What Does a Travel Photographer Do?
There’s a joke that makes the rounds in communities and discussion boards where photography enthusiasts gather: what’s the difference between a travel photographer and a tourist who goes on vacation and takes a lot of pictures? The travel photographer gets paid to do it. While that might be a little simplistic, it is the easiest definition of what a travel photographer does: he or she travels to different parts of the world to take pictures and gets paid to do it.
A skilled travel photographer can’t just point and shoot, however. He must be skilled at taking all sorts of photographs, equally adept at taking architectural photographs as he is at taking editorial photos of people. He is an underwater photographer, a wildlife photographer, a food photographer and a portrait photographer all rolled into one.
Before digital photography, the field of travel photography was filled by a few top-notch photographers whose work could be found in the pages of National Geographic and glossy travel magazines. It was an expensive career choice, but the rewards were great – name recognition, awards and highly paid excursions to some of the most exotic locations on Earth.
Digital photography has lowered the bar considerably. Today, the low cost of digital cameras – and the high quality they’re capable of delivering – have made it far easier for even the best-known magazines to find photos of exotic locales without having to purchase photos from professional photographers. If a business needs a photograph of the pyramids at Giza, for example, there are hundreds of them available for free or for very low cost on photo sharing sites.
There is, however, an enormous difference in quality between photos taken by a professional photographer and those taken by non-professionals. That’s why travel magazines, lifestyle magazines, food magazines and other specialty magazines still work with professionals to put together features on various features and things of interest in different regions around the world. Likewise, hotels, resorts and other tourist industries often pay professional photographers to provide images for their websites, brochures and other marketing materials.
If the life of a travel photographer sounds exciting and fun, there are a few things you should know. First, you’ll have lots of competition, not just from other pros but from skilled amateurs who market their work online and through royalty-free photography sites.
In most cases, you’ll be working freelance and pitching your story ideas to businesses and magazines, though some travel photographers work for publications or marketing companies. If you do manage to find a salaried position as a travel photographer, the average wage is about $28,000 a year. If you’re freelancing, you’ll probably make less, though a select few travel photographers make far more.
In general, travel photographers do what they do because they love the work. After all, they travel to exotic locations and make their living doing something they love to do. It’s not an easy field to break into, but those who make their living marketing photographs of far-off places get to live a life that most people only dream of enjoying.
Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the world’s MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web.
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