Everyone is likely to say that travelling could be a good investment because you can gain a lot of valuable life lessons and experiences. However you cannot even deny that you need to earn expenses for each day while you are travelling and unless you have been saved. You would need to find ways to make some money on the road so that it can help you to keep going.
One of the good ways is to start to think what you are passionate about. For maximum of people, photography is a favourite past time and you would be taking lots of photos anyway to document your trip and to 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 then you could consider the money-making methods below.
1. Client-Direct Sales
While travelling this is one of the easiest way to earn money. There are companies who are willing to pay and put you on a contractual agreement, it maybe for 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 for advertising purposes. This means that 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 working with a contract, some clients may contact you directly for ad hoc sales of the images you capture. Networking is very important particularly for this purpose.
2. Blogging
In case of travel photography blogging can be one of the main sources of income. You will be able to attract more people along with the passionate travellers towards your sites by constantly posting articles and photos about your travel adventures along the way. This will help you to create traffic into your blog, and even the 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 will be benefitted from your blog. However, you must remember that blogging will not necessarily generate a stable amount of cash flow into your pocket each month.
3. YouTube
This may be one source of income that many may not consider but it is likely to generate a fair amount to sustain the life of a travel photographer. This is because YouTube’s viewers are made of up various age groups and each having their own reason to watch videos on YouTube. So it is likely to make it a suitable platform for travel photographers so that they are able to share their travel experience and adventures through videos. Usually it has been found that travel photographers tend to have their own travel channel on YouTube where they are able to share tips on travelling specifically to certain countries or even photography skills. Your channel on YouTube should be more informative then only you will be able to attract more subscribers to your YouTube channel, which will then become your source of income.
4. 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 will 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 are travelling.
5. Freelance Travel Writing
Being a travel photographer freelance writer can be a back up source of income while travelling. Apart from sharing just your photographs through the media you may also put them into words and share your travelling experience. Maximum of the clients are found online and so it is convenient to earn an income through writing while you are travelling around the globe. Your added picture that you take along the way is likely to help you to boost the writings that you produced so you have a bigger advantage in succeeding in this field too.
6. Saving Is Earning
While you travel, saving money is often the exact same as earning. Quite often, exchanging a couple images with a hotel for a free room or a tour company for a free tour is totally worth it. For example: - safaris are expensive so you can create a couple images for a company to use for their marketing purposes and in exchange you can ask for a free safari. It really is win-win.
7. Teaching
There are more people wanting to learn photography than there are people who want to buy images. And for that reason, teaching has become a major source of income for a large number of travel photographers. In fact, some of the world’s highest earning photographers are not always the most talented but the ones who can teach effectively. Lots of photographers sell books, video tutorials or even host workshops to help supplement their income.
If you follow these tips then it will help you to turn your passion into money and by doing this you would not even feel like you are working. While doing this work you must protect yourself and you must obtain travel insurance which would be covered against unexpected mishaps.