Dominick Tyler - Tangled
Access can make or break a story and negotiating access is always a nervous process for me. Last week a project that I've been thinking about for a while came to an abrupt halt before it even began because of access or rather lack of it and now I'm wondering where I went wrong. It's not the first time this has happened of course, I've had several stories fold because access either fell through or was impossible to arrange, but the signs were so good for this one it came as a shock when I heard the blunt "No".
My immediate reaction was that I'd failed to communicate my idea clearly and that I'd been misunderstood, so I followed up with a second crack at a first impression, an email that I hope will be interpreted as the persistence of dedication rather than arguing the toss. I don't expect the second email to work really, but I wanted to explain myself better at least, and it made me think about good and bad ways to go about getting access to stories. Each case is different of course but a few things seem to work:
Always phone. By all means email first but emails are too easy to ignore and an actual conversation is the gold standard for negotiation so follow up with a call.
Make it worth their while. There has to be something in it for the subject, or the boss of the institution or whoever is the gatekeeper to access.
Show your credentials. The most effective credentials are previous works that show you don't screw people over, and that you can deliver what you're offering.
Think of it as a collaboration. Which, to some extent, it always is. Long term projects especially need collaborative relationships to develop between photographer and subject and this can be seen as an attraction or a problem for those who allow you access.
With my recent failure I did at least try to follow the above but it still didn't work and the lesson for me is to not take anything for granted, least of all access, and to quickly start work on another project.
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