Thomas Reissmann, globe-trotting professional videographer, initially studied Tourism Management in the UK and Australia. He then spent some years working in the tourism industry as a marketing executive, traveling to South America, New Zealand and the UK. He finally found his passion about 10 years ago, when he started producing promotional videos for tourism companies. That’s when he realized he could go freelance and use videos to finance dream vacations - and he quit his day job.
Since then, Tom lived a few years in Australia traveling and producing travel videos, and spent months getting paid to film the wildlife in Tanzania and Kenya and hike Kilimanjaro. Today, he travels the continent of Europe with a luxury Mobile Home and shoots videos in the summer. He then goes to his home in the Canary Islands, where it’s warm and sunny all year round, to edit all his footage and spend his evenings and weekends surfing. And that’s when he isn’t leading overseas expeditions and workshops for Great Escape Publishing.
Hate: City traffic, cold and rainy days, bureaucracy, old cars that keep breaking down.
Best adventure: Getting lost in the Amazon - for 21 days!
I’m happiest when: Catching a wave on my surf board.
My tip: If you do what you love, you will never have to work a day in your life.
Best thing I ever did:: Quit my job and start earning my own money with travel videos.
I’ve been filming scenes all over the world for quite some time and really enjoy the process. On top of that, I make good money from those videos, and you can, too. It’s easier than you might think. One thing my students always tell me is how much fun… and surprisingly easy… filming is. You […]
Over the years, I’ve advised readers to use a tripod in order to differentiate yourselves from the amateur videographer. With a tripod, you’ll create perfectly smooth and stable images. But carrying a tripod is tiring, and setting it up takes time. Luckily, new technology has almost eliminated the need for messing around with a tripod—at […]
It’s true that you need a few pieces of equipment in order to be a videographer – but not nearly as much as you might think. And if you start looking at those items as simply being tools that will allow you to gain invaluable experiences, you will come to understand how rewarding this lifestyle […]
When I signed up to produce a commercial video of my hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro – followed by a luxury safari and a beach vacation – I had no idea how much people pay for this kind of adventure… and how truly life-changing it is. I climbed Kilimanjaro via the Rongai route, […]
Panning is the act of moving your camera from side to side to capture a sweeping view of a place. When you’re panning in video, you absolutely must use a tripod. And you must move very, very slowly. Much slower than you think. I also recommend that you choose ahead of time where your pan […]
Here are four simple tricks to use in order to make your footage look more professional-quality travel videos. All of these things are done in “post-production” – using your computer to edit the videos after you record them. (You’ll find detailed instructions for this in my course. It’s not the least bit hard.) First, […]
One of the main questions when starting out as a travel videographer is how much should you charge. This will depend on many factors—including how much the client is willing to spend, what level of expertise you are at, what kind of equipment you use, how much time you’ll spend on creating a video, and […]
Today is all about the final step in selling your first travel video. I will also provide a few other options on how to make money with travel videos. Step 4: Follow-up and closing the deal By now, you’ve already created a commercial sample video, received a client testimonial, and created a list of potential […]
Yesterday I explained the first two steps to selling your travel videos. Today I’ll dive into step 3. Step 3: Contacting the person in charge of marketing At this point in the process, you’ve created a sample video, received a testimonial from your first client, and have created a list of potential clients you’d like to […]
Filming and editing is the creative part of funding your travels with travel videos, but in order to make money, you’ll need to know a little bit about selling. Here are four simple steps that you can follow to sell your first travel video. I will go into even more detail later this week, but […]
