Being a traveling photographer has its perks and downfalls. I never expected to be traveling throughout the country on a monthly basis, and while it’s hard to be away from home, I’ve learned some valuable tips and tricks to making each photography trip a success!

I wanted to share 15 travel tips with you, I hopes of making your traveling dreams possible too!

Direct flights are the best option. The airlines have the power to change your connecting flight times, which can easily turn a 2 hour travel time into a 24+ hour travel time, which could affect your photoshoot schedule with clients.

Some days are cheaper than others to fly on, so double check prices on different days of the week.

If you prefer flying through a specific airline, I would recommend looking into their membership or credit card perks. This could grant you ability to fly your assistant for free, have private room access in airports, discounts on hotels and/or rental cars, and more!

If you aren’t particular to one airline, I would recommend looking into credit cards offered through banks, such as chase or capitol one, to see what travel benefits for your needs best.

Carry on your camera gear. I’ve heard horror stories of photographers checking camera gear iI’m and having it completely destroyed or lost/stolen.

If you plan to have it in the overhead bin, paying extra to have early boarding or in zones 1-3 boarding, provides you with overhead space. If you’re in zone 5-7, and the overhead bins are full, you will have to check your bags as luggage.

I keep all essentials in my camera bag. This includes two camera bodies, two + lenses, four fully charged batteries, a battery charger, 14 sd cards (64-138gb ea.), my hard drive, laptop, charging cords for laptop and phone, beats and extra cash/second id.

I always have two camera bodies and at least two lenses at all times in my bag. If for some reason, a body or lens gets dropped or malfunctions, you can continue working with your backup and continue photographing and providing a seamless experience for clients, attending to your broken gear after returning home from your trip.

When/if leaving your camera bag in the car, take hard drive and sd cards with you. There’s nothing worse than having your car broken into and your bag stolen. Yes, gear can be replaced, but telling a client you lost their images and may or may not be able to revisit and reshoot, isn’t the professional experience you want to provide.

Book hotels when the weekly weather report is posted OR pay extra for refundable cancellations. When I travel, I will typically cover a 6 hour radius of the airport I fly in/out of, and if weather changes, my schedule will change too. It’s not fun having to pay for a hotel room 5 hours away, and a new hotel room closer, when you have to adjust plans to work around weather.

Plan in extra time. If you need to change dates/times for weather, or if clients and their animals need more time, or if you need a break to recharge, it’s better to have that option than have to cancel a client. Extra time is great for when you’re traveling around the holidays, or having to travel around a large event that causes traffic or road closures.

If you can pay extra for travel insurance, esp on flights, hotel and rental car, you may be able to receive a refund or credit toward another trip.

Have all of the important addresses, client phone numbers and photoshoot details accessible offline in case you don’t have cell service, and available for your assistant and your emergency contacts. Ive ended up having to backtrack during travel to find cell service, in order to contact the client or the photoshoot location, which cut into client time and wasn’t as professional of an experience as I wanted to provide.

I include in my important addresses local grocery stores and coffee shops. It’s cheaper(and healthier) to buy food from a grocery store than eating out 3X a day. Many hotels offer suits, where you have a kitchenette to cook in!

Life app - I have the life app, which allows both my husband, my emergency contacts, and my travel assistant to keep track of my location. This is an extra step of safety, but traveling and working on private properties with first time clients can be sketchy, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.

If the property makes us nervous pulling in, I do send my husband a photo of license plates parked at the location.

When booking photoshoots for sunrise or sunset, keep in mind if you’re going to have elevation changes. Sunrise in the plains will be immediate, but sunrise in the mountains may be delayed depending on the elevation of the peaks. Same for sunset.

Use google map to your advantage! 3-4 months prior to a trip, I use google maps to locate barns or equine facilities that are listed on google. Pastures and outdoor arena are VERY easy to spot on google maps! From there, I can locate the business details, contact info and social media pages, reaching out to let them know I will be in the area on select days with availability for additional photoshoots.

I can research quality locations for dog shoots on the route to barns, fitting in those additional sessions for my dog clients.

Social media is great to provide your travel schedule to followers regularly, but curating an email list with past clients and those interested in your services is the best way to solidify photoshoots. If I don’t have a trip planned to requested areas of travel, I’ll offer the client the opportunity to either join my email list, and when I have 5+ clients in that area ready to book, I’ll set dates and travel plans. OR if the client prefers a more flexible a schedule, I provide a custom travel quote that will cover for a private trip to capture their photography needs ASAP.

Consider having a non refundable retainer for booking photoshoots. This ensures that your travel expenses are covered, even if the client cancels their photoshoot. I’ve flown across the country to end up being completely ghosted by a client before (and yes, I called, texted and emailed- all of which I could see were being opened and read), but I luckily had a nonrefundable retainer that ensured I only lost my time, and not additional funds for unexpectedly unnecessary travel.

I hope these travel tips helped provide you with easier planning, an enjoyable trip, and more time behind the camera!