The truth about travel photography in 2010 is that the quality of the images produced was often less important than the actual persons who shot the images. Many people do say, that the travel photography has been sold out to the highest bidder in the market. Many of the best world’s top travel photographers are no longer travelling in, no longer searching for new and exciting other places to shoot, but they are going where the money is. As such, many “photographers” have now become “corporate/marketing photographers”.
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But, can you really blame them? The photography world has significantly changed in the past 4-8 years. The stocks are now filled with photos/images from every corner of the Earth that newspapers and magazines can draw from. Travel photographers, in their traditions, are becoming replaceable
Despite that previous statement, I do believe that the travel photography community is robust and powerful than it has ever been before. Yes, traditional ways of income-generation are dying, but the developing and evolving world has opened up many different doors for those willing to take risks to make it in the industry. And, yes, there is a lot of competition out there in the travel photography world, but the community is strong, and the amount of camaraderie rather than jealousy in the business absolutely floors me nearly every day.
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So, if there’s any conclusion to this, it should be one of hope. No, you don’t have to be the best photographer in the world to make it in 2017: you just have to be the bravest and the hardest working. Anyone willing to take risks and work their butts off can make it as a travel photographer in 2010.
I left home in 2004 with $400 to my name, a point and shoot camera, and a desire to spend the rest of my life exploring the world. Looking back, I was beyond naïve. However, without that naivety, I would have never made the first step towards chasing my dreams. Today, I struggle to get by. In a heart beat, my income streams could all dry up. But I don’t worry anymore, I just take pictures and love every minute of it.