How to Sell Hometown Photos to Magazines

Now more than ever, at a time when magazines do not have the budgets to send out-of-town photographers on assignment to Your Town, USA, it is important that you have good photographic coverage of your area.
After all, no matter how good an out-of-town photographer might be, the advantage is yours when it comes to being there when the light is perfect or your town is under two feet of snow and everything looks like a postcard.
Here are three tips for photographing your hometown and maximizing this built-in advantage:
** 1. Photograph each of your town’s famous landmarks and public buildings in depth.
What most photographers do when visiting a new place is to make sure they capture all the “usual suspects” first (like the St. Francis Cathedral here in Santa Fe).  They don’t usually have time for much more.
You, on the other hand, have the luxury of photographing everything — even lesser-known but just as photogenic (and marketable) subjects in your hometown.
In my case, in addition to the Cathedral, I have images of Loretto Chapel, Guadalupe Church, San Miguel Mission, and many other area churches. To boot, I have interior shots of all of them.
This first sample photo depicts Santa Fe’s Cathedral. I have images of the cathedral from different angles, from its interior, with and without people, etc…

** 2.  Photograph events.
Tourists who visit your area often plan their trip to coincide with an event, and images of these events are frequently requested by travel magazine editors.  Events not only depict what there is to do in a particular location, they also show happy people (a favorite subject of editors).
Which events should you photograph? All of them. Santa Fe’s events include religious processions, art festivals, rodeos, and mariachi concerts. Other towns might feature farmers markets, outdoor concerts, or Fourth of July parades.
I took this picture of Indian dancers during the Fiesta de Santa Fe, one of my hometown’s most popular events…

** 3.  Photograph the different seasons.
Another huge advantage of photographing your hometown is the ability to photograph the same subject during different seasons. I often get photo requests from magazine editors asking for a specific season (fall and winter shots are always in demand). And if you do not mind the cold, consider developing a collection of winter shots, too.
Every photographer in Santa Fe has a nice shot of the Cathedral, but my image of it under heavy snow has sold many times over.
This picture shows the Santa Fe Plaza during fall, when the cottonwood leaves turn yellow. In the background is the historic Palace of the Governors…

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.  Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]