What you need to know before selling your photos to travel editors

A quick PSA before we begin! Our Travel Pitching Index has had a major update this month, meaning there are up-to-date pitching tips and guidelines for nearly 40 travel magazines, newspaper travel sections and digital platforms that pay for your words.

The guidelines are written and curated by Sarah Gillespie, an award-winning travel writer with bylines in National Geographic Traveller, The Times, The Guardian and many more. The TPI is available on a three-, six- and 12-month basis with prices as low as £8.33 per month for a 12-month subscription.

A few years ago, I wrote this about taking photos to go with my words. The sentiment still applies, for the most part: I am rarely compensated for my pictures, and so I rarely carry a camera with me these days.

But five years on from that piece, I feel like things have shifted a little. I feel like original photography is becoming more important once again. I’ve had commissions where I’ve been asked for photos of myself in situ, and I’ve even been paired with a photographer for various trips I’ve done in the past — such as this one for The Telegraph — or had a photographer follow in my footsteps, like for this piece for Nat Geo Traveller.

The problem is, while publications are prioritising original photos (possibly a response to search engine algorithms and AI), I find it’s just as difficult to get paid for my own photography as it was five years ago, which is why I’m still largely not lugging my camera about when I’m on assignment for a newspaper or magazine. (My books are still the exception, as well as occasional features for AFAR, which pays for photos when the stock won’t cut it.)

Instead, I’m happily snapping on my phone (more on that next week, when I’ll be listing all the gear me and our peers are using on the road). But what do publications actually want from us writers when it comes to photos? They’re surely not expecting professional-quality, striking travel photography when there’s no budget, and even when there is, they get the pros in (or more likely stock photos) for that. But if we want to try and sell photos alongside our words, there are a few things to consider.