How to Make Money as a Photographer in Travel

My latest monthly round up and explanation on how to make money as a photographer in travel. Find my work on Instagram at @brendanvanson. At the end of each month on this travel photography channel I like to walk you through my expenses an income from the month before. I know this one is a little bit late, but I've been really busy recently with different travel photography assignments, and wrapping up a couple big projects that took place in the month of July. The month of July was a really great one for this travel photographer. And, if I'm being honest, looking at my income from the month it might not look like the best example of how to make money as a photographer. It looks like my travel photography business is failing a bit. But, it's part of running a small business. Sometimes you have massive months when projects pay out, other times you are kind of left waiting for payments to come through. This month, I made great money as a photographer, but it doesn't really reflect in the income because lots of it wont come into my account until next month or even the month after. In the end, one's salary when they run a business isn't a month-to-month one, but an annual one. And, though I didn't even make $3000 this month, next month I could cross $15000 and in the end it will even out to one nice looking salary. As usual, when it comes to the question of how to make money from photography, I'm a believer in the income octopus. It's a concept I run in which you don't have one stream of income, but 8 (more or less). That way, if one stream of income really isn't working well for you, you'll still have the other streams of money coming in. Travel photography, and photography in general, is the type of career that unless you find yourself on salary you'll need to branch out. This month, I made money from: 1) Commercial photography: $1200 2) My Travel Photography Blog: $100 3) My Travel Photography Vlog: $400 4) Travel Photography Assignments: $1000 5) Affiliate Sales: $200 Because I have so many streams of income, it didn't matter that I didn't make money from streams I usually make money from like stock photography, editorial photography, and social media. At the end of this vlog, I give a bit of advice. And I wanted to clear up that advice, because it's really 2 things. 1) Branch out: Don't let your travel photography business be general. Find other ways to earn money. 2) Specialize: I'm a generalist, but if you want to start earning money quickly in photography, specialize. It's easier to sell yourself if you do something specific that you're really great at. Find your niche in photography. That's it for today, I've still got a couple travel vlogs coming from Kyrgyzstan and then it's on to The UK. Stay tuned for those episodes.