Photographer for College Newspaper

I just joined my school's newspaper as a photographer. It's a small school of about 3,000 kids and most of the events I'll be covering are on-campus, for example, my first two assignments this week are a jazz concert and a basketball game.
Has anyone else been a photographer for a college newspaper and what were your experiences like?

it's good experience. you will get to be put in a lot of different shooting situations.

I'm a photographer at my college newspaper. Prior editors have told me that the work usually involves about 4-5 main photographers shouldering all of the diversions, news, sports, and opinions sections. When I was an assistant editor, I was published probably 7-8 times a week.

A lot of the work is filing the page up; the Op-Ed section will ask me to do "Campus Voice," where I ask 4-6 people for a quote and a photo that will can take up to half a page of a page. The most frequent and detested fixture is the standalone/wild art, where I have to find something interesting happening on campus and take a photo and write a 2-3 sentence caption. I know the pros have to do this too, and I guess it's more taxing to drive around for hours looking for something.

Also, basketball might be fun or not, depending on how well-lit the gym is. Yesterday I just got back from an away game with my trusty 17-55mm f/2.8 where I had to shoot at ISO 1600 to get 1/250; ugh, the noise was bad and some pictures exhibited motion blur. Home games are great because it's a stadium and I can shoot at ISO 800 and get 1/400.

when shooting for college papers, the workload is varied. the more you publish, the more work you'll do. i was once the sole photographer for a biweekly publication, which meant i was scurrying back and forth across campus almost daily. as editor now though, i agree, a good core of 5-7 photographers can get the job done well.

The jazz concert went really well, I even sold the band a group photo I took of them that they really liked. I don't know if that was ethical since I'm shooting for a newspaper, but it's so casual that I don't think anyone is worried.

I have been shooting for our school paper, which is similar in size to your school. Maybe a little bit bigger. We started off last fall with 3 photographers. Unfortunately, two of them quit and now I am carrying much of the workload.

Tuesday's issueWeb version doesnt represent print well)
http://arapaho.nsuok.e​du …Spring%20010/Fe​b.%202.pdf


You will cover anything from student concerts, theatre productions, sporting events, lectures, air band concerts,...
We had 3 photographers at the start of the year and now we are down to one. Me. It's a lot of work. It isn't all photo credit and press passes, but if you work your butt off you can get some good experience and make some good contacts. If you do really good, maybe they'll pay you.

Mike Jagendorf wrote in post #9553823
The jazz concert went really well, I even sold the band a group photo I took of them that they really liked. I don't know if that was ethical since I'm shooting for a newspaper, but it's so casual that I don't think anyone is worried.

I had a jazz concert shoot a while back and the jazz director asked for an 11x16 of their group, and I directed him to my website(w/ ordering enabled). He called and said it wouldn't let him save it to his computer. I explained that he could add it to his cart and it would get to him in a few days. He didn't call me back.

I was a PJ last year, my senior year, at The Ohio State University. I loved it. Although there is really no PJ program to speak of at OSU, it is in Columbus and we have the largest athletic department in the country, so we had an overwhelming need for photographers. I met many neat people and learned many cool things along the way. I have no interest in becoming a PJ, but there were definitely many good experienced.

Perhaps the greatest attribute is requiring to think quickly, because you'll be in many different, difficult shooting situations (and with me, I don't have the budget to afford new pro level cameras and lenses, although I could use a 7-2 2.8). Oh yeah, and the whole "you must boost your ISO because you aren't in a lab". There were a few times I had to get really creative to get a shot. Sometimes I got out of a comport zone, but that makes for a better all-around photographer.