How My Photos Get Printed in Magazine For the First Time!

Alright. This is big for me. My first commissioned shot got into a magazine! An international one at that! Imagine how excited I am. This is by no means my first commissioned shot. I’ve done plenty before. But getting into a printed press really feels different.

Click here for PDF of the magazine

What event was that?

It should be clear from the magazine pdf that it is the “Indonesian Batik Night”. Batik is a traditional art of Indonesia (even though Malaysia tried to claim it for themselves). It is a very versatile clothing where you can wear to the most formal of international event to the least formal dinner party. You can read Wikipedia and Living in Indonesia website for more information about this.

How did I get the job?

To be honest, I was quite surprised on how I got the job too. One day I just got a call from the Consul-General of Republic of Indonesia, OUT OF THE BLUE! I mean, a phone call from an unknown caller woke you up in the morning, surely you don’t feel eager to take it. But when I know the one speaking was the Consul-General himself, I jumped out of the bed, haha. It was hillarious.

One might ask why would he call me instead of other photographers? I have no idea. I didn’t ask him either. My best guess was that I’ve had several photoshoot with his niece that lives with him. His niece must have helped influenced his decision on calling me, haha.

So how did my image ended up in the magazine?

One more thing I didn’t really expect. Less than one week after I submit the photo to the Consulate, I got an email mentioning about the magazine. And… here I am :)

What can we learn from this?

Ok, some of you might think that I’m just lucky to get all this streak. But personally, I think all of this have to do with networking. If you keep building connection to other people and show them your values, sooner or later somebody who is willing to pay for your skill will emerge. You just have to keep going. On side note, I also got several photography jobs from the contacts I get while volunteering for events.

So what about you?

Do you have experience with magazine publishing? or just have a comment? Please write it down below.

If you like this post, you might also like:

  1. Photos by Basic Photography Workshop Students
  2. Photos by Night Photography Workshop Students

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  • woohoo so this is it
  • Networking is incredibly important. I'm trying to do a lot of it now that I started back at college today. My network basically fell apart when I took the spring semester off, though I had only a few close friends.

    Make connections and you will get results, often unexpectedly.
  • A semester off shouldn't kill you, it'd be worth an afternoon of quick emails to reestablish your old connections. Get people out for coffee or lunch.. If they aren't possible to revamp, they probably weren't worth having in the first place..

    I'd also encourage you to get out and meet people in your areas of interest that *aren't* connected with your schooling (try groups like the local chamber of commerce, or meetup.com or other special interest groups..) People that are actively involved in areas you want to focus on will be more helpful in the short term than school chums that are struggling to get established themselves..
  • This is reassuring! To be honest when I found this blog post I was hoping to find some magical bit of information I've been missing, but you've reaffirmed that this game is still all about network, network, network (and a bit of skill..)! Keep it up though!

    Jordan
  • yeah Jordan, connection is everything. its cheap and effective, only requires goodwill to other people :)
  • Candice_Li
    true true~~so...keep going~ ^_^
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