Photographs are the best way to keep memories of a trip. But there is always someone who does not appear in the pictures, unless it is done by a person outside the group. For this reason and because the need to photograph every moment and immortalize each step prevents us from enjoying the moment, a platform where travelers hire local photographers to be able to enjoy the trip better and make sure that there is never a missing person in the photographs taken. I realized that there is always someone missing in the photos, we are never all, says Belén Huerta, one of the founders of the platform that allows the traveler to live the destination without looking at it through a screen.
“How could it be otherwise, the idea came traveling,” says Huerta, who launched the project after traveling through the United States and translate the idea into its TFG. Since January it has been active platform but, in reality, it is in March when they began to invoice and capture the memories that people most appreciate about travel. Despite its short journey, this idea, which was born from two Valencians in the world of communication, already has more than 270 clients on the web and 58,050 photos sent to its customers.
The photographers also serve as a guide when recommending places to visit or where to eat since they are people from the area. “The advantage is that the photographer knows corners of the city that travel guides do not show, so it is a plus that we add to the travel experience,” says Huerta after ensuring that the client sees who is hiring since the Photographers have a profile with all their information on the platform.
Currently, they have more than 300 registered photographers scattered around Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Córdoba, Alicante and Malaga but also in international destinations such as Paris, Rome, Porto or Amsterdam. These, before being part of the Saytrip team, must be registered on the web and contribute previously made work so that the platform can evaluate them and thus begin to form part of the company. In addition, the platform opens service in some city when it has between six and seven photographers on that site. Also, if the place you want to visit the platform does not have professionals, from Saytrip they give the option of people bring their photographers.
The company does not have a closed price but the photographers, being self-employed, are those who establish the hours they want to work and the prices of their service. Thus, the price range ranges from 18 euros per hour to photographers who are charging 185 euros per hour . This variation is due, according to the founder, that not all photographers “are professionals.” But this, in the opinion of the founder, does not affect since it is the client who chooses the photographer he wants. The client knows at all times who is hiring since the profile comes out if he is a professional photographer.
This work is “an extra for the photographer” as it can combine this occupation with any other by establishing each one’s work rhythm. In addition, this form, in Huerta’s opinion, “serves the photographer to meet more people around the world by working, as has already happened, with clients from Indonesia or Australia.”
Once the photographer has taken the photographs, he has to send them to the platform to pass the quality process and, within a maximum period of three days, the client receives the original and edited photographs. In addition, according to Huerta, what they do sometimes is to send some of the images by WhatsApp to the client at the same time so that they can have some instantly.