MicrostockGroup

I put my travel images in RM basically.  That's a personal choice, I can't tell whether this is better or not.  I have however a few in micro that do well.

Regards,
Adelaide

thanks for the replies....

Alamy for sure

Holgs made some very good points.  I am not a succesful seller in any field, but I do see a lot of people trying to sell their travel images without paying attention to many details, such as having many tourists in front of a place.  Although I don't do all that holgs said, I try to study locations in advance (such as the night I arrive, to shoot during the following day), and I return at different times of the day for better light conditions.  I'm ok about waking up very early, so not rarely I got shoot right after sunrise, having breakfast afterwards.  As I almost always travel on my own and not in a tour, I have a lot of flexibility.  I also try to travel with people that like photography as well, or with whom I can at least do this without a problem (once I traveled with friends who love to spend time having long meals and browsing local stores, I would often split from them for my photos).

Regards,
Adelaide

I have a lot more to go onto Alamy, but am intending to stick to editorial images on Alamy, and everything else on Micro. Micro has the benefit of being fairly consistent income, whereas I see Alamy as the occasional bonus, in much the same way as extended license sales are. I'll actually probably try selected editorial images on the micros also.

I think this is party because they have a better review process for travel images than other sites. I find I have a higher acceptance ratio there for many images that do then sell. On several occasions I've had to refer buyers there simply because its the only place that has accepted images that the buyer is looking for.

www.DanitaDelimont.com specializes in travel photography.  The last time I spoke with her she was pretty much maxed out with photographers but if you have something really special and are constantly traveling it may work out for you.

Mat

Hello all
Thanks for all the replies and hints you have given me so fair....
After this last year of travelling around, and after this two month of postproduction, key wording, uploading, rejections and acceptance, researches on the web, and while working for my future website, I put the „ten golden rules for whoever wants to become a travel photographer" together. I hope they will work for me. I am not talking as an experienced photographer, but as an experienced traveller:

Ten golden rules for all "wanna be a travel photographer!"

1) To be a travel photographer, first of all, you need to be a passionate traveller!
   The stock market doesn’t need more pictures of the skyline of Manhattan or of the Coliseum in Rome. If you want to sell something on the web, you need to offer something very special. Be aware that if some areas of this world are not well covered by photographer, this is, most of the time, because of one simple reason: it’s not easy to get there. So be prepared for nightmare buses on broken streets, flights with companies on the black list, terrific hygienic condition, poverty, general strikes, corrupted police, political instability and, in general, for the unexpected. And while you are getting there, you have to love it! It’s not easy to be a traveller, this I can tell you. But if you love it, you can get anywhere...

2) To be a travel photographer, you need to be a devoted photographer!
   Getting to the remote regions of this planet is not enough, if then you are not able to take some professional quality pictures. So keep on practicing even when you are not travelling. Sometimes you will have to spend some time at home anyway, to get some work, and recharge your money. While you are doing this, forget the travelling for a while, and concentrate on photography. Micro stock photography can be an excellent, creative field to get better and better. Through this I'm getting a deeper understanding for light, exposure, focus, colours, composition. It doesn’t matter if the first results are horrific. With every rejection and with every picture I'm taking of everyday objects, I’m learning more and more about the "art of painting with light". I'm getting aware of all the techniqual mistakes I've done so fair, and next time I will try to avoid them...

3) To be a travel photographer you need to be very patience. It will take ages before you get some income...

4) To be a travel photographer you will have to find the right agencies for the right pictures...
For myself I decided to give up uploading travel pictures on the big micro stock agencies. This doesn’t make sense. There are too many pictures of beaches, mountains or lakes up there, and as a newcomer, I can’t not compete. I rather try with macro stock and maybe smaller micro stock agencies, which are selling pictures for higher prices. After all I'm selling pictures of specific places, rarely someone will need them, but if so, they won't mind spending a couple of dollar more on it...

5) To be a travel photographer you have to spend many hours doing accurate key wording....
This is the tragic reality of stock photography. No matter how good your work is, if nobody finds it, it won’t sell

6) To be a travel photographer you have to become your own travel journalist.
After all your main target is editorial.
By giving a story to your shots, you will increase their value. While uploading give exact description of what is going on!  Build up your own website, with your articles, journals, stories, resources and bring them in relation to your pictures. Use the web to advertise yourself, and who knows?  Maybe, if you are good, some editor will buy your pictures AND your article.

7) To be a travel photographer, you need to give yourself a project.
Travel photography doesn’t mean run around the place with a camera just shooting every think you meet on the way. Travel photography needs the same accurate planning as micro stock ph. The destination has to be chosen carefully, the theme you want to report also. You may also decide to stay in one place for a long time, showing the different aspects: lifestyle, culture, animals, landscapes... but it has to be clear what you are doing...

To be a travel Photographer, you need to be flexible and able to drop your project anytime.
I remember one of my biggest mistake I did last year in Dharamsala (northern India). In was in April, while all the protests in Tibet were going on. For those who don’t know: Dharamsala is the residence place of the Dalai Lama, and in these days it was in the centre of the world news, with a lot of Tibetan on the street protesting against the Chinese repression... Guess what I did?  I was concentrating on picture of mountains, spending my time in the highest altitudes, not realizing that near me some serious events where happening ... to bad, it was a mistake, it could have given some good shots...

9) To be a travel Photographer, you need the support of the local population...
The key of success is deep respect for their culture... as a traveller you will need their support anyway, as a photographer even more. If they don’t want you to take picture of a particular person, event, building... don’t do it!

10) To be a travel Photographer, you need to be aware that uploading pictures of people, even if sold in editorial, is a big ethical issue.
And it’s not only a legal problem. You are making money with pictures of people who are getting nothing out of it. For myself I haven’t found a clear line about it. It's not an easy decision, and I'm deciding picture by picture. But, for myself, I have written down a general line:

Lifestyle picture: for this I mean pictures of farmers, fishers and similar around the world. For this I spend many days living in remote villages, cooking with the local people, eating with them, picking wood for fire with them, in other words, sharing my life with them. To this people I have always been very generous. I have never been this kind of traveller, who bags down the prices all  the time. To be honest: have been often overcharged, I knew it, but I didn’t mind. So from my side: Yes, I don’t see why I shouldn’t upload these pictures.

Picture of poor people/poor children: This is a big issue. Nothing better then the look of a child living in the slums of Mumbai can tell us about the tragedy of poverty…. in how many occasion such a picture could be use full to make people aware of what is going on.. But is it ok to make money with it, while this poor kid stays in his ghetto??? What can I do, to use this picture and still be respectful to the child. For sure, giving him some money is not the solution, but only a support for the Bombay Mafia. Taking the kid out of the slum is impossible, since there are too many of them ... For myself, I can just say what I decided to do, once I realized that giving them some money was not the way to go: since I was on the field in a developing country, I decided to use part of my time to look after different development organisation.. Once I found the one which I found serious and competent, I left once for all, a good donation.... this could be the way; use part of the income of these pictures to support some developing projects.

Pictures of people living in totalitarian regimes: Just to give you a concrete example. For now, I decided not to upload any pictures of people in Myanmar. I don’t want them to get in relation with articles writing about the brutality of its regime. After all, it’s a regime! Being on a picture in a European magazine which is critical with the regime can is enough there to be arrested, tortured, killed. I don’t want to take the risk to bring this people in trouble…

oh.. I almost forget rule number 11:
To be a travel photographer, you need to be very optimistic!

P.