IL Magazine: Discover the Greatest Retirement Town +6 More SUBSCRIBE NOW AND SAVE 35% about subscribing to International Living Magazine Whether it’s dangling from your neck or tucked away in your pocket, few of us are likely to travel without a camera. It’s how we share our experience with friends and family at home, and it’s how we recall our trips years down the line, when we’ve long since forgotten our experiences.
Like a lot of “creative types,” I’ve always been a visual person. Growing up, I was happiest and most focused with a pencil or paintbrush in my hand. But—as my fellow creative types know—most adults discourage “art” as a life path.
It was close to sunset. My tripod was set up, my settings were dialed in on my camera, and I was relaxing on a bench in a park along the river, eating delicious Basque pastries while watching busy people go by. I was waiting for the light to change.
Iceland seems to be on everybody's bucket list right now and, after a flying visit to photograph it's spectacular, other-worldly scenery, I can see why. The island nation isolated in the North Atlantic Ocean is unlike anywhere else I've been before.
When I began taking photographs, it was just a hobby...something I really liked doing on vacation. It never occurred to me I could ever make any money. However, I quickly realized what a lucrative opportunity it was.I built up my photography business from home with the intent of going full time as a photographer and traveling the world to capture amazing imagery. And this past year, it finally became my reality.
I have always loved travel photography. My childhood room held travel posters and calendars with glossy photographs of the places I wanted to visit. I used to dream that someday my own photographs would be among them. In December, a box arrived on my doorstep filled with several calendars from the world’s largest calendar company, each with one or more of my travel photographs gracing the pages.
Perched atop a hill formed from volcanic rock, with a panoramic view of the fiery orange sunset over the Pacific Ocean is Kristen Brown’s “office
It's been a long time now since I transitioned from a traditional job to a footloose and fancy-free photographer but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Location independent income has become a mandatory part of my life and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I always loved photography. But it wasn't until I got the secrets of turning photos into cash that I started making real money from my photographs. With this valuable knowledge under my belt, I began to search for press trips that I might be invited to join (at no cost to me). That's how I scored a visit to Borneo—a place I had always desperately wanted to visit.
My friends thought I was crazy when I first started talking about selling my photos. I had no experience and I barely knew how to work my camera. But they have no idea how easy it was to put my travel photos online and start selling them as stock.