It’s always nice when a magazine sends you a pdf of a layout of your work, and even more enjoyable when I actually like they way in which my images have been laid out. Quite often the end result of my shoot, my labours, is nothing which I would like. For instance I recently spent two long, intensive days shooting an assignment for a French magazine, and yesterday I saw the results- two little photos used. They could have bought the pics from a photo library. Sometimes I wonder what the magazine was thinking, and why I put so much effort in. But I do because that’s my job.
Today I was sent this above spread, from an article about Japanese whaling, in the magazine of the Tokyo American Club. I was pleased to see it, not only have my images been used well (on two spreads), but the article I also felt was a very fair analysis and reporting of the very thorny issue of Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.
I always felt, right from the moment that I was composing the picture and firing the shutter, that the above photo would make for a great magazine opening spread, or for a book cover. I’m glad to see the designers of the above magazine have used it well. It’s satisfying to see your own pics used well, as I said, most often I look at the usage of my images, let out an exasperated sigh and just turn the page.