Looking at the work of famous travel photographers is still the fastest way to train your eye. But if you want to make a living from travel photography today, studying the legends is not enough. You need to see how the photographers who are working right now actually do it: what they shoot, who pays them, how they use drones, video, social media and AI tools, and how they keep their own voice in the middle of all that.
That is why this list is about travel photographers you can follow today, not a museum of the past. For each one we look at what they are doing now, how they make a living and what you can learn from them, with their videos and channels so you can watch them work. It is the same kind of analysis we practise in our Master in Travel Photography.
Who are the most famous travel photographers today?
Short answer: some of the most influential travel photographers working today are Chris Burkard, Ami Vitale, Benjamin Hardman, Tamara Merino, Gabriele Galimberti, Cristina Mittermeier, Elia Locardi, Renee Hahnel, Aníbal Bueno and Lauren Bath. They work in very different ways (adventure, conservation, documentary, portraits, landscapes, content creation), but they share one thing: none of them lives from selling single pictures. They build long projects, a recognisable point of view and several income streams at once.
If you are just starting, our travel photography guide covers the basics. Here we focus on people: what they do, and what you can take from them.
Chris Burkard: adventure, brands and a camera you are willing to carry
Chris Burkard started photographing surfers as a teenager on California’s central coast and went on to become one of the best-known adventure photographers in the world. Today he has around 4 million followers on Instagram, and his work moves between cold-water surf in Iceland and Norway, remote landscapes and long-distance cycling.
He is a very clear model of the multi-income photographer: commercial work for outdoor brands such as Patagonia, The North Face and Red Bull, books, films (his short documentary Under an Arctic Sky followed a crew surfing under the northern lights), a TED talk with close to two million views, and online and in-person workshops. In 2026 he published Out There, a pocket field guide to outdoor photography, and Sony released a video series built around it.
From Chris we would learn two things. First, research before you travel: the place, the people and the conditions shape the story more than the gear. Second, his rule that the best camera is the one you are actually willing to take out of the bag.
Where to follow their work: Instagram | Website
Ami Vitale: from conflict zones to conservation stories
Ami Vitale is a National Geographic photographer and filmmaker who has worked in more than 100 countries. She began as a conflict photographer, covering Afghanistan, Gaza and Kashmir, and moved to wildlife and conservation when she concluded that the destruction of nature was feeding many of the conflicts she covered.
Her image of keepers with Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, made her known far beyond the photography world. Since then she has followed panda rewilding in China and the community-run Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Kenya. Her key idea is that people are not the backdrop of nature stories: the communities who protect wildlife are the story.
Ami also shows how a career can grow beyond assignments. She founded Vital Impacts, a nonprofit that in 2026 awarded seven environmental photography fellowships worth a total of 50,000 dollars and eleven year-long mentorships. She gives talks at universities, teaches workshops and has worked as an ambassador for camera and editing brands, including the AI-powered editor Luminar.
Where to follow their work: Instagram | Website | Vital Impacts
Benjamin Hardman: the Arctic, drones and solo filmmaking
Benjamin Hardman grew up in Australia with no experience of cold climates. After a trip to Iceland in 2013 he moved there, learned Icelandic and built a career photographing the Arctic: Iceland’s highlands, Svalbard, Greenland and Antarctica. He now has around 1 million followers on Instagram.
He is a good example of a photographer who has turned technology into a craft. He scouts remote locations on Google Earth, shoots aerial images with drones and works more and more as a natural history cinematographer, often as a one-person crew. He spent around three years filming aerial footage in Iceland for the Netflix series Life on Our Planet, and he also teaches photography on expedition ships.
From Benjamin we would learn that the line between photographer and filmmaker has almost disappeared. If you can think in stills and in sequences, more doors open. His YouTube channel, where he shares how he shoots on expedition, is a free masterclass.
