Marketing Advice

Editorial buyers also are always looking for something new and different – and Jody has that covered. But when it comes to understanding what will sell, Jody goes with her gut. She begins by doing her research and finding a story that interests her. Because she works primarily with magazines, storylines are an important aspect of her image-making. For example, when Jody was in India working on another project, she saw a movie featuring Rajan, “the world’s last swimming elephant,” floating in tropical blue water. Jody remembers thinking, “Oh my god, I have to experience that. I have to go see if I can find this elephant,” and she did. “I went to go swim with him and found out that his story was incredibly compelling. It was a story that blew me away. I didn’t know if people would relate to it the way I did.” It turned into her best selling story. Though magazine stories are at the top of the heap, Jody also relies on stock and print sales to make money. At this point in her career, she’s approached by editors and clients for work.

When it comes to self-promotion, Jody relies on social media, saying, “I am continually impressed by how powerful and influential social media is.” Jody is also a whole-hearted believer in approaching her clients and suggesting that they profile her. “I think that’s the best form of marketing—get somebody else to talk about how good your work is.” Since starting out, Jody has noticed the effects of digital and social media on the adventure sport photography industry. Today her clients look for “interesting and unique content for the web,” and she needs to produce a lot more work for different media platforms. In addition, video production has become part of her repertoire. There was a learning curve (she learned as she went along), but video is a lucrative new revenue stream for her – and one that takes much more time to produce, too.

Advice for aspiring adventure photographers

There are a couple of things that Jody would tell an emerging photographer. One, which she knows is controversial, is don’t give your work away for free. She struggled with this when she was starting out, wanting to get her work seen by as many people as possible. But she’s an advocate for producing quality work and selling it for what it’s worth – something she believes is more than possible.

“Go out and find good stories to photograph, then contact the places where you want your work to be seen. Whether you want to work with an NGO or you want to sell in galleries, it all comes down to shooting a lot and getting your work out there in those different avenues.”