Travel Photography Career Tips - Work as a Travel Photographer

12 Travel Photography Tips from a Professional Travel Photographer

Lisa Michele Burns — Mon, 04 Sep 2023 10:13:27 +0000

Improve your Travel Photography – Get Creative and Photograph the World Travel photography offers a creative opportunity to document your adventures and capture the world around you. The places you visit, faces you see and cultures you experience. As a professional travel photographer, I’ve photographed icebergs in Greenland, elephants in South Africa, remote lodges in Canada, and the temples of Japan. There are so many incredibly photogenic experiences and locations out there just waiting for us to photograph them on our travels. If you’re looking to work as a travel photographer, building a portfolio is one of the best places to start, and what better way to do that, that on your travels? This guide below shares 12 travel photography tips that will help you capture more creative images on your next trip. From composition to packing your camera bag, and storytelling to weather forecasting, browse the guide below and let me know in the comments where you’re travelling next! Travel Photography Tips 1. Research and Plan Logistics If you’re serious about taking great photos on your next trip, be sure to research the best places to photograph in the locations you’re visiting. If you’re heading for a major city,...

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The Travel Photographer Mini Email Course

Lisa Michele Burns — Sun, 03 Sep 2023 05:33:40 +0000

Your Free 3-part Course to a Career in Travel Photography Travel photography careers can feel like an illusive dream. People rarely talk about how to succeed in the industry, or if they offer any advice, it’s a few simple tips of generic information. Things like, share your work regularly, take a lot of photos to improve, and find a niche. Helpful, but not informative or actionable advice. There is so much more depth and diversity within the industry that exists beyond what we see on social media. Working as a travel photographer could mean you’re photographing a luxury resort one week, then hiking through a remote desert, documenting elephant herds the next. It’s fascinating, rewarding, creatively thrilling and your career can be carved to suit your lifestyle and interests. My own career has now spanned over 17 years and I’ve travelled with my camera to the icefjords of Greenland, deserts of South America, wilderness of Africa, and all the beautifully historic cities of Europe. I’ve worked with hotel brands in producing marketing imagery, am an ambassador for OM SYSTEM, sell landscape prints and publish freelance writing and photography in travel magazines, and here on The Wandering Lens. You can see...

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The Art of Telling Stories with Photos

Lisa Michele Burns — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 09:26:18 +0000

Storytelling with Travel Photographs Connecting visuals with the art of storytelling is something photographers have been doing since the invention of cameras. Telling stories via photographs of places, people, cultures and landscapes is such a special way of documenting our own experiences for others to see. Have you stopped lately to consider what type of photographs you’re taking and why? What makes you click the shutter and compose an image? Are you considering the story before capturing an image, or taking a whole bunch of photos, editing and then working out the story later? There’s no right or wrong approach, lately though, I’ve been thinking myself about ways I can get back to a more traditional way of storytelling with images. When my first photo feature was published on Lonely Planet way back in 2007, I remember being so proud to share the magic of Marrakech’s Medina via my work. It was designed as a gallery for people to browse through, image by image revealing a little more of the alleyways, atmosphere, Moroccan architecture and culture. I’ve found that sharing on social media doesn’t have that same feeling. Of course it’s lovely when people engage, like or leave comments on...

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The Travel Photography Lifestyle + Tips to Get Started

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 16:25:22 +0000

Crafting your lifestyle as a travel photographer A jet-setting lifestyle, visiting new destinations each week and photographing for numerous publications and clients sounds wonderful doesn’t it? For some of us, yes, but actually, I know that a full-time lifestyle of travel also doesn’t appeal to everyone. I’ve noticed that the older I get, the more I want to experience a destination for a longer period of time, to reduce travel days and long haul trips and really soak up the cultures, landscapes and destinations rather than jump about all over the world! The good news is, you don’t have to travel all year round to work as a travel photographer, there are many other ways to build your career and blend it with your current lifestyle or commitments. Working as a freelance travel photographer doesn’t have to mean packing up your belongings and minimizing your life into a backpack (+ camera bag of course). It can be as simple as sharing/selling work from your past travels or pitching an article or project idea for future travels. You can fit your work as a travel photographer into your current lifestyle by developing your portfolio as you...