Where to follow their work: Instagram | YouTube
Tamara Merino: the long project that changes a career
Tamara Merino is a Chilean documentary photographer and National Geographic Explorer based in Santiago. Her work focuses on identity and communities, and her best-known project, Underland, has documented people who live underground in seven countries on four continents for more than eleven years.
That long project has given her several National Geographic covers, the Magnum Foundation’s Inge Morath Award and selections in programmes such as the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass. She also works as a National Geographic Expeditions expert on trips, speaks at universities and museums, and co-founded the collective Ayün Fotógrafas.
Tamara is proof that one patient, well-researched project can open more doors than hundreds of loose pictures. If you want to work for big magazines, think in years, not in trips.
Where to follow their work: Instagram
Gabriele Galimberti: one simple idea, repeated around the world
Gabriele Galimberti is an Italian photographer, born in 1977 in Tuscany, who spends most of the year travelling for work. He shoots assignments for National Geographic, The Sunday Times, Le Monde and many other publications, and he is known for projects built on one simple, repeatable idea.
Toy Stories portrays children around the world with their toys. In Her Kitchen photographs grandmothers with their signature dish. The Ameriguns, his series on American gun owners with their weapons, won the 2021 World Press Photo award in the Portrait Stories category. He also travelled the world sleeping on strangers’ sofas for My Couch Is Your Couch.
His method is very practical: environmental portraits lit with several small flashes, a light kit that fits in a suitcase, and a second camera for short video interviews for the web and social media. From Gabriele we would learn that a strong concept travels better than any destination.
Where to follow their work: Instagram | Website
Cristina Mittermeier: photography as a campaign
Cristina Mittermeier was trained in marine sciences and became one of the best-known ocean photographers in the world. She founded the International League of Conservation Photographers in 2005 and co-founded SeaLegacy with Paul Nicklen. Today she has around 2 million followers on her own Instagram account, and SeaLegacy has around 3 million.
What makes her interesting for a student is the model: every image is part of a campaign with a goal. With SeaLegacy she launched the Only One collective in 2020, which pairs visual stories with simple actions the audience can take. She was named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2018 and is a Sony Artisan of Imagery.
From Cristina we would learn to ask one question before publishing: what do I want people to do after seeing this picture?
Where to follow their work: Instagram | SeaLegacy
Elia Locardi: the photographer as educator and digital nomad
Elia Locardi has been a full-time travel photographer since 2009 and has worked in more than 65 countries. Between 2012 and 2017 he and his wife, Naomi, sold almost everything and lived as digital nomads with no fixed home. Today they are based on Florida’s Space Coast and still travel most of the year.
His business is a clear map of how a travel photographer can earn a living now: the Photographing the World tutorial series with Fstoppers (more than 50 hours of landscape, cityscape and astrophotography lessons), workshops and talks in more than 30 countries, commissioned work for brands and tourism boards, and ambassador roles with Fujifilm and other photography brands.
He has also spoken about the downside of social media, which he called a “golden cage”, and about choosing to post less and focus on projects he enjoys. From Elia we would learn meticulous planning (sun position, routes, weather) and the value of teaching what you know.
Where to follow their work: Instagram | Website
Renee Hahnel: content creator, presets and the self-portrait
Renee Hahnel was born in Melbourne and worked as a speech therapist before moving to the United States in 2014. In 2016 she started a blog about her weekend adventures and, a few months later, she and her husband, the photographer Matthew Hahnel, left their jobs to run their photography business full-time. She now has more than 900,000 followers on Instagram.
A client project took the couple to every national park in the United States, which became the book Roaming America. Her income mixes social media campaigns, commercial photography, her own Lightroom presets, workshops and blog partnerships. She is also a Sony Alpha ambassador.
Her signature is the adventure self-portrait: a small human figure in a big landscape to convey how the place felt. From Renee we would learn how a personal brand and a business can grow out of a blog, and how to plan a shot when you are both photographer and subject.
