Photography trends and the demand for types of images are ever evolving. Staying up to date on current trends and looking to the future is a great way to stay relevant.
Following trends blindly or being what some call a “copycat” photographer won't help you find your own photographic style. However, being aware of these trends and learning how to forecast future trends is an import strategy that photographers should incorporate into their specific genre and style.
Traveling to create new photography can get expensive fast, but whether it's for personal work, stock, or your portfolio, it is often a necessary part of advancing your work. There are lots of ways to monetize these images and tricks to shoulder the upfront costs involved in creating them. This is the approach and tips I use to get the most out of my travel photography.
I've traveled all over the world and throughout the U.S. on assignment. I take vacations with family and friends. I travel for weddings, graduations, and other personal events. I teach, give lectures, attend workshops and conventions. In all cases, I bring my camera and plan extra opportunities to take photographs. Though I don't have official shooting assignments when I travel to most of these places, I don't let that prevent me from getting some new amazing photos from that location while I'm there.
Building a stock photography portfolio and generating passive income can be one of the easiest ways a photographer can make money. However, creating a sizable portfolio that generates a worthwhile income month after month doesn't just happen overnight. Chances are you have already been shooting images suitable for stock without realizing it. With just a little planning and adjustment to how you see and approach assignments, you can turn your existing and future work into a growing stock catalog. Additionally, with stock sites like Adobe Stock built right into your Creative Cloud, submitting, tracking, and learning what sells is a relatively easy task.
When it comes to shooting stock photography, some photographers exclusively shoot stock, while others shoot assignments for clients that may generate stock opportunities. The latter seems to get lost on photographers looking to get into stock photography as a way to supplement their current work. I started getting into stock photography because the assignments I was working on consistently left me with a lot of unused content. These images, combined with personal work I did while traveling to and from jobs, left me with a large catalog of content that just ended up on my Instagram feed. Without setting out to do so, I unintentionally became a stock photographer. Unlike the traditional stock photographer who specifically shoots stock, my work had all been paid for upfront, saving me a lot of time and money. Additionally, new stock websites like Adobe Stock made getting my extra content onto the marketplace incredibly easy. Since the submission process is built into the programs I already use in my workflow, I was able to send in my extra content without expending a lot of additional effort.