How would one find a job position ....adding a caption to photographs?

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   ChristynaJohnsonposted 11 years ago

   How would one find a job position ....adding a caption to  photographs?
   
   I would love a career where my job would be to add captions to pictures..or to work for some magazine writing articles. How would one find a job position doing so?

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   Beaksposted 11 years ago

   Those are two very, very different things. To write for magazines you usually need a journalism, professional writing or communications degree and clips to send in. You need to have superior feature writing skills to even be considered, and your clips had been be varied and top notch. If you don't have a degree yet, you could conceivably be there in about five years if you work hard in college and then get an internship after you graduate.
   
   Captions are generally written by the person writing the story that the pictures appear in. There is no such job as a photo captioner.

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      ChristynaJohnsonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have seen a few things where there was a picture and it said, " Capture This"..thought it would be a cool job, appearantly I was wrong.  Thank you for your time and answer.

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   Clive Donegalposted 11 years ago

   Copy editors typically caption pictures.
   If you are interested in writing for a magazine, find one that matches your interests and brainstorm ideas for an appropriate article you might submit.
   Writers' Market is a book that lists names, contacts, guidelines and payment for thousands of publications.

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      ChristynaJohnsonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      thank you, Clive.  I will look into this further.

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   Laura Schneiderposted 11 years ago

   I agree with the above folks--in technical writing and marketing/sales writing, usually the author suggests a caption for the picture that ties in with the written text, and the editor has final say. I can't imagine a need for a separate person just to write the picture captions.
   
   Journalism, however, there will probably always be a need for. I would argue that we Hubbers are all, to a very small, mostly uneducated extent, e-journalists writing articles, some of which are featured and win prizes and some of which do not. A Journalism or related degree would be needed to become a print journalist with proven samples of your already-published work in your portfolio at the time of your first interviews. If you have a technical degree, you could be a technical writer. I've written an article on that somewhere back in history--it's about the best pay you can get for writing unless you're turning out blockbusters twice a year or Stephen King.
   
   Have a look on salaries.com and see what related profession there are. Perhaps your skills would be suited to one of those jobs. Don't give up! You'll find something you love, I'm sure. You just don't yet know what it is.
   
   Cheers!

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      yupperclubposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      First off, I do not do TECHNICAL writing.  I do CREATIVE writing.  I use the best of mine ability to express mine own thoughts to the best of my ability - I include research, but try to further express mine own interpretation as to what I accept.

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      ChristynaJohnsonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you to all for the imput. I was merely asking a question, Yubberclub. Stop being a hater! I have seen pics that ask for people to " Caption THIS!"  I thought how cool would that be?!  I had an ELANCE acct, but canceled it from lack of interest.

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   barbat79posted 11 years ago

   I see this as an ambition (they begin as dreams) and my opinion is this, though I dont have experience in the industry, it stands to logic that the person who writes the articles also writes the captions since they have the insight into the full reading of the piece.  (I am speaking from a visual art stance)
   I saw others offer good suggestions on how to go about creating a portfolio first, then once you have an actual publication, including that in your portfolio...things can begin to pick up for you as you build an all pro portfolio.  Good luck and best wishes.  I hope to hear from you one day soon sharing that you got your first free lance writing job!

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      ChristynaJohnsonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for taking the time to reply.  All input is welcome.

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