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This Couple Get Paid Ridiculous Amounts To Take Photos On Their Travels

This Couple Get Paid Ridiculous Amounts To Take Photos On Their Travels

How much per photo?

Michael Minay

Michael Minay

Neither Jack Morris or Lauren Bullen are from spectacular parts of the world, yet what they do now, for a living, will truly make you jealous.

Jack, 26, heralds from Bolton, UK, and Lauren, 24, from a small town in New South Wales, Australia, called Lennox Head.

Their jobs were nothing special either. "I was a carpet cleaner," Jack explains. "I did that full time." Lauren was a dental nurse who travelled 'on and off' for a few years.

Now they are full-time travellers, posting their photos to their Instagram pages, DoYouTravel, and Gypsea_Lust, and took time out of their busy schedule to talk with LADbible from their temporary base of Abu Dhabi.

Catching up on LADbible whilst in Abu Dhabi. Credit: DoYouTravel / Instagram

They met whilst travelling in Fiji when Jack had a job with the Fijian tourism board, but it certainly wasn't paid as well and wasn't their life 24/7.

"We were both travelling before that," says Lauren. "It was on and off, I'd save up money, I'd do the trip, and then come back."

Jack, was a little different: "I booked a one-way flight one day to Bangkok, very spur of the moment. I booked one night accommodation and that was it, I didn't have much money so I thought I'd go until it ran out then come home."

Yet whilst on their separate travels, both quickly learned the powerful effects of Instagram.

"I'd take a few pictures, put them on Instagram, and ended up getting an increasing following," says Lauren. "Suddenly, I was contacted by local tourism boards and started getting paid for them. I got too busy with all the requests that I quit my job. It was originally just for fun. It still is in a way."

Jack's brain was a little more business orientated: "I started an online business on Instagram which targeted different niches and that kept me going for four years. I made my own content, and brands started to contact me.

However, he explains that the original purpose of posting photos was just to document his travelling and get followers.

They came together in Bali. "We were both working for the Fijian tourism board," says Lauren. "We got on straight away and on his last day Jack said he was heading to Bali next and if I didn't have any plans I should go with him."

Lauren duly did and the two then started on their power couple trail, planning where they wanted to visit.

But then the real money offers started rolling in.

"It's only in the last year we've made serious money," Jack says.

Lauren agrees: "I just wanted a nice account, that's all it was. When the offers start initially you get free stuff and that's it - maybe a flight too. Now it's a business, it's nothing we expected."

"It's been gradual," she continues. "In the last eight months it's got better and better. There's been longer-term deals, things like us signing a three-month contract and so that's a definite income. The demand for work has got higher and higher."

The pair once got paid $12,000 Australian dollars (£7,250) from an app company. It took 30 minutes to shoot and line-up the single image. Easy money.

However, at the core of it all, the pair aren't greedy. They have their rules, their morals. They aren't told necessarily what to shoot, or what to include in the photo, except on occasions.

"When it was unpaid the companies can see you've got our own style, and they often say to us just 'do what you think will work'," says Lauren. "We don't post stuff we don't like, even on the branded posts. They're happy as long as we include the product in the shot.

"If it's a brand, you can give them an idea," adds Lauren. "But sometimes if it is a location they are after, say for a tourism board, then they will fly us out there. Our last job was in Kenya for TripAdvisor, they sorted everything out for us.

It's that fine balance between filling a page of sponsored posts and making sure the combination is right between work and pleasure.

The couple say they get, on average, one serious offer for money per day. A lot of the time, however, the requests are just junk.

The couple estimate they've been to around 45 countries each now. They plan to go to Mexico next, although they have a job in the Outback of Australia to tend to first.

"We have no plans to stop," concludes Lauren.

Not a bad way to earn money eh?

Featured Image Credit: Instagram

Topics: Travelling, Instagram, Bali, UK, Australia