Getting Started as a Traveling Photographer

Basically, a traveling photographer’s job is to take photos and possibly a video that record the things that make an area unique, or they may instead be traveling for an event that they are contracted to photograph such as a game, graduation, or a wedding. For example, on any given gig you’ll take pictures of various landscapes, the people, note how the culture is different, the customs that they have, and their unique history. You can depict all of this in your photography. Anyone who documents a local area or agrees to travel to a location-based photo shoot is a traveling photographer.

Travel Photography for Pros and Amateurs The genre of traveling photography is popular with both amateur and professional alike, with much inspiration derived from magazines such as National Geographic with their photographers like Steve McCurry and Renan Ozturk. Steve McCurry’s most famous photo was made while reporting on the war in Afghanistan, and his photograph entitled "Afghan Girl" appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1984. You can travel and take pictures while traveling, or you can travel to a location to take pics of something specific like a religious ceremony or another event. Wide Flexibility Traveling photography can translate into many format styles of documentary photography. Most shooting will be under natural conditions with ambient lighting of a wide variety of indoor and outdoor subjects. Landscapes, people, culture, customs, fun and emotional events, and history are what the photographer frames as his or her subjects. On the commercial side, tourist attractions, hotels, resorts or anything to do with merchandising travel will often be the topics.