The Photographer’s Playbook
Your resource to becoming an adventure photographer
The Adventure Photographer’s Playbook is an e-book created by full-time photographer Dalton Johnson to help new photographers go from nothing to booked in the adventure photography space.
This adventure photography e-book goes over the business and what “making it” as a photographer in the outdoor space requires. Covering topics such as pricing, marketing, building a body of work, reflection questions, and everything you need to know to make a career out of adventure photography.
Updated: June 2025
The Expenses I Write Off That Most Photographers Miss
A professional photographer walks through commonly overlooked deductible business expenses, from home office space to software subscriptions and professional memberships.
What I Actually Track for Quarterly Taxes
A professional photographer explains the practical income and expense tracking habits that make quarterly tax obligations manageable for a self-employed creative business.
Why I Include a Payment Schedule in Every Agreement
A professional photographer explains why every agreement includes a staged payment schedule, how it protects cash flow, and how clients typically respond to the structure.
Do I Need a Lawyer to Write My Contracts?
A professional photographer explores when a generic contract template is sufficient and when legal review genuinely becomes worthwhile as project scale and risk increase.
The Clause That Protects You If a Brand Uses Your Photos Wrong
A professional photographer explains why every licensing agreement should include a clause addressing usage beyond agreed terms, and how to handle misuse fairly when it happens.
The Brief That Turns Into Three Deliverables Instead of One
A working adventure photographer explains how to plan shoot days to produce multiple distinct deliverables from a single briefed assignment.
Editing Retainers: The Income Stream Photographers Overlook
A working adventure photographer explains how recurring editing retainers, separate from shooting work, became a stable and overlooked income stream.
Reddit Is the Most Underrated Distribution Channel for Photographers
A working adventure photographer explains why Reddit, used with genuine community-first participation, has become an underrated but genuinely valuable distribution channel.
What Belongs in Every Photography Contract, Even a Simple One
A working adventure photographer breaks down the core contract elements, scope, payment terms, usage rights, cancellation, revisions, that belong in every project agreement regardless of size.
Why I Put a Revision Limit in Every Contract
A professional photographer explains why every contract includes a defined revision limit, how it's structured fairly, and why it ultimately benefits both the photographer and the client.
What a Quarterly Deliverable Retainer Actually Looks Like
A working adventure photographer explains how quarterly deliverable retainer contracts actually function, from deliverable definition to pricing.
The Real Cost of Chasing Every Client Instead of the Right Ones
A working adventure photographer explains why chasing every inquiry out of scarcity quietly costs more than it earns, and how selectivity compounds over time.
Why I Say No to Projects That Pay Well But Don't Fit
A working adventure photographer explains why creative, working-style, and strategic fit matter as much as budget when evaluating a new project.
Chasing Invoices Is Part of the Job — How I Actually Do It
A working adventure photographer breaks down the staged, systematic approach to following up on overdue invoices, and why treating it as routine rather than confrontational produces better results.
What to Do When a Client Wants to Change the Scope Mid-Project
A professional photographer explains how to handle scope creep on client projects, from clear upfront contracts to documenting changes and holding firm boundaries without damaging relationships.
Why I Stopped Chasing Day Rate Work
A working adventure photographer explains why he moved away from day rate pricing as a default, toward pricing based on usage and value instead.
The Math Behind Charging for Licensing vs. Day Rate
A working adventure photographer breaks down the actual reasoning behind choosing between day rate and usage-based licensing pricing.
The Difference Between Being Booked and Being Busy
A working adventure photographer explains why a full calendar isn't the same as a genuinely healthy business, and how to tell the two apart.