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The Benefits of Working as a Freelance Photographer

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 07:32:54 +0000

The Freelance Travel Photographer Lifestyle Over the past two or so years, we’ve all seen the benefits of working remotely. Lockdowns forced companies to adjust and allow staff to work from home, giving them a glimpse at the possibilities of a life outside the office. What if we took this one step further, removed the employer all together, added a sprinkle of adventure and you created your own business as a photographer? Imagine the possibilities, the creative freedom and ability to schedule your weeks, months and years and fill them with itineraries that connect with your photography interests! Working freelance isn’t for everyone, but for those who make it work, it’s a lifestyle shift that is immensely beneficial in so many ways. Create your own schedule, set your own rates (in some cases), network and build your own portfolio of work that reflects the opportunities you’ve created for yourself. Freelance in the photography world can work in any number of ways. It could mean working with 10 different clients one week, or one client for a year – the arrangement is up to you! Those keen to get published may see their work in 1 x magazine a month but...

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Income Expectations as a Travel Photographer

Lisa Michele Burns — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 09:45:24 +0000

Career Talk – Travel Photographer Income Expectations I’ll begin with saying there are many, many ways to work and generate an income as a travel photographer. If this is a career path you’re considering, you’ll likely have various income streams, multiple clients and months when it’s quiet, then months when it’s too busy and you’re trying to juggle itineraries and jobs. Too much travel sounds like a pretty good problem to have as a travel photographer, and while it is, it’s important to have realistic expectations about what you can expect to earn. Firstly, there are no set rates. Your earning potential is essentially untapped because you set the rates for your own services as a photographer if you work for yourself/freelance. That said, there are guidelines to work within because if a client is comparing two photographers who offer a very similar style, they’re more than likely to go with the photographer closer to their budget if that’s all that is separating you both. So, the main question is usually what can I expect to earn as a travel photographer? More importantly though, you also want to ask, how can you work as a travel photographer to generate enough...

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How to Build a Portfolio as a Travel Photographer

Lisa Michele Burns — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 02:46:20 +0000

Want to work as a travel photographer? Finding work as a travel photographer is of course, a crucial element when it comes to success as a freelancer. It’s not as easy as scouring job boards and hoping for the exact phrase to pop up, we need to actively prepare ourselves to seek opportunities and forge a path in the industry. The first step is all about honing your creative skills as a photographer. What makes your work stand out, what should someone hire you to capture, how you can take photographs that highlight a product, location or subject in a unique way? These are all questions to ask yourself when discovering your passion and talents for various niches within the travel realm. You may have goals of working as a photojournalist, blending stories with a deeper connection to cultures and people with location pieces on regions facing environmental or humanitarian issues. Perhaps you love focusing on hospitality and want to aim for photographing hotels, lifestyle images and tourism campaigns. Whatever area of interest you have, ensure you’re working towards developing the skills to capture a professional set of images for your future clients. When looking for opportunities as a travel...

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How to Create a Photography Website and Print Store

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 07:44:20 +0000

Quick tips for designing your Photography Website and Print Store Showcasing your photography online and making a curated home for your best work is almost essential as a photographer in today’s world. We can’t just rely on having a beautiful Instagram account, a clean, professional photography website will ensure you can provide clients with a direct link to see your best images whether you’re photographing travel, lifestyle, portraits, weddings or commercial work. If you’re keen to sell prints of your photographs, developing a website with eCommerce potential is a great way to start generating a side income stream. It’s like owning a gallery space in the online realm. It requires an initial investment, time and continuous upkeep but when done right, you’ll be setting yourself up for long term growth as a photographer. Why create your own photography website? When developing a website yourself, the skills you’ll gain will help to prepare you for the ongoing site updates, adjustments and ability to make changes as you go. You can have complete control over the design, test various elements, colour palettes and layouts without needing to pay someone an hourly rate to make small changes. If creating your own site sounds...

