Travel Photography For Freelance Writers

Wanting to be a freelance writer means that sooner or later you will have to travel. The lucky ones get their expenses paid up-front, but most have to get their expenses reimbursed from the client.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, therefore if you are writing an article it goes without saying that some photographs of the subject will add value to your article, and lets face it, you are not going to do any freelance writing for free. So the better the article the more money you make.

It isn’t too difficult to take clear, focused and colorful photographs, anyone can do this. The difficulty is taking photographs of pertinent subjects that relate to the articles you are writing, and then getting paid. Every magazine editor wants photos, but are they willing to pay for them.

Rule number 1 of freelance writing is “Get It In Writing” and get a signature. The days are gone when you could do a deal with a handshake and then be sure that it will be honored. You need to have the offer in writing, better still, in an email, detailing everything.

If your client asks you to do something or go somewhere that isn’t covered in your contract get him to redo your contract before you comply with his wishes. You could find that you have gone to a lot of extra expense, and not get paid for it.

If it isn’t in the contract and your client doesn’t like the final outcome he may refuse to pay up simply because it wasn’t in your contract. As a freelance writer , photographer you are a self employed contractor, you are a businessman, so be business-like.

Business people get paid for what they do, so if you are going to travel, write about and photograph your subject you have to get paid for it. Freelance writing and photography can have residual benefits, your articles and photos can be sold over and over again, if you keep the copyright. Don’t give your copyright away, it may be worth something in the future.

To the uninitiated it may seem a waste of time and effort to take so many pics of the same subject. But it is better to have too many photos than to have the few that you take turn out to be useless and amateurish. Take lots of photos then you won’t have to go back to your location to re-shoot if something goes astray.

Use a digital camera. With a digital camera you can take as many photographs as you like, you can select the perfect picture when you get home, at your leisure, and discard the rest if you like. But why discard them when you can store them on a disc and keep them for the future.