how travel photographers make money
Have you ever looked at a breathtaking travel photograph and thought, "Could I turn my passion for photography into a profitable career?" As a professional travel photographer, I'm here to tell you that the answer is a resounding yes! Travel photography is not just an exciting career; it's a lucrative one that allows you to blend your love for creativity, adventure, and capturing the world's beauty into a fulfilling profession.
Is there a demand for travel photography? Absolutely! In today's visually driven world, high-quality images are a necessity, especially for businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors. As a travel photographer, I've found that my ability to tell compelling stories through my lens, capturing the essence of various destinations, is highly sought after.
So, how much can you make as a travel photographer in the UK? The income can vary widely, depending on factors such as experience, reputation, and the type of photography. On average, a travel photographer in the UK can earn between £20,000 and £30,000 per year. However, as I've discovered in my career, top-tier photographers can earn significantly more, especially when they diversify their income streams.
As a Photographer, Filmmaker, and Creative Director hailing from Switzerland and currently based in London, I've been fortunate to turn my passion for travel and photography into a successful career. My journey into photography, fuelled by my background in filmmaking, has allowed me to create a body of work that reflects my commitment and passion for every frame captured.
In my experience, the key to success in travel photography is not just about capturing stunning images; it's also about understanding the business side of photography and finding ways to diversify your income. In the following sections, I'll share some of the ways I've been able to generate income as a travel photographer.
This photo was taken around 8am on a summers day during one of my many sunrise expeditions
Client Shoots:
Client shoots involve working directly with a client to capture specific images. This could involve shooting a hotel for their marketing materials, capturing a product in a unique travel setting, or even photographing a destination wedding. Client shoots often pay well, but they also require a high level of professionalism and skill. You'll need to be able to work to a brief, deliver high-quality images on time, and communicate effectively with your clients.
When it comes to client shoots I would usually send out emails to prospective clients that I want to work with whilst making sure to tailor the email directly to them and either coming up with a unique proposition idea which could benefit them or showcasing how my work would be an asset to them. There are so many different avenues you could pursue from working with tourism boards to product photography to professional headshots, to personal photoshoots like airbnb experiences
2. Stock Photography
Stock photography involves selling your images through online platforms such as Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, or iStock. These platforms have a vast audience of businesses and individuals who need high-quality images for their websites, marketing materials, and more. The key to success in stock photography is to offer unique, high-quality images that stand out from the crowd. This could be unique perspectives of popular travel destinations, or images from less-traveled locations. It's also important to tag your images effectively, to ensure they show up in relevant searches.
Back when I started really putting a lot of effort into my photography/video career I put up all my photos on sites like Shutterstock, adobe stock, istockphoto, 123RF, EyeEm . ShutterStock is the superior of them all and I made around $100 on the platform. I never invested my time heavily into the stock photography as its currently highly saturated but there is a potential to make decent money if you really put in time and effort as with anything.
3. Personalised Photo Shoots
Offering personalized photo shoots for other travelers can be a lucrative venture. This could involve capturing special moments for tourists, such as proposals, anniversaries, or family vacations. To succeed in this area, you'll need to be able to connect with people and make them feel comfortable in front of the camera. You'll also need to be flexible and able to work in a variety of locations and conditions.
Now this is a service I currently actually provide on my website under the “destination Photography” service. If you live in a highly touristic area you could set up a page on Airbnb experiences as I mentioned earlier under the client shoots section. You wont neccessarily be “travelling” but you have the potential to make a lot of money to fund your travels and build that portfolio.
The other way you can do is advertise this service to people who are currently travelling to said destination. Your offer would be to essentially be their personal photographer on their holiday capturing memories for them to look back at for years to come. People to target would be influencers, high net worth individuals as well as just promoting it on your site or on google ads or tiktok to get enquiries.
4. Photo Licensing
Licensing your photos to businesses directly can be a very profitable venture. This involves selling the rights to use your photos in specific ways. For example, a clothing brand might pay you to capture their product in an exotic location, and then use that image in their marketing materials. To succeed in photo licensing, you'll need to build a strong portfolio and develop relationships with potential clients. Social media can be a great tool for this, allowing you to showcase your work and connect with brands.
