Travel Photography
Recently, in our popular "Kracker Barrel" page (http://www.photosource.com/board) on our website, a photographer wrote:
You probably have the interest, photography equipment, and perseverance to capture quality photos as you travel or you never would ask the question. Notice that I didn't mention "marketing know-how." Adding knowledge of who to sell your particular photos to, and how to do it with professionalism, is usually a tall task for creative photographers, but is the heart of survival. Marketing is the next development stage in your soon-to-become stock photography career.
Rule #1: Be prepared to realize that much of your marketing work needs to be done before you leave on your trip. Write for travel brochures on your destination from airlines, and from railroad companies, hotels, Chambers of Commerce, Tourist Bureaus, Economic Development Departments, of the places you'll be visiting. The designers of these travel instruments have already chosen subject matter that is appealing about the area. So, you'll get concrete ideas about just where you should be heading.
Rule #2: Don't shoot for grandmother, who has never been to Italy. In other words, don't come back with a lot of postcard-type photographs. They may be first class but they will languish in a stock agency or your own file along with dozens (or hundreds) of other similar "tourist" pictures that everyone else shoots. It's the Law of Supply and Demand. Excellent photography might never sell, not because it is not good, but because the competition is strong. The trick is to use Rule #4, below, and improve upon what has already been shot. "There's nothing new under the sun," as Shakespeare said. Your job is to improve on what's already been done. "There's nothing new under the sun," as Shakespeare said. Your job is to improve on what's already been done.
Rule #3: Still to do before you leave on your trip: ask yourself, "Will my photos in Italy be on a specific photobuyer's desk within a week upon my return?" If not, why not? (Be sure to look up the before-your-trip sample query letters in chapter 11 of Sell & ReSell Your Photos.) Diligent planning before the trip, including contact with targeted photobuyers, is half the answer to why some photographers get consistently published. Target your photobuyers by doing your homework and researching markets that use photos in subject areas you like to cover, and for travel editors, whom you'd like to work with. Ask questions of your potential buyers. Maybe they have too many of such and such in inventory, and very little of something else, which you could supply them with. (Supply and Demand).
Rule #4: Now you're in Italy. Be prepared to wait for the right shot. Too many travel photographers are ready to shoot-and-run to their next subject. Instead of taking 100 pictures today, all of them mediocre, take ten top-quality shots. This generally entails waiting for the right moment and luck. Great travel photos are a matter of good content plus exquisite lighting. Some of the secrets professional travel photographers use: early morning and late evening lighting; sunlight just after a rain storm; approaching storm clouds on a sunny day. Copy the masters' lighting and you'll
Rule #5. To be monetarily successful in the stock photography field, you must multiply yourself. Just one shot will pay for your hotel. Another great shot will pay for the airfare. And another will pay for your camera/film expense. Now, how do you make money for yourself?
Use the exquisite backgrounds you have found, as backdrop for a variety of target markets. For example, if you are into outdoor recreation as one of your PS\A's (photomarketing strength areas), you should already know the publishers who need pictures of bicycles, skateboards, water skis, canoes, antique autos, motor homes, and so on. Arrange to have those in your pictures in the foreground. And if you can, get people in the photo interacting with the object.
When you do your homework and choose markets that you know use photos in your subject areas, you can know your pictures will be on an editor's desk shortly after your return. Stick to your knitting, as the saying goes. In your case, stop taking pictures of interesting parrots, exotic flowers, punk musicians, and yes, post card-type pictures, unless these happen to be your photomarketing strength areas. Take your photos, in your Italian settings, with a sprinkling of travel features you've planned for ahead of time if that's your photomarketing strength area.
Bon Voyage and we all hope to see your credit line in the upcoming months in national publications!
Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of "Sell & ReSell Your Photos" and "sellphotos.com," has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: "8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer," visit http://www.sellphotos.com
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