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Preparing Photos to Print – DPI vs PPI

Lisa Michele Burns — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 06:41:05 +0000

How to Print Photos – Preparing your Image Files Before selling or printing photos, it’s crucial to understand what makes up your photographs and how it will impact the print size and quality. We’ve all printed a photo before, only to be disappointed with the quality and this can be due to paper choice, inks, the image file or file preparation and editing mistakes. If you’re using a professional grade camera, or camera with over 12megapixels, you should be able to print quite large, provided there isn’t visible noise or any issues with the image file. I’ll explore how a little further in this article. How to Print Photos from an iPhone – Phones have progressed in image quality in recent years, you can achieve beautiful prints up to a size of approximately A4, and perhaps even larger depending on your device and the camera specifications. When deciding on which image to print, it’s essential you zoom in and look at the visible details. Are there splotchy colours? Are darker areas showing signs of noise (speckled dots), are features or subjects clear and sharp? Checking the file before printing is best to avoid disappointment. If you’re hoping to print at...

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The Benefits of Online Photography Courses + Resources

Lisa Michele Burns — Mon, 30 May 2022 11:11:34 +0000

Online Photography Courses and Self-Studying Photography Our individual path as photographers can dip and swerve in so many directions, just like riding the tone curve while adjusting shadows and highlights! You may enjoy photography as a hobby, or you may be seeking online photography courses because you’re interested in building professional skills and techniques to make it your career. There is no set or specific path you need to follow as a photographer, it’s completely up to you whether you make an income, grow your client list, sell prints or simply enjoy the creative process of capturing beautiful photos. Photography courses come in just as many variations as the career itself so it’s important to determine which course or learning experience will suit you best! Are you struggling with camera settings? Do you want to start a photography business but don’t know where to begin? Are you selling prints but not making any sales? Maybe you’re wanting to work as a photographer but can’t find clients? Keen to get published but don’t know what format to send your work to a magazine editor, or how to pitch? There’s a photography course or resource out there created just for you! It’s...

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The Business of Photography – Is Creative Talent Enough?

Lisa Michele Burns — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 02:25:55 +0000

Starting a photography business – What skills you need to become a photographer! *Written based on my own experiences working in the industry for 17+ years and the skills I’ve needed to acquire along the way. Take whatever tidbits of information you like from it that are relevant to your own journey in photography. More than 95 million photos are shared daily on Instagram alone. That is A LOT of competition to face as a photographer. It also means the world needs and somewhat thrives off visual content. In that case, do opportunities still exist to carve out a career in the world of photography? Heck yes they do. How do you make your work stand out? What does it take to get discovered? Is there a course or set career path to take? Are my photos good enough? These questions and many more are asked by photographers around the world. Self-doubt and a lack of direction aren’t isolated issues, no matter how much it feels like you’re the only one suffering. They’re actually pretty normal occurrences in a creative industry and can result in zero motivation, burnout and being stuck in a creative rut. However, having a clear game plan...

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How to Sell Photos Online

Lisa Michele Burns — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 04:19:57 +0000

Sell Photos Online – Your Quick Guide to Making Money from your Photography Online Selling photos online is a great way to make additional income as a photographer. How do you sell photos online and where do you get started? Better still, can you make money from selling your photos? These are the golden questions I’ll be answering below! With photographs and visual content being in such high demand as the online world and social media platforms require a constant feed of new imagery, the potential to create a side income or even full-time income from selling your photos online is more than possible. After running my photography business for the past 16 years, I’ve dabbled in a number of methods to try and make money from my photos, some worked and some definitely didn’t. It’s all about finding a place for your work; things like stock photography won’t be for everyone, instead building an online store could be a better fit. Getting Started – Of course there needs to be a balance between still enjoying photography as a creative practice; this guide isn’t meant to push you towards selling your soul, your photos and solely focusing on making money!...

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