Travel Photographer: The Ultimate Dream?

There are many different genres and subjects of photography but it is travel photography that often gets mentioned as the dream job. I think this is because for a lot of people like myself, it is what got them started in photography in the first place. Paris is the city that sparked my interest in photography, and the lack of any kind of camera apart from my phone was very frustrating, something I immediately sort to rectify when I got home.

Since then, photography has taken over my life and like so many of us photography bloggers out there, would love to make a living from photography. I was never that much interested in travel throughout my 20's and it was only once I got into the photography that I also acquired the ambition to travel to many places and picture them. It has taken me to a few places I would not have imagined visiting before, such as Venice (as today's pictures show) but I am still yet to go back to Paris. The nature of travel photography does seem a gold mine for photographers. If you travel enough, your portfolio will offer endless variety whatever subject you choose to picture. And of course everybody loves seeing pictures of foreign lands, perhaps being inspired themselves to visit places they see in a photograph.

There must be a downside to it though and the obvious one has to be the time spent away capturing those pictures. I watched a video on YouTube yesterday about a travel photographer (and regrettably I have forgotten his name) who spent 6 months travelling the world taking pictures for his new book. Now I applaud the dedication to his craft but surely that is a lot to take on a family should you have one back home? If you are a single person then I guess it isn't a problem, but even I who is getting married very shortly would not want to spend that much time away from home, there are more important things in life.

I guess the key as always is balance. Professional photography normally relies on more than 1 revenue stream and to be working locally as a full time photographer, whilst going away to foreign land for a few days to capture some pictures every now and then, seems like a great way to earn a living. Travel photography is often the dream for many aspiring photographers and like the artists of many years ago, will probably inspire people for hundreds of years to come yet.

Washing lines in Venice

Statue of Baldassre Galuppi in Burano, Venice