Guardian Picture Editor: Roger Tooth

Name: Roger Tooth

Position: Picture Editor 

Newspaper: The Guardian

Potted career: Worked as a photographer on The Hackney Gazette and for IPC Magazines, freelancing for eight years.Joined the Guardian in 1988, as assistant picture editor, working with Eamonn McCabe for 12 years before taking over.

The Facts: 

Commissioned? Yes and no, most news is done through agencies, although magaine and portraiture shoots are commissioned.  

Contract? There is web usage built into Guardian contracts. “The contract includes working across The Observer as well, and doing video, so we expect people to muck in if they can.  There’s no resistance to that because it means we pay for them to have video training, including the freelancers, so I think it’s been a 50/50 deal.” 

Criteria? “I think how you get into a newspaper is to submit work, you get stuff used and then you phone up and ask if they’ll see you’re folio [dropping in] “by the way you’ve used two or three of my pictures of mine…” That’s really disarming for a picture editor because they probably haven’t picked up on a name but they remember the pictures.” 

Crucial Information: 

On how to get commissioned: “If you’re freelance you have to think that you’re going to earn money this year and in all their spare time shoot weekend events, demos all that kind of stuff - that’s what they need to do.  Then just submit the pictures, make them as good as possible and just see how you get on.”  

On New Media: “It used to be that you’d go to shoot a picture and one would get used from say three or four rolls of film, now we can deal with a gallery of pictures so 20 might get used from a job so all the photographer’s work is brought out.  In some ways it’s really freeing it up.  If you think that our picture library used to be full of images that never saw the light of day, whereas now the total body of work from each job can be published.” 

On Innovation: “I think to do a BA in photography is just a ridiculous option… I think you’d be much better off spending those three years experimenting. The other thing is, now I think the whole world is about experimentation anyway. The whole business is, the web is, all of that innovation is out there. I’m quite happy for people to be whatever they want to be but if you want to join this industry then it’s all about change, new ways of doing things.” 

FULL INTERVIEW IN APRIL/MAY F2 FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER