Categories: Guides & hacksHosting

What to Expect From Your Hipcamp Photographer

Opting into Hipcamp’s professional photography program is a great way to make your listing more marketable. Our carefully vetted photographers take 10 to 15 photos of your camp, submit a recommendation and a review, and then our photo curation team organizes the photos for optimal performance, verifying your listing. If this service is available in your area, we’ll reach out and let you know, and then connect you with a photographer as soon as we can.

The value for you

We’re pleased to offer this professional photography service, valued at $250 to $500, to select regions in exchange for a free night stay for the photographer. We have pre-negotiated rates we pay the photographer, in addition to providing them with non-monetary perks. All photographers follow a specific shot list and style guidelines we provide to ensure you get the best photos of your land.

Hipcamp properties that receive professional photography, and who allow a Hipcamp staff member to choose the first and second photo of their listing, can receive 2 to 15 times more bookings than other properties without professional photos.

This is because professional photos allow us to market your land to millions of Hipcampers on all of our channels—think social media, email, and more—as well as to select the optimal first photo for your site page.

Photo by Hipcamp Photographer Caitlin Fullam at Hollow Horn Farm, Colorado.

How it works

1. Opt in to photography

The Hipcamp team will reach out to you via email or phone if your region is eligible for photography. Once you’ve heard from us, you can let us know if you’d like to opt in. You’ll then get to select the site you’d most like photographed and share the date you’ll be ready to host a photographer. This ensures you can get your land picture-perfect before a photographer contacts you to schedule a shoot.

2. Accept your photographer’s shoot request

A photographer will make a booking like any other camper and contact you via Hipcamp Messages. If your listing is set as Request to Book: Photographers use the standard camper booking request process to schedule photo shoots, so it’s important that you accept their request.

We understand that giving up a free night might be tough, but because this is a service valued at $250+ that will contribute to your success, it’s important that you accept the booking once you’ve opted in. Our photographers are limited in number so if you decline, expire, or cancel their shoot request, you may not get another request for some time, and may be removed from the program if it happens more than once.

3. Prepare for the photographer’s arrival

The day of your scheduled shoot, your land should be completely ready for the photographer. That means cleaning up any clutter or debris in advance to ensure your site looks its best.

You don’t have to be on your land while the photographer is there, but it should be extremely clear where to park and where to find the booked site. It’s especially important that you provide any gate codes or access information to the photographer beforehand—just as you would to any other camper.

If you are on the property, remember that photographers are there to take photos and generally cannot answer questions about how to optimize your property page or address any support issues you’re having. Please direct those here.

4. Sit back and allow our photo team to curate your photos

Within 3 days of the trip, your photographer will upload their recommendation, review, and photos. Our photo curation team will then organize the photos so that the best photos are first. These are the photos we know campers will be most likely to click on, so it’s extremely important that you keep the photo we select for the first slot in that space.

What types of photos will I get?

All photographers follow our specific shot list, requiring 15 photos total. Each photo will follow our recommended style guidelines, which means they’ll be bright, warm, and appealing to Hipcampers.

What if I don’t like my photos?

We carefully vet every photographer that joins our professional program because we want to offer a consistent, on-brand style of photography that we know resonates with Hipcampers. Welcoming a Hipcamp photographer and allowing our team to sort the professional photos can more than double the number of bookings you may receive when compared to properties without professionally shot and sorted photos.

We’re excited to offer this $250+ service at no cost to you, and in exchange, we hope that you’ll allow us to use our data insights on what Hipcampers are most likely to click on to select your first photo.

If a photo is inaccurate or inappropriate, it can absolutely be removed. However, if the photo is accurate, we ask that you keep it in our chosen slot to adequately set expectations with future campers.

What if I don’t like the order of photos uploaded by photographers or campers?

Aside from professional photos, campers also choose Hipcamp over other camping platforms because of our community-uploaded photos and reviews. Being able to see photos from real campers helps establish trust across the platform, simultaneously setting accurate expectations and the stage for a smooth camping experience at your sites.

Hipcamp Hosts are able to re-order their own photos at any time, but it’s important that we continue to also offer community-uploaded photos and reviews in order to maintain this trust.

We highly recommend keeping our photo curation team’s first photo intact, as it is always specifically selected to optimize your page’s performance.

Check out some examples of professionally shot listings below.

Photo by Nikki N. at the Village at Irish Creek, California.
Photo by Ezequiel G. at Whiteside Mountain, California.
Photo by Brendan G. at ZiegenVine Homestead, New York.
Photo by Meg C. at Buck Moon Tiny House, Texas.
Photo by Ezequiel G. at Big Head Farm, Michigan.

Hipcamp is an online marketplace where you can list, discover, and book campsites and accommodations on private and public land. Hipcamp is your go-to guide to getting outside. If you’re a landowner, Hipcamp creates new revenue streams for your business, which can help conserve your land and keep it wild. #FindYourselfOutside #LeaveItBetter

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