Sorry its been a while, but sometimes life, stories and pictures get in our way. =) To answer a very good question, as with anything in art or a type of trade, you have to get yourself known. For starters, join your high school and/or college paper. Thats the best thing you can do. For writers, dont limit yourself to one type of writing, try everything, you never know what you'll be great at or love. There are so many opportunities for jobs, writing reveiws on movies, music, books, writing hard news stories, feature stories, sports and many more. I fell in love with sports writing by mistake. And ladies, let me just tell you, if youre good at it, its a great way to meet athletes. If photography is your game, start taking pictures for your school paper, newspapers need art, its just a fact of life, so there will always be room for a new photographer. But be creative, dont take boring shots.
And dont be lazy, fight for stories and photo opportunities, show initiative. Your advisors will see this matched with your ability and your stories/pictures will be published more. This gets your name out there. Then, once you have gained more skill, start sending in your work to writing contests or photo contests, there are plenty of them out there and it makes for great exposure. If you want to go further than that, and work for a big newspaper, put together a portfolio, have your advisor look over it, and call the editor/photo editor of your local paper and ask to set up a meeting. Share your portfolio with them and let them know you are looking for an internship and want a career in this field in the future. Its a great way to start and so many ways to get there. Go try it!
