Spot news photography is a very exciting area of photojournalism. If you are serious about the field and want to make a decent extra income, this might just be for you. The field can be competive in larger scale cities by for smaller town or rural areas that the weekly newspapers do not have a full time photographer, you may have just found a gold mine.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need thousands of dollars worth of equipment to be successful in spot news. The most important tool is your desire to make quality images. Other than motivation all that is needed is a decent digital camera and a police scanner. Of course if you are inexperienced in monitoring public safety communications, it will take a lot of listening and learning to weed out routine from extraordinary calls.

Although I mentioned that you do not need an expensive camera to get good images, there are some features you will want. First the camera has to be easy to use. If you are shooting emergency scenes such as fires, accidents and rescues, the police will keep you at a safe distance so a good range zoom will come in handy, Some point and shoots have a 5X zoom and others such as the new Olympus SP570UZ has an amazing 20X zoom. I recommend this and the Canon Powershot S5 because you have many shooting features that you can find on SLRs without the high cost.

The key to success in spot news photography is to be on scene as quick as possible so a good map or GPS system is a must. When I began to freelance, I would ride around the neighboring cities and towns getting familiar with landmarks, streets, one way streets, etc. I recommend you do this both day and night because things look much differently at night. Also, bring your fire/police scanner along and chase some calls. Not only will this help you learn your streets but it will also give you the opportunity to meet the public safety officials. The more they see you and get to know you, the more success you will have in gaining access to scenes.

In regard to the police and fire departments, always put your photography to work for them. Make sure they get free copies or a CD of the incident. Let them use your photos for training, public relations, investigations and the like. Let them know also that you are breaking into the field and you will find that they will be very supportive of you in your endeavors. If you are trustworthy and professional, you might be privy to additional information regarding incidents so you can give newspaper editors a better story to look at. As your good reputation grows, you may also be asked by the fire and police departments to take photos for non emergency activities such as open houses, drills, yearbooks just to name a few,

In closing, the most important thing to remember is to always have your camera with you. News happens immediately and does not wait for you to be ready. Be prepared, be safe and most of all be professional!