Submitting Photos to Stars and Stripes
by Raymond T. Conway, RIT Class of 1993

So you're out there in one of the ____stan's and you've been shooting and working your butt off and you've got some great imagery.  Don't just sit on it and wait for someone else to hopefully get it out to publications...send your best stuff to us at Stars and Stripes.  Fire off an e-mail with pics attached and we can use them as standalones or along with a story.

To piggyback on a story Steve Thurow wrote here a while back, getting your photos published is a great way of promoting yourself, your work, your unit and branch of service.  It also provides you with tear sheets to use when applying for jobs, both military and civilian.

Getting quality photos from the field also helps us at Stripes significantly.  We only have two staff photographers trying to cover all of Europe, the Balkans, the Stan brothers and now the Persian Gulf.  It simply can't be done. We do have reporters who also shoot photos periodically rotating in and out of these areas; but its sort of like having PJ's write stories... some do it fairly well and some are just plain awful. 

You guys/gals are in all the places we'd like to be and we'd love to use your images.  But you gotta send 'em to us.  I realize there are Web sites, P.A. news services and such, that have your photos available, but all too often the photos are put up or sent to us several days after they've been shot.

As a general guideline, we're more interested in photos of people as opposed to equipment. G.I's pounding pavement, crew chiefs turning wrenches, soldiers building a school or sailors providing medical assistance to villagers are just a few examples. But having said that, if you've got a great shot of an F-16 screaming vertical through the sky, by all means, send that also.  Use your best judgment and please edit your images.  Don't send 20 almost identical pics of a refueling mission. 

When sending photos, the most important thing to remember is timeliness.  Send the images to us as soon as you can, same day if at all possible.  We are a daily newspaper, so if the photos are more than a day or two old, forget it...they won't use them.  The deadline for receiving photos that will run in the following day's paper is 5:00 P.M. Central European Time.   

Another key point is complete and accurate cutline information.  Too much information is better than not enough.  Ensure names are spelled correctly and avoid the use of military acronyms and jargon unless completely spelled out on the first reference. 

The following is an example of a decent cutline:

DUSTYASS AIR BASE, AFGHANISTAN-03 Jan 03-Photo by Master Sgt. Joe Schmo--Air Force Staff Sgt. John Doe, photojournalist, edits photos on his laptop
computer at Dustyass Air Base, Afghanistan, on Friday.  Doe, 25, a native of
Philadelphia, is assigned to the 1st Combat Camera Squadron (1 CTCS) at
Charleston Air Force Base, SC.  Doe and the 1 CTCS team of photographers and
videographers are documenting the Air Force mission in Afghanistan and
provide military leaders with daily imagery of the service's continuing efforts
in the war on terrorism.

To send photos to Stars and Stripes, first make sure they've been cleared by Public Affairs and then simply attach them to an e-mail and send to:
news@mail.estripes.osd.mil

If that doesn't work, contact me and I can provide you an ftp address to send photos also.  If possible, include a phone number where you can be reached in case the editors have any questions.  I suggest also to send me an e-mail or give me a call, and let me know the photos are coming so I can pitch them to our editors as well.  Here is my contact information.  Feel free to call or write anytime.

Raymond T. Conway
DSN-314-349-8270
Commercial- 49-6155-601-270
Cellular-49-173-313-6410
FAX- 49-6155-601-416 or DSN 314-349-6416
If calling any of these commercial numbers from within Germany, replace the 49 with a 0
e-mail-conwayr@mail.estripes.osd.mil or Conway99@aol.com

It is really a "win-win" situation.  You get your photos published in a reputable international newspaper and we get high quality images from professional photographers.  Sure, Stripes isn't as glamorous as Time Magazine or the Washington Post, but we're not exactly the local base rag either.  And remember, when the dust settles and Time and the Post return home to swarm in on the next politician who is bopping his secretary, Stars and Stripes will still be here...telling the story of the troops.

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