There are several ways in which the Militant can accept photos for press. You can send unprocessed film or negatives, although you should be aware that our standard policy is not to return the negatives or photographs. Prints are fine, either in black-and-white or color. We scan photos for publication from either prints or negatives.

What an increasing number of contributors are doing is sending their pictures via e-mail, as scanned images in either TIFF or JPEG format. Now that scanners are relatively inexpensive, and there are facilities that will scan and e-mail pictures (for a small fee), photos can reach the Militant in a matter of minutes. The picture in this week's Militant of Young Socialists in Sweden selling Pathfinder books at an unemployment demonstration was sent in this way, and we placed it directly on the page. The electronic photo files should be a grayscale scan with a final size between 1 and 1.5 megabytes. The scanned images must be sent for IBM compatible computers (not MAC).

As an aid to our readers taking and sending in more photos for the Militant, we are reprinting below portions of a 1995 article by Eric Simpson, who often takes pictures for the Militant, on how to take good photos.

Imagine the Militant without pictures. Thanks to our many worker correspondents we don't have to. But the Militant needs more and better photos, on a wider array of topics, and from more countries.

Photographs are a big component of the Militant's journalistic style. We need photos to bring life and action into our pages. Photographs quickly and directly set the scene for a story - give a sense of place - and show the main characters. Photographs communicate the scale of an event: whether it involves hundreds of people, or hundreds of thousands.

And photographs can substantiate the facts in a story, driving home the point that the Militant tells the truth. Helping to get the facts out to our readers - to tell the truth directly and without embellishment - is the number one goal of Militant photography. The facts are in the details. We have to reflect the immediacy of the specific situation we are reporting on as journalists and participants.

A photograph should never show a "picket line" in general, for example, but should show certain workers, with first and last names, standing in a unique place for a very specific and important reason. A good photograph would put you on the line, and introduce you to fellow fighters. A great photograph would give voice to those fighters, speaking to the reader with their expressions.

Get up close
Only through clear detail can a photo communicate the facts. To capture the detail, you must put yourself at the center of the action. You have to get close.

Militant photographers must always photograph what they see, never what they know. From 100 yards in the driving rain, I know the five gray shapes are a picket line because I am looking for a strike at that mine. But what do I really see? Some shapes and a lot of rain. What is in my mind will not show on film. But if I stop and participate in the picket line for a while, talk with the strikers and learn about their struggle, and introduce myself and my newspaper, I'll be part of their fight and they'll appreciate an up-close shot to support their strike. The photographs I take of fighters on the line in the driving rain, drenched, with dripping union caps and soggy placards, will show real people and their determination.

Always shoot a number of pictures. Not only will it be more likely that one of them will turn out to be usable, but it also will help to put people at ease.

Even without an article, a photo and a short caption can communicate a wealth of information. It can show how the picket line works. It can show the attitude of the workers as they explain their fight to new people.

The subject of every Militant photo should be people moving into political action. One way or another, these two words - people and action - cover the entire range of Militant photography. This is the reality of our class, the working class, which is reflected in the pages of the Militant. We need Militant readers to send photographs of the struggles you are involved in. Of fights against cop brutality. Of your factory and the conditions of work you are organizing to improve. Of people getting together to study politics or to organize against tuition increases. We need photos of the rotten conditions in your high school or neighborhood. Of struggles you aren't a part of but want to let the world know about.

We need photographs of people selling the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial, and Pathfinder books. If you hear that something is going on, go to the action. Take copies of the Militant, take a pen and paper, and take your camera. Shoot a whole roll of film and send it in immediately. And every photograph or roll of film should be accompanied by as much back-up information as you can put together, including your name and phone number.  
 
 
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