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7 Tips To Keep In Mind As A Destination Photographer

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The idea of traveling to exotic locations to shoot weddings, portraits or commercial work is what most photographers dream of. Where else can you get paid to see some amazing sites around the world?

But like everything, not only does it have its “ups”, it also has a few “downs” to consider.

Whether you’ve been traveling with your photography for years, or are just putting together your very first promotional campaign, keep these tips in mind.

1. Choose your locations carefully

While traveling around the globe is a relatively safe thing to do, keep in mind that some places are easier and safer to travel to than others. It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful place for a wedding than the beaches of the Caribbean. Yet choosing a place like Haiti or Dominican Republic can be more taxing than a place like St Croix. As you are making your plans, do your research first. Search the Internet for current stories, check with the State Department, and look at tourism sites for your chosen location. In just a few minutes you should be able to gain a pretty good feel for the area.

2. Research the area

Once your area has been selected, spend some time learning about the location and the time of year you’ll be visiting. Hawaii is beautiful – unless you get there during rainy season and you experience inches of rain every day. If you know the weather patterns ahead of time, you can quickly plan backups for the just in case. [Read more...]

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Destination Portrait Photography Will Help Fill Your Calendar

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What does it mean to be a destination portrait photographer?

For many photographers, the phrase “destination photographer” conjures up images of getaways to exotic locations. If you’re landlocked in the middle of a snowstorm, a warm sunny beach sounds amazing.

But being a destination photographer doesn’t mean you as a photographer have to travel to a new location to photograph. It can also mean you stay where you are – a highly traveled to destination spot – and you photograph the tourists coming to you.

Living here in Colorado, there’s plenty of opportunity. With some of the best ski resorts in the world, 10 national parks, 13 national forests, 42 state parks, and resorts ranging from camping grounds to four star hotels, we have a little of everything. And with close to 25 million making Colorado their destination every year, there is a lot of room for opportunity.

Destination Portrait Photography

So what is your area like? How many tourists visit your location every year? Even if you live in a small town, chances are you have a destination location somewhere around you – giving you opportunity to photograph and find a whole new niche.
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One Great Idea – Meet Karma Hill

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At the beginning of the year, I ran across a website that made me say WOW. I’ve been a destination wedding photographer since the mid 90’s. And I’ve written and promoted ideas to help you understand destination a little bit more, and how you can apply it to your business AND make a healthy living at it to.

That’s why I loved it when I found someone who is actually doing it.

Meet Karma Hill

Karma runs Good Karma Photography Inc in Maui, Hawaii, and fills her days with portraits and weddings. But she doesn’t promote herself as a photographer to local clientele – look at her website and you’ll see she focuses on the tourists, and markets her business as a vacation photographer.

Good Karma Photography

So if you are spending thousands of dollars to leave your snowy home in January, and head to Hawaii to take in some sun and fun, you probably have spending money in your pocket. Why not get a family portrait on the beach?

The more I researched, the more excited I became. Not only is Karma having such success with her portrait business, she started a sister site to cover the full spectrum of portrait clients. A client can come to her for a memorable beach vacation portrait and spend whatever is in their budget.

Not only is she having a ton of success with her photography business, she’s also started off into a new direction – helping photographers understand how to become destination photographers too. Her newest release is an ebook, Destination Photography Business: How To Tap In To The Multi-Billion Dollar Travel Industry.

Every state in the U.S. has millions of visitors annually, and has billions of dollars in spending. And this isn’t unique to the U.S. People love to travel; that isn’t going to change. So why not combine what you love – photography – with what people love to do – travel – and create a business that easily brings in Six Figures per year.

I’ve been chatting with Karma quite a bit since I found her site, and asked her a few questions.
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The Real Reason More Photographers Can’t Break Into The Destination Market

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The forecast calls for two feet of snow. You’ve been stuck inside because of snow and cold for weeks with no end in sight. Instead of snow, wouldn’t sand and beaches be a refreshing change right about now?

Many photographers feel that way, and happily include one little sentence on their websites:

“Work in and around [insert your hometown here] or will travel to your destination.”

Then they sit back and wait for the phone to ring, making the offer of a lifetime to travel to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Fiji, Greece, – okay, you get the picture.

