Onboarding Freelance Photo-Journalist Template

Freelance Photojournalist
Onboarding Document

Hello! Welcome to the TKTK family. We are so happy that you are photographing for us and look forward to working together!

This document outlines the parameters of making photos, delivering them and receiving payment. Please read through this entire document prior to your assignment, and reach out to TKTK if you have any questions about your assignment, story or payment. 

As a photojournalist, you are responsible for relaying to your sources the purpose of the photos you are making. Be sure to obtain informed consent – meaning that people understand that their image may be used in our reporting and the context of the story where they will be used – in most cases except for extenuating circumstances. 

Assignment details including, date, location, and description will be emailed to you separately as well as a delivery deadline for images. 

Newsroom Point of Contact:

Name: TKTK

Phone: TKTK

Email: TKTK

Deliverables and Delivery: 

Please deliver a gallery of 15-20 toned, full-resolution (at least 14 inches at their widest edge at 300 DPI with a JPG compression level 10) photos in both portrait and landscape with captions including full names, credit info and keywords in the metadata. Make sure you mark that they are copyrighted with your name. Delivery can be made via Google Drive, Wetransfer or Dropbox. We will agree on a deliverable date at the time of assigning.

Filename convention:

Incorporate the date, your last name and the story slug

• YYYYMMDD_PhotographerSLUG_sequence

For example, Donnie Seals’s image — made on January 11, 2024 with story slug ‘BASKETBALLHEAVEN’ — would be renamed to:

• 20240111-SealsBASKETBALLHEAVEN-0001

Captions:

Confirm basic details with sources including, but not limited to, the spelling of their name, their age and relevant background information.

Captions should be concise and written in present tense, spanning at least two sentences:

• The first sentence details the who, what, where and when of the image and should include the city, state, country (when appropriate) and date.

• The second (and possibly third) sentence should provide contextual information or a source quote to help readers understand what they see in the image.

Identify all people in the image, unless large groups make it cumbersome to do so. When identifying multiple people, use directionals (left to right). For unusual spellings, write (CQ) following the name to indicate correct spelling. To optimize search functions, we also recommend you include obvious keywords that would be used to search for the photos.

Payment Terms

1. Assignment rate: $ 400 

Invoices and a completed W9 form may be submitted upon delivery of images into our system. Please email to TKTK. Payment will be made within 30 days of receipt of the invoice. 

2: Additional Compensation 

In addition to the agreed-upon rate, you may be reimbursed for airfare, mileage, hotel, car rental, parking fees and tolls. Our mileage rate is $0.67/mile. Anything other than mileage, parking and tolls should be agreed upon in writing prior to the assignment. Incurred costs should be included as separate line items on your invoice and must be accompanied by receipts to qualify for compensation. 

3. Kill Fee and Missed Deadline Penalties: 

If the assignment is delayed or rescheduled for any reason, we will offer the Freelancer first right of refusal on acceptance of the rescheduled assignment. If the assignment is canceled and the Freelancer is notified less than 48 hours before the scheduled start of the assignment, we will compensate the Freelancer 50% of the agreed upon assignment rate.