As a freelance press photographer, most of my published pictures are sent in to news desks ‘on spec’. This means I haven’t been commissioned for the picture, rather, I send images in which I think may be of interest to the newspapers and if so, I’ll make a sale.

The usage in today’s blog post is a classic example of the ‘on spec’ system. I was in Cork city covering the last day of the Debenhams protest (which I’ll cover in an up-coming blog). I was walking back to my car after photographing the protest when, crossing the road bridge at the Port of Cork, I saw a bunch of pleasure boats and merchant vessels moored on the quay and in the marina.

I couldn’t resist taking the picture, even though it was a very grey day, with the hope it might get used at some stage in the future. Imagine my delight when it was used the very next day!

*An ‘On Spec’ image usage in the ‘Picture Diary’ in Cork newspaper ‘The Echo’.*

I do enjoy this part of the job - searching for photos to send in to the newspaper picture desks. Being a freelance press photographer means freedom to go where I want, when I want and shoot what I want!

Keep an eye out for next week’s blog post, where I’ll tell the story of another picture usage. Maybe…