They say that travelling is a good investment because you can gain a lot of valuable life lessons and experiences. But it shouldn’t be denied that you’ll incur expenses for each day you’re travelling, and unless you’ve been saving, you’ll need to find ways to make some money on the road to keep you going.
A good way to start is to think what you’re passionate about. For a lot of people, photography is a favourite past time and you’ll be taking lots of photos anyway to document your trip and make memories so it makes sense to make some money out of it too. So if you have the passion for both travel and photography, consider the money-making methods below.
Client-Direct Sales
This is one of the easiest way to earn money as you travel. Companies are willing to pay and put you on a contractual agreement, maybe on a monthly or yearly basis with a secure, permanent income. Clients will want to pick a few images from your portfolios which will then be used for marketing, social media or advertising purposes. This means you would have to do your best to comply with your clients’ needs and style to produce favourable images. Aside from earning money, you will also be able to boost your creativity and photography skills as well. As well as working with a contract, some clients may contact you directly for ad hoc sales of the images you capture. Networking is particularly useful for this purpose.
Read also: 20 Most Scenic Places in the World to Photograph
Blogging
Blogging is in fact one of the main source of income for a travel photographer. By constantly posting articles and photos about your travel adventures along the way, you will be able to attract people more and more to your site, especially those avid travellers. This means that by creating traffic into your blog, advertising companies would often use your site as a source of marketing for them. Anything that is related to travelling will certainly open windows to relevant other companies which may benefit from your blog. Do bear in mind, however, that blogging will not necessarily generate a stable amount of cash flow into your pocket each month.
YouTube
This may be one source of income that many may not consider, but it generates a fair amount to sustain the life of a travel photographer. YouTube’s viewers are made of up various age groups, each having their own reason to watch videos on YouTube. This makes it a suitable platform for travel photographers to share their travel experience and adventures through videos. Travel photographers usually have their own travel channel on YouTube where they share tips on travelling, specific to certain countries or even photography skills. The more informative your channel is, the more subscribers you will bring together on your YouTube channel, which will then become your source of income.
Magazine/Newspaper Jobs
While this can be a source of income for travel, it can be a little unreliable as it is dependent on the demand of the media outlets. It is not easy either, as you’ll really have to spend a lot of time on producing publishing-grade material and you will also have to study the rules of writing or photo submissions set by every magazine or newspaper to make sure that you adhere to them. But if you are interested in the world of journalism as well as photography, then this may be worth looking into while you travel.
Read also: Working Abroad: Tips on Getting a Job Overseas
Freelance Travel Writing
Becoming a freelance writer while travelling is often a backup source of income for a travel photographer. Apart from sharing just your photographs through the media, you may also put them into words and share your travelling experience. Most clients are found online, and so it is convenient to earn an income through writing as you travel around the globe. With added pictures that you take along the way, it will help boost the writings that you produced so you have a bigger advantage in succeeding in this field too.
Turn your passion into a job to make money as a travel photographer and it won’t even feel like you’re working. Protect yourself and obtain travel insurance to be covered against unexpected mishaps.