Photo Submissions
Each week I get letters or emails from readers wanting to know how to go about getting one of their custom rods featured in the RodMaker Magazine Photo Gallery. Actually, it’s not hard and I’m always happy to feature nearly any custom rod in the magazine’s color center. There are a few requirements, however, and I’ll cover them here.
First and foremost, the rod or photo cannot have previously appeared anywhere else. For the most part, this means somewhere on the internet. It’s quite common these days for a rod builder who’s just completed a new rod to want to show it off. The first place most turn to is www.rodbuilding.org/photopost – the internet’s largest custom rod building photo collection. However, once a rod appears there, it can’t appear in the magazine. RodMaker readers won’t stand for recycled material – photos or articles. What appears in the magazine must be completely original and previously unpublished.
Granted, many don’t want to wait a month or more to see their rod photos appear in print. But consider this – even though the photo page mentioned above is the most popular on the internet, it still caters to just a couple or three thousand custom rod builders. On the other hand, the magazine reaches over 15,000 builders each and every issue. Thus, if you want your work to be seen by the greatest number of builders possible, RodMaker is the place to do that – and by a wide, wide margin.
Beyond that, the magazine is printed on a very high line screen. Print is a much more demanding medium than the internet. To look their best in print, photos need to be in sharp focus, and supplied in high resolution format. Tiff files are preferred, but I can work with jpeg files provided the images are large enough to be edited and resampled. Your camera’s highest “quality†setting generally provides a large enough image to work with.
Finally, the photo must be attractively staged. What I’ll never do, is present someone’s hard work in a less than favorable setting. Having a beautiful custom rod lying on a ratty housecoat or worn dog bed just won’t cut it. I receive many photos of extremely nice custom rods that I have to turn down for publication for just this very reason. And that’s a shame. If you want your work to be presented in the best manner possible, keep in mind that the setting and background count.
Finally, photo submissions should be made by burning several images to a CD and mailing them to: RodMaker, PO Box 1322, High Point, NC 27261. Please remember to include your name, mailing address and any pertinent information for the photos.
Tom Kirkman
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