Author: Jeff Insel
I woke up this morning, started my morning tea and fetched the newspaper. Upon turning over the front page, to the weather page, I noticed that a sunset photo from my driveway I’d submitted recently was printed. I’m always surprised when this happens (and I’ve been lucky enough to have 7 in the past two years). My wife recently had one “re-printed”, the same photo printed in January this year and again this past week. I consider myself to be an average photographer and enjoy sharing my photos and like most everyone, it’s fun to see something with my name on it in print, even if it is a small (1.5”X 2”) photo on the inside of a newspaper – a diminishing audience unfortunately.
So, how does this work? It requires some perseverance, repetition and patience. The most difficult part can be the submission to the paper as their “mail box” is quite often full and you receive one of those bounce back messages asking you to try again later. Don’t’get frustrated, just keep trying. I have found that it’s sometimes easier to submit on weekdays, late afternoon or early evening. Start by sending you image to: weatherpix@arizonarepublic.com or to mike.meister@arizonarepublic.com, be sure to include “Reader Submitted Weather” in the subject line; attach your jpeg photo in a medium size with a very brief description, be sure to include your name and city of residence. Be patient, it may be weeks before they use it (if at all) and don’t be afraid to continue submitting images, I’ve probably submitted 35-40 to get those seven.
Also, just because it’s the weather page doesn’t mean you can’t submit other types of images. I’ve had a couple of “critter photos” displayed – see below. I figure that anytime one of my photos is selected, it must have been a slow submission week-but you never know and occasionally someone you know notices it and lets you know, reaffirmation of sorts and a fun way to start you day.
Give it a go!
Jeff Insel is a trip leader with Arizona Highways Photo Workshops.