You can also reach out directly to brands and suggest a few photos which you think they could use. For example if you spot a tourism board is gearing up for a summer campaign and you have some excellent photos of that country which would entice travellers to visit you can pitch them. You would then mention your prices in your pitch e.g. the price for usage such a social media, print, digital etc.
Some brands may reach out to you directly via Instagram which you can then also license your photos for them to use. If its a commercial brand you could license your photo for use on a re post. Corporate companies, hotels, dentist practices and other places are also good place to license your photos too or even sell your photos as prints which we will get into further down.
There is another upcoming company called Stills. Stills is a invite only licensing platform which promise to be the new standard in photo licensing showcasing work from sought after creators. Check out their website and request and invite!
5. Selling Your Prints
Selling prints of your best work can be a great way to earn money. You can sell these online through your own website or platforms like Etsy, at art fairs, or through galleries. Selling prints allows you to earn money from a single image multiple times, and also gives you a way to connect with fans of your work.
Going to art fairs is a great way for you to get god brand exposure through your prints as it allows for that human interaction and for your potential customers to see your beautiful prints with their own eyes as opposed to through their computer screen. It also encourages word of mouth marketing as people who have bought from your stall at the art fair may recommend other to check it out.
Selling through galleries is another great way to get your name out there and get a lot of eyes on your work as well as make connections with potential buyers you can also set up your own gallery if you have the funds for it.
I have been selling my own prints and I seeing your photos being purchased by someone else and hanging on their wall is an incredible feeling. Just the same as printing your photos and seeing them almost come to life. You can also reach out to companies such as offices, dentist practices, hotels even maybe airports welcoming guests arriving if you have suitable photos.
6. Building a Community
Having a community behind you can be really powerful and a driving factor to your key to success as well as being able to make a living as a travel photographer. When I first decided ok I am really going to try make a living from this I poured all my effort into showcasing my photography, building a community on Instagram. I did this buy engaging as much as possible, replying every comment and every DM. Engaging in long conversations, providing valueble tips and tricks on stories as well as sharing my travels. Having a community behind you is amazing as you are able to share and learn from other like minded people. I grew a community of 33,000 people on Instagram and around 9,000 on Tiktok.
Once you have build a big and strong community you will be able to approach brands with more credibility and have a bigger audience to share your content with. Brands will see the impact that you can create especially if it’s a product or service. Work will flow in more naturally without you having to send out tons of emails.
It is important to note that not everything that worked for me or works for me will work for you especially now with video being the core focus for a lot of platforms but through consistency and showing your unique and authentic self as well as really engaging with your growing community it is more than possible and soon enough you will be travelling for brand campaigns whilst doing what you love.
7. Remember your “why”
This is one of the biggest and most important things. Why do you want to be a travel photographer? Is it because you see all the people who you follow and admire living the life of their dreams ? Is it because it looks like an amazing and fun job or maybe its an escape for you ? Let me tell you first hand it’s nothing compared to what you see online. That is the finished product. You dont see hours upon hours of research or the editing or the cold emailing let alone the 10s of hours in field getting up for sunrise and hiking all day to capture the perfect shot.
If you are coming to be successful you really need to love it. You need to love everything about it. So I suggest trying it out as a hobby first because you may end up thinking you prefer it as a hobby rather than a full time job.
For me there a 3 key things you need.
1. Pure passion, perseverance and love for it.
2. being your genuine self and showing your authenticity towards your community/audience
3. patience. It’s a long road ahead but also you sometimes need to wait to get the perfect shot you envisioned because sometimes the conditions wont favour you and you have to decide if it’s worth waiting it out.
Having said all that it truly is an amazing job and with the above you can build yourself something remarkable and memorable. Focus on the above especially the 3 key guidlines and the money will follow. I hope you found this helpful and as always if you need further help i’m always up for a chat! You know where to find me!
