If you manage to make a living from your hobbies, you will achieve many of your dreams and goals. In the case of photographers who are dedicated to travelling and taking pictures of everything around them, the challenge of making a living from it is much greater than in any other discipline.
In many cases, this type of photographer does not have a studio as such and the clients may not be close to their usual places of residence, or even their country. Being a nature photographer means loving the environment, caring for it and being in constant contact with it, so today we want to talk to you about the concerns of a nature and travel photographer and how they can be solved in a simple way to be able to make a living from this profession without giving up travelling.
Find out how to solve the concerns of a nature and travel photographer.
What are the concerns in your photography business that affect your creativity and performance?
Being a nature and travel photographer is one of the most complex disciplines among photographers. In these reportages the photographic studio becomes the natural environment and here the conditions that the professional encounters are very difficult to control.
Taking care of and respecting the places being photographed, minimising interaction with the local wildlife, coping with weather conditions, finding the best places to take photographs, planning the outing correctly, overcoming cultural and technical constraints. These are some of the obstacles that this type of photographer may encounter.
If you are a nature and travel photographer, in addition to overcoming all these hurdles, you will also have to find a way to make a living from it, and without help it won’t be easy. Let’s look together at some of the pains of a nature and travel photographer and how they can be solved.
1# My dream is to be able to sell my work all over the world, not just locally
We know how frustrating it can be to share your photos with the world as a nature and travel photographer.
All photo shoots have a certain amount of preparation beforehand, but for those that involve trips to the countryside or even travelling to distant countries, the preparation is much greater. And although these types of photographers go more for their vocation and the pleasure they get from being surrounded by so much natural beauty, they also have to make a living from it and pay for each of the trips they take.
That is why it is important for a travel, wildlife and flora photographer to know how to amortise every single shot he takes with his camera and to reach a wider and wider audience so that he does not have to look for a second job to be able to keep up with the pace of his life.
2# I don’t know how to sell my nature and travel photos
Closely related to the previous “headache” is this one. It’s all very well the idea of wanting to sell your work anywhere in the world, but do you really know how to do it? Do you have the infrastructure and the know-how to do it?
Of course you can hire third parties to manage this type of work for you, but what if we told you that you could control this part of your business yourself for little money per year and without having to acquire technical knowledge?
Because what is clear is that on the one hand there is the photographic technique, knowing how to capture a jaguar in full race or waiting for the cherry blossom to be in full bloom … And on the other hand there is the technical knowledge of how to sell the photographs of your trips and outings.
3# I would like to earn more income from the sale of my photographs
Another concern a nature and travel photographer often has is that he or she does not know how to increase the sales of each of the photos he or she offers for sale.
Sometimes it does not make sense to go on a long-distance trip to make a photographic report, for example in the desert, and then only sell several downloads in digital format. In these cases, it is important that the photographer knows how to create several lines of business in order to make his outlets as profitable as possible.
Arcadina helps you to solve all these problems
In short, a nature and travel photographer, on a business level, has to learn how to give visibility to his photographs, get an online sales system that works and make his field trips as profitable as possible.
At Arcadina we have several business solutions that adapt perfectly to the concerns of a nature and travel photographer. But the one that can best help this professional is, without a doubt, the public sales galleries (or the so-called online shop).
Let’s take a look at how the sales galleries can solve the problems of nature and wildlife photographers.
The sales galleries will be the solution to all your worries
If you love nature and photography and you would like to make a living out of it, the best thing to do is not only to create a photography website where you can show your work, but also to use an online business where you can sell your work.
When selling nature photography on your website, you can use public galleries to upload photos of your latest trips to the countryside and offer them for sale to anyone who wants to buy fantastic landscape images. In this type of galleries you will be able to offer digital images for sale with download (for a fee) or even printing in all kinds of formats.
In addition, on your website you can explain: how they can hire your services as a nature photographer, what your services include, the places you can travel to, client testimonials, your story and anything else you consider relevant and that will help you sell more landscape images.
Let’s take a closer look at all the business options offered by Arcadina’s public sales galleries.
Use a system that works to sell images of your travels
As we mentioned in this article, to sell the photos of your trips, you can hire an external professional to help you offer this type of service or do it yourself.
In Arcadina we have simplified all the processes so that anyone without previous knowledge and with the help of video tutorials and our help articles, can create a digital business in a few days.
Thanks to the different options available in the online shop, you will be able to offer your customers the possibility to buy an image immediately. All you have to do is upload the photos*, specify the price and a brief description and wait for your images to be sold. And if you prefer, you can also set up quantity pricing and create specific price lists.
* In Arcadina you will be able to export and manage your photos directly from Lightroom to your website.
Would you like to try out Arcadina’s public galleries for free? Get started now.
Spread your work all over the world through your online photography shop
In addition to having a well-structured system in which you can sell your travel photos, it is important that “everyone” can find them on the Internet. That is why in all the pages and galleries of your website, you will always have an SEO section that will help you to position them better on the Internet.
Another ally that you can use when it comes to giving visibility to your photos is the blog. Thanks to the creation of articles about each trip to the countryside or each trip with direct access to your online shop, the chances of selling these photographs will increase.
Having an online shop where you can sell your travel images will be your greatest ally when it comes to travelling. While you are taking a flight to Alaska to photograph the Northern Lights, your photographs will continue to be sold through your website.
Increase your revenue through public sales galleries
Once you have a well-established online sales system for your images and you have given visibility to your photos, it is important that you manage to monetise each photograph as much as possible.
Imagine the journey this photographer must have had to make to capture this lonely road in a foreign country on a completely clear day, only to have it sell several digital downloads.
If you get a higher return on each photo, your travels will pay for themselves. For nature and travel photographers, selling photographs in different formats and sizes can be a fantastic option.
Don’t just sell digital photos. Offer the sale of printed photographs in professional formats and “sell” your images as decorative elements to customers.
Thanks to Arcadina’s business solutions, the pains of a nature and travel photographer disappear
It is clear that being able to resolve the concerns of a nature and travel photographer will allow him not only to be able to work on what he likes, but also to follow the ideal lifestyle for him.
Thanks to public gallery sales, you will be able to sell your work to anyone who has access to the Internet while you continue to travel and photograph the world around you. Without the need for technical knowledge and offering your customers a wide range of possibilities.
Today we want to share with you the interview with Lourdes García, a fantastic nature and travel photographer.
And to say goodbye, we would like to ask you a question: What do you think are the pains of a nature and travel photographer that can affect this type of professional the most? We’ll read your opinions in the comments.
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