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Hi Reader,

Back before I had my daughter, I used to travel a lot. Booking weddings in Europe, Canada, Mexico, and pretty much every corner of the U.S.

I’d extend trips to visit college friends or check off bucket list spots like Banff. And even though I always had a camera on me, I didn’t realize just how many licensing opportunities I was sitting on.

I’ve been going back through my old hard drives recently and wow.

It’s wild to see what actually sold vs. what didn't

I used to think it would be the styled, dreamy portraits like the perfectly posed photo of my friends on a cobblestone street like this:

Nope.
The bestsellers?

Shots like this one, taken while we were drinking coffee in the morning.

One photo is a beautiful, romantic portrait.
The other? It makes you feel like you’re there. It's more relatable. And that’s what buyers want.

Looking back, I can see how often I was thinking like a wedding photographer. Curating images to impress future clients. Not stock buyers. Two totally different mindsets.

It's really difficult to know this without years of sales data.

There’s so much I wish I’d known when I started.
(If only I had someone to guide me... wink wink 😉)

And honestly you don’t need a plane ticket to shoot this kind of content.

If you’re staying local this summer, don’t sleep on your own city or town. You can create top-selling images anywhere especially with the right styling, props, and keywords.

I wish I’d known this earlier! Please learn from my mistakes ❤️

xo,
Aubrey

P.S. Want a sneak peek at my travel stock photography course?​
Here’s one of the videos from the course where I walk you through some of my top-selling travel photos and exactly why they've sold so many times.