Ah, the glamour, the glitz, the satisfaction of supporting your overseas lifestyle from anywhere you happen to be. All you need is your educated eye and your trusty camera.

Travel photography. . . stock photography. . . fine art photography. . . all great portable careers.

But what do you do if you have an interest and a desire, but you lack the knowledge you need to turn your photography hobby into a money-making proposition?

Join an Expedition

One way is to spend four days in Rome, Italy. Specifically, spend four days with the Rome Photography Expedition, September 9-13, 2012.

This expedition, put together by the Travel Division of AWAI, promises that you’ll be able to turn your snapshots into cash once you’ve completed the workshop.

Professional photographer Rich Wagner will spend 4-1/2 days leading you through Rome’s fabulous history. You’ll explore notable buildings, walk Rome’s squares and cobblestone streets, you’ll view Roman icons like the Coliseum and the Vatican, camera at the ready.

You’ll leave with saleable photographs. That’s the promise.

Rich has been leading photography expeditions like this one for five years, and he’s developed a system that will help propel you to photographic success.

And if you sign up now, you can take advantage of the Early Bird Discount to save $300.

Get all the details of the Rome Photography Expedition here!

[Full disclosure — I’m an affiliate of AWAI, and I write for them on a regular basis.]

Study at Home

If a trip to Rome to learn better travel photography skills isn’t in your budget or your schedule, how about a top-rated home study program?

MatadorU Travel Photography Course [aff] claims to be the most comprehensive travel photography course online. Certainly their graduates achieve stellar results.

Best of all, you can try it out for only $10 for 10 days. If you don’t see the value, you’re done. But if you understand the depth of information, training and feedback available through this program, you can pay the remaining fee and access the entire course.

(Hint: If you join now, you’ll save some serious money. They’ve just put the finishing touches on their world-class film-making program, and once they update their website and other materials to reflect it they’re raising prices on all their programs.)

Of course MatadorU teaches you the elements of photography you’ll need to turn your snapshots into professional, saleable photos. They also help you with the business side — getting assignments, marketing and sales.

After you graduate you’ll have lifelong access to the curriculum (including all updates) as well as forums and bonus modules.

Get more information about the MatadorU Travel Photography Program here.

Go Local

If you want to improve your photography education locally and in person, here are a few places to look:

• Community colleges often offer classes to local residents. Typically, they’ll focus only on photography skills and not so much on how you can make money from your work.
• Get recommendations from professional photographers in your area.
• Start a Meetup group
• Ask your local friends on Facebook

photo by Bien Stephenson on flickr