Hi,
recently i've found on this blog very interesting site of one of the microstocker's - http://www.veoelmundo.com/ .  In this site photographer Holger writes about how he visits many different countries of the world and during these journeys he makes photos for microstock.
I think this kind of job - traveling photographer sounds absolutely awsome. Are there any other travelling microstockers? I've heard that travel photos are very succesful in microstock, but can this kind of bussiness payback - i mean  all travelling expenses should be huge - plane, train tickets, hotels or hostels, food, etc. Is it possible for those photos made during these travels to earn enough to compensate all those expenses?  Of course, i realize that it strongly depends from the skills of the photographer and from what countries are visited... But anyway, if You do this it would be interesting to hear something from Your experience. 

I shoot when I travel, but I'm not a traveling photographer.  Some of the best travel photographers don't actually travel...they just extensively document the areas where they live.  They have the advantage of knowing interesting local places beyond all the tourist traps.

Holger drops into this forum a lot (sometimes by parachute), so you can catch up with him here too.  (He goes by the name of Holgs in here).

I've done something like Holger and met him a couple times.  My trip was much shorter though, just 26 months.  If you are good, work hard, and travel very cheaply you might break even.  Like Sean said a short trip to England will probably not net you very much since there are a million people covering those areas already.  

Oh I don't know... depends if you see 'island' as a state of mind 

yeah, right. I suppose you also think the Atlantic ocean isn't a pond

Huh?

Oh I don't know... depends if you see 'island' as a state of mind 

Lol! Nice one.

I think that taking some pics while traveling to sell might be worthwhile, but unless you really work at it and pick your travel locations very carefully and travel very cheaply it would be hard to actually make much money at it. - With some effort it is pretty easy to travel amazingly cheaply around much of the world though, and if you really are taking pics to sell you could deduct most of your expenses. If you just want to make $, there are easier ways to do it with a camera I think.

I am sure that for some of my travels I have come out ahead with photo sales - others not (often just a few images that have taken off). However the truth is I would likely be traveling anyway, so if I can take a few hours or days here and there for photography and come out even or ahead that is a good thing. Sometimes I need a break from traveling anyway and sitting in front of a computer processing pics isn't a bad way to take it. Also it can give you a good excuse to get up early or head out to a specific spot. Certainly some of the times I have pulled off on the side of the road to take some images have been well worth it and others not.

Hopefully as I get more of my stuff up on Alamy, especially the non model released stuff I can start to get a better return on some locations.

You really don't want to get a Scot going on the subject of the English - what are you all thinking? Or perhaps the many centuries of politics and fighting in the British Isles are not well known elsewhere? I think Liz was gently pointing out the the island is England, Scotland and Wales, currently all part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Yeah, yeah, I know.  I was just typing fast.  I thought about it afterward, but didn't have the energy to change it...

I should have just put "The Land of Harry Potter".

If you just want to make $, there are easier ways to do it with a camera I think.

Probably, but not as interesting or as much fun.

Quote from: ShadySue on January 06, 2012, 15:08

Quote from: pancaketom on January 06, 2012, 13:20

If you just want to make $, there are easier ways to do it with a camera I think.

Probably, but not as interesting or as much fun.

That's because you're not doing it for a living. Trust me, when you have bills to pay ... and are clocking up expenses on a daily basis ... and getting next to nothing in return due to lousy weather, etc ... it ain't much fun.

That's when you curse your decision to be where you are knowing you could be making good money back home.

Not even 2011 being the wettest Scottish year on record has made me regret leaving the well-paying day job, though it made me end the year short of my uploading targets for both iStock and Alamy, and I have nothing to process at the moment.

Even though I will NEVER forget that iStock changed the groundrules 5 days after I handed in my notice.  

Not even 2011 being the wettest Scottish year on record has made me regret leaving the well-paying day job, though it made me end the year short of my uploading targets for both iStock and Alamy, and I have nothing to process at the moment.

Even though I will NEVER forget that iStock changed the groundrules 5 days after I handed in my notice.  

My 2007 Scotland trip was the one that paid off the best. Was over there in 2005 also and that one didn't do bad either. I envy you being a full-time stocker in such a great place!

A different approach to travel photography.  Your expenses become tax deductions; camper/RV is business equipment.  Maybe not make a lot of money but lose less money.  

Wow I'm learning things, England isn't and island, it's the "land of Harry Potter". And if someone wants to say that the UK is an island, lets quibble, it's a whole mass of islands!  

As for deductions, I've run some of those past my accountant and she says, "Anything that can be used for some other purpose, isn't a business expense" She was talking about clothes that I must buy to work at the races. Yeah, I'll be wearing that fireproof jumpsuit out for  a football game or party some day soon?

Although I have managed to have photography as a business, so the cameras and lenses and... are all business and being depreciated.

Some things like computers and cameras and who knows, a fax machine, DSL at the office, or desk. Are business, even if you might use them incidentally for something personal. Some things that appear to be only business aren't just because the IRS says, you may wear it someplace else, it's not only used for work income. (I'd disagree but I also don't kick hornets nests...)

So here's why I'm nagging you Warren, motor home? If you kept records of the trip, start miles and expenses along the "photo shoot" I'd think you have no problem. If you list the motor home as a business vehicle and try to take 100%, there might be a visit from the auditors. When I go out of state for a race, I keep a detailed log. Starting miles, expenses, food, lodging, all that detailed information. Then I staple it together and forget about it. If I ever get audited again, I'll have a little cushion. Had my business miles disallowed years ago and it cost me thousands. They said "bad records", I was unhappy, but they were right.

I didn't know Holgs did travel. (I must be asleep) It does sound like nice work if you can get it. I want to see the National Parks, just because I never have. Lets see, people have been shooting those since before they had that name. I think the subject is well covered?

I agree with everyone who pointed out, that going someplace, you are at a disadvantage to the locals who can really do some in depth coverage if they want. What I find funny, is that I still "go places" to shoot and I could probably walk to ten nice sites and shoot? So I can't assume that locals aren't just like us and want to find the adventure of being someplace else.

Heck look at Orkney and the archaeology. Or maybe Easter Island. There's probably enough work on the stock sites to fill the buyers needs. Doesn't mean I can't go there and see them? Sales would be nice, but at 12 million images on SS and 25 million on Alamy, I think it's getting more difficult to find something truly unique.

I think there's a guy from the UK, on Alamy, who has 100,000 images, some amazing number, and he just goes out for walks and rides around where he lives. I guess that works for him?

Ah yes there is the Big Pond (across the Pond) and then the one I live on, is the little pond. You would know it as Lake Michigan. 100 miles wide, 300 miles long, what else would you want to call it?

I travel, why I was all the way to Hastings MN for a waterfall I wanted to shoot, last year and Valerie came with me. She said she'd never been to Minnesota before. We go to all those romantic and exotic places, right? LOL I think she hadn't been to Iowa until we went there between Grant's home (in Galena, IL) and Effigy Monument near McGregor. That's me, Mr. Excitement. Well it beats watching paint dry or changing the litter box?

As in: Ignore that little man behind the curtain, there's nothing there?

It'd never work, move along.