more of your work in sydney papers!
btw your photo fo the little boy is magnificent, i get a sense of obvious shyness but also the feeling of the unknown and secrecy from a culture rich in knowledge and information. love it!
Beautiful moment has been captured in the child picture. Great Work. Its when you don’t even know that you catch such perfect mood and expression in caption which you just imagine =)
The other picture shows the extreme life in that. (Y)
Hey Everyone, Thanks for all the awesome words, it means a lot that you guys liked the pictures i posted. Paula yeah that is a chinese resturant in Blacktown. Great place too. I shoot for Fairfax Media, my main paper is the Liverpool Champion. I do get stuff in the Herald also (occaisonally). As for the photo of the boy, one of my favourites, it made me realise that muslim people can be afraid of the unknown too. Have you done any courses, if not TAFE in West Sydney is a great place to start, that is where I did mine. Your best bet to try and get some experience is start with the local papers, thats how i got my job now, but you need to know a fair bit about compostion and exposures. Hope this help a bit more. Best of luck Paula.
Fantastic stuff, pushing the normal envelope of newspaper photography (at least, by mostly boring UK standards) and creating some great shots for the paper! Keep it up!
Hey Si! Wow you’re probably the closest person to me in terms of distance than the other folks here! I’m in the western suburbs of Sydney as well, practically neighbours! Which newspaper are you working for?
I just checked out your website, your latest blog, the picture of the chinese store, thats in Blacktown hey? I live literally 10 mins away! How did you get into press photography? i know you mentioned it took a long time to get into it but maybe I could get some tips off you? or where you could do work experience at? especially in Sydney, it’s so competitive!
great meeting you on here! hope to see more of your work in sydney papers!
Twitter link is bad!
Good tips. Good luck!