The trouble is that phone call never comes for most. It never comes because the last thing a bride ever goes on the hunt for is for a photographer that “will travel to your destination”.

destination weddings

Instead, if a bride is getting married in Antigua, she searches for a “wedding photographer in Antigua”.  If she’s getting married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, she searches for a “wedding photographer in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.”

And so the two never meet.

Creating The Plan
Let’s say you are a wedding photographer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In order to photograph weddings, you probably do a variety of things to advertise your business:

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Destination Photographer – Does It Have To Be Weddings?

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“I love the idea of traveling with my photography. I’ve done a few weddings, but I’m not excited about making them my specialty. Do I have to do weddings to be a destination photographer?”

destination photographerThe great thing about being in business for yourself is you create the rules. Anything is possible as long as you build to make it possible.

What is your idea of photography? How can you turn it into a business that allows you to travel?

Maybe you enjoy shooting in warm places in the heart of the winter. Why not become a fashion or product photographer? Catalogs are developed months in advance. They need someone to be shooting catalog spreads in places that show off their newest product line. So a company in Wisconsin may need swimsuit and spring fashion shoots on the beach in the Caribbean in January or February.

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What Does A Destination Photographer Really Mean?

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So you want to be a destination photographer?

You add the phrase to your website, “weddings anywhere in the U.S.” or “will travel anywhere for weddings and events”.

You sit back and wait for someone to contact you. And the years roll by. Why? Why hasn’t anyone selected you for traveling to their event outside of your home location?

The common misnomer with the phrase “destination photographer” is that by simply adding destination to your website and your brochure, you instantly become a destination photographer. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let’s say your a photographer from Denver, Colorado, USA. All over your site you talk about weddings and portraits taken in the Denver area. On your contact us page you list your address – in Denver. Your keywords have Denver, Colorado, USA.

Guess what? You’ve just been pegged as a Denver, Colorado, USA photographer.

Being a destination photographer doesn’t mean you will promote your photography for everywhere on planet earth. It means you’re willing to travel. But where to?

We photographed in the Denver area. We also started specializing in weddings in Arizona (Phoenix, Scottsdale, Sedona). So guess what we put on our website? Information about our weddings in those locations!

And when we photographed in San Francisco, yep, we created a whole bunch of information on that too.

You can’t attract clients to your destination photography  unless you know where you want to go.

Choose your destinations, and start turning your dreams into reality.

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Traveling as a Destination Photographer

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As a destination wedding photographer, you have a lot to think about. If you’re photographing a wedding 5 miles from your home, you can always have a family member bring you something if you forget it. But what about if you’re 2000 miles from home?

For many years, we traveled extensively with our wedding photography business. The first was the most difficult – what do you bring? We gradually had it down to a science, and created our own checklist that we covered every time we packed.

First, you need to have a great carryon photography suitcase that will keep all of your camera equipment safe. We always used the Porter Case hardside, which kept everything safe while you’re moving around. What’s nice about Porter Cases is they are specially made for photographers, and they section off their suitcase to keep everything safe. If you have a piece in every section, you can see with just a quick glance if anything is missing.

In today’s world, you also need a laptop and plenty of flash memory cards. With any luck, at least two of you will be traveling together, allowing you to bring two suitcases on board.

When it comes to tripods, monopods, light stands, umbrellas, etc, we would always pack those in a airportspecial hard sided luggage, and tell the airlines what you are traveling with. It’s a good idea to bring your contract with you to show where you’re going and what you’re doing. We also traveled with brochures/business cards to hand over to prove we were in business – something that’s more important now with travel security the way it is.

If you’re traveling to a large city, you may look for rental places where you can rent some of your equipment – your tripods, monopods, maybe even a lens or two. We rented quite frequently, and always had great luck. If you’re paying for extra luggage, it may be more cost effective to rent on your destination end.

And finally, learn about your flight patterns. We did a wedding in Lake Placid, New York one year that required us to fly on a very small plane into the Adirondack Regional Airport. The plane held 14 passengers – and no overhead luggage. Thank goodness they worked with us, and allowed us to place our camera bag in the on flight area reserved for flight attendants. Sometimes just talking with people and telling them your situation will get you where you need to go – with camera bag in hand!

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