Last week I did this picture of shell artist Blott Kerr-Wilson to illustrate an article in the Ross-shire Journal about the Tain Mussel Art Project:

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I also photographed the launch night of the project at Collegiate Church in Tain, intending the pics to be used in a gallery on the BBC web site, with captions telling the story of the project. But the BBC reporter preferred the beach pic so he decided to hold the article back until after this week's RSJ came out so he could use that picture instead.

Click here to read the BBC article

I've posted the gallery pics and captions over on Flickr. I can see that the beach pic is more eye-catching but I think of myself as a photojournalist, not just someone who makes pretty pictures. So I'd have preferred to have the gallery used instead of the beach pic but at the end of the day that's not my decision.

Click here to view the launch night photos

Truth be told, I don't begrudge the decision because I don't think photographers should decide which of their pics are used. We pay too much attention to the arty/techy side of things. People who aren't into photography are better at knowing what Joe Public wants to see so leave the decisions to them, I say. That's why it's important to always submit a selection of pics for consideration. When I first started sending pics to newspapers I'd only send my favourites and often they wouldn't be used, which can be discouraging. But when I started also sending the 'okay' ones that I didn't really like, my hit rate went up to 90% plus.