So you want to be a travel/adventure/outdoor photographer?

September 6, 2008 | 1 Comment

People tell me all the time, “I want to travel the world taking pictures, where do I start?”. I’m not going to tell you how to make great moving or still imagery in this post, but I will give you some tips on the business end of things. Taking photos is the easy part, getting someone to pay you for that requires a significant amount of dedication and hard work.

Here is my shortlist of resources for aspiring shooters.

Get yourself a copy of the American Society of Media Photographers, ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography, book. If you want to get paid for your work you better learn the language.

The Travel and Outdoor Photographers Alliance is an organization of working photographers discussing the business issues of the profession. Their site has an abundance of info.

Nick Nichols is a long time National Geographic photographer and he has some thoughtful things to say on his site about making it in this business. He poses the question, “Do you want to be a traveling adventurer, or do you want to be a photographer? They’re not the same thing.” in his post on becoming an adventure photographer.

Thinking of submitting your images to a stock photo agency? Photoshelter put out a nice summary of what they are looking for in a travel image and in my opinion their advice applies pretty well across the board to other agencies as well.

Check the Editorial Photographers (EP) site for in depth advice on starting out, the EP Estimator tool with pricing tips for the publishing industry, and a FAQ section that should answer most of your questions.  EP is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and profitability of editorial photography.

Posted by didrik | Filed Under Tips 

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