When one wants to begin a career in travel photography, they always face a haunting question: how do I make a living while traveling? After all, travel photography is as expensive as nature photography, if not more. There are varied factors that one has to look at, from fees for visa and hotel arrangements to flight tickets and food. So, how does one manage to make a profit while funding their next trip? According to travel photographer Sean Dalton, here are a few things that you can certainly do.
Client Work
This is the foundation of one’s income as a travel photographer. Client work, Sean said, includes selling photographs or your services as a photographer to advertisers, websites, and those who create promotional materials. What one requires is to climb the ladder to reach, is the following:
- Begin your career by going after local businesses close to your home. This includes cafes, smaller local brands, and restaurants to ask if they need a photographer to capture portraits, weddings, or events. Through this, you can understand how to work professionally, as well as client demands, budgets, and more.
- After you build a portfolio and have great work to show, you create a website. This will help you to be taken more seriously. This will also help you further reach out to sizeable brands, especially when you pick a niche genre to focus on.
- Amidst this, begin to pitch ideas through email or direct message. At the same time, if you are going around to shoot to different places, you can gradually begin to pitch to brands by incorporating that location. For instance, if you are visiting your relatives in Europe or Asia, you can always pitch to them, saying you have a cool idea that can work better for their products here.
- The best way to expand your reach as a travel photographer is word-of-mouth, in addition to pitches and social media presence. If your clients are happy with what you shot, they will recommend you to their partners as well.
Digital Products
This means that you begin to sell what you know. For instance, Lightroom presets, LUTs, online courses, photography guides, and travel guides. While doing this, you also keep in mind how you create and sell them. You can make a great travel guide and put it on your handle to sell it as many times as you want. A preset pack is the easiest way to sell what you know and make a decent sum for yourself. Everyone who is inspired by your work as a travel photographer will buy the pack to get similar aesthetics. You can also sign up on Squarespace to set up an online store. However, remember you will have to start small and work your way towards a bigger income. Also, while doing so, create an email list, which will make it easy to connect with people who are your potential audience.
Affiliate Revenue and Sponsorships
You can also get involved with brands whose products you use and trust and earn a commission on sales. This includes cameras, software, and photography accessories, amongst other photography-related tools. This is called affiliate marketing and sponsorship, which has helped photographers gain some financial backup. But to reach this level, you will have to have an exceptional body of work and followers. After all, brands like ‘influencers’ for promoting their equiments.
At the same time, you must gradually focus on creating high-quality images, as well as branch out to content creation to keep your footing as a travel photographer.
Other Income Streams
This is tricky, but a few other sources of income for travel photographers include the following:
- Licensing images: If you can team up and work with magazines, they will send you for editorial work to places to capture their essence. For instance, Architecture Digest sends photographers to various parts of the world to capture exuberant architectural spaces.
- Printing photo books: if you can get a publisher to back you up, you can also sell your images as photo books, which will also provide decent revenues for you. Or, you can always sell your prints, with limited edition print runs helping you to get better income.
- Stock photography: Last but not least is stock photography, which will give you a small margin of profit. However, you have to be very careful as this can lead to AI models training themselves on your images.
Keep on Building
To be a successful travel photographer, you need a strategic approach to your work. So, now that you have your presence on the media and word of mouth out there, gradually begin to share your journey. This means conducting talks and seminars and getting interviews with magazines and websites, amongst others. This will help you to build your network and meet new people, including potential clients. If you are an ambassador, you will be called for talks at photo fairs and more, which will further give you a push in the right direction. Also, get into exhibitions, which could be a way to further expand your horizons.
However, remember you need to invest in knowledge. This is not just about photography but also digital marketing tools to grow yourself. With the rise of AI, you may also find yourself in a situation where you need to defend your work. And so, we suggest you continue to read up on varied aspects of this technology as well.
Last but not least, keep pushing forward even when things appear difficult. Travel photography is all about passion and curiosity. As long as you enjoy the journey, you will continue to find ways to grow.