Where to follow their work: Instagram | Website
Aníbal Bueno: anthropology, ethics and photo tours
Aníbal Bueno, born in Orihuela (Spain) in 1981, describes himself as a scientist, writer, teacher and photographer specialised in documenting minority societies. He has travelled to more than 70 countries and has around 170,000 followers on Instagram. He also teaches in our Master in Travel Photography.
His work combines research, publishing and travel. He is the author of Culturas Olvidadas (2020) and co-author of Last Tribes of Angola (2021), and he co-founded Last Places, a company of photo tours led by photographers with anthropological knowledge. His interviews on large podcasts and YouTube channels have reached millions of views, which has taken his work far beyond photography circles.
From Aníbal we would learn that ethics is part of the technique: time with communities, consent and respect are what make a portrait honest. In this video (in Spanish) he shares five tips to make money from travel photography.
Where to follow their work: Instagram
Lauren Bath: from chef to professional Instagrammer
Lauren Bath was working as a chef in Australia when her Instagram account started to attract tourism clients. Australian national media later called her the country’s first professional Instagrammer, and she is credited with helping to create the travel influencer industry there. She has around 330,000 followers.
Her clients have included Tourism Australia, Tourism New Zealand, Visit Dubai and Intrepid Travel. Her business today goes beyond posting: she works as a social media consultant and speaker, co-founded The Travel Bootcamp to teach people how to get paid to travel, created an online course for beginners and runs photography tours to Zimbabwe that support anti-poaching work.
From Lauren we would learn the business side: packaging what you offer to a destination, understanding what a tourism board needs, and protecting how your images can be used.
A post shared by Lauren Bath (@laurenepbath)
Where to follow their work: Instagram
How do travel photographers make a living today?
Looking at these ten careers, the pattern is clear. Almost nobody lives from selling single photos. Most combine several of these:
- Commissions and assignments for magazines, brands and tourism boards.
- Long personal projects that lead to books, exhibitions, grants and awards.
- Video and film, from social media clips to documentary and natural history work.
- Teaching: workshops, online courses, tutorials and photo tours.
- Digital products such as presets, guides and prints.
- Ambassador roles with camera, editing and outdoor brands.
- Talks and nonprofit work, especially in conservation.
Travel photography and AI: what is changing
Technology is changing how travel photographers work, but not what makes them valuable. Drones, phone cameras, Google Earth scouting and AI-assisted editing tools are now part of everyday workflows. Several of the photographers on this list work with editing software that markets itself as AI-powered.
At the same time, the profession is drawing a clear line between editing a real photograph and generating an image. In 2023, after more than a hundred photographers protested, World Press Photo reversed a plan and banned AI-generated images and generative fill from its 2024 contest, including its open category. For a travel photographer, that line matters: readers, editors and destinations trust you because you were there.
Our advice: use AI to save time (culling, organising, basic corrections) and be transparent about how you edit. Your access, your relationships with people and your point of view are the parts no tool can generate.
How to study these photographers without copying them
- Follow two or three, not twenty. Watch what they post for a month and note what repeats.
- Watch them work. Behind-the-scenes videos teach more than finished images.
- Map their income. Who pays them, and for what? It is the best career research you can do.
- Look at series, not single frames. How do they open, build and close a story?
- Do one exercise inspired by each. A Galimberti-style portrait series, a Hahnel-style self-portrait, a Merino-style long project near home.
- Find your own angle. Write down what you would do differently, and why.
The same method works for other genres. Try it with our food photographers worth studying or our selection of famous documentary photographers.
From following to building your own career
The famous travel photographers of today are not just great image makers. They are storytellers, researchers, educators and small business owners who adapt to new tools without losing their point of view. Pick one name from this list, watch how they work, and then go out and shoot a small series of your own.
If you want to learn to do it with method, from technique and editing to visual storytelling, building a portfolio and turning photography into a profession, take a look at our Master in Travel Photography.
