How I Got Published in
International Magazines

I get asked this a lot, usually by models after a shoot, sometimes by other photographers: how did you actually get into these magazines? The honest answer is less mysterious than people expect. I submitted the work directly.

No agent, no PR team, no paid placement. Just editing a shoot down to its strongest images and sending it to the magazine's submission address, the same way anyone can. Over time, that's led to features across a range of publications:

Submitting is simpler than it sounds

Most independent fashion and editorial magazines, including all of the ones above, accept unsolicited submissions from photographers. You send a curated set of images from a themed shoot, usually 8 to 15 photos with a consistent concept, along with the team credits: model, MUA, stylist if there was one, and the photographer.

The bar isn't fame. It's a coherent concept, technically clean images, and a story the edit actually tells. A single strong portrait won't get you published. A tightly edited set that reads like a real story will.

Left: Marika Magazine (Issue 4606, November). Right: Ellas Magazine, October Fashion feature.

Marika, four times over

Marika Magazine is the one I've placed work with most consistently: features across their January, March, April, and November issues, each with a different model and concept. Once an editor knows your work fits their pages, submitting the next shoot becomes a much shorter conversation. That's the real value of a first placement anywhere: it's rarely a one-off.

GMARO, Beautica, and Top Shot (Issue 12): three more independent titles built the same way, one direct submission at a time.

Why this actually matters for clients

A magazine credit isn't just a nice line on a bio. For models, a published feature is real proof for agency submissions and comp cards: it shows a magazine's editorial team looked at the work and chose to run it. For anyone booking a shoot, it's a signal about consistency: the same lighting, direction, and editing style that got picked up once is what you're booking when you book a session with me.

Every published feature started as a normal shoot. The difference was editing it down hard enough afterward that it told one clear story, and then actually sending it somewhere.

If you want your shoot submitted too

If we shoot together and the set is strong and cohesive enough, I'll put it forward to magazines I already have a relationship with. There's no guarantee any submission gets picked up, editors make their own calls, but it costs nothing to try, and it's part of how I approach every themed shoot I book.

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None of this happened through connections or a publicist. It happened through shooting a concept properly, editing it honestly, and sending it to the people who make the decision. That part hasn't changed since the first submission, and it's not going to.

Have a concept you want to shoot and submit? Get in touch and let's build something worth sending.