Thomas Reissmann, globe-trotting professional videographer, initially studied Tourism Management in the UK and Australia. He then spent some years working in the tourism industry as a marketing executive, traveling to South America, New Zealand and the UK. He finally found his passion about 10 years ago, when he started producing promotional videos for tourism companies. That’s when he realized he could go freelance and use videos to finance dream vacations - and he quit his day job.
Since then, Tom lived a few years in Australia traveling and producing travel videos, and spent months getting paid to film the wildlife in Tanzania and Kenya and hike Kilimanjaro. Today, he travels the continent of Europe with a luxury Mobile Home and shoots videos in the summer. He then goes to his home in the Canary Islands, where it’s warm and sunny all year round, to edit all his footage and spend his evenings and weekends surfing. And that’s when he isn’t leading overseas expeditions and workshops for Great Escape Publishing.
Hate: City traffic, cold and rainy days, bureaucracy, old cars that keep breaking down.
Best adventure: Getting lost in the Amazon - for 21 days!
I’m happiest when: Catching a wave on my surf board.
My tip: If you do what you love, you will never have to work a day in your life.
Best thing I ever did:: Quit my job and start earning my own money with travel videos.
I had always wanted to visit Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia. It’s a beautiful tropical island with miles of stunning shoreline, gorgeous green lakes surrounded by white-sand beaches, rainforest areas, natural rock pool formations, and even a shipwreck. Since I was living in Melbourne, a three-hour plane ride away, I contacted several tour and resort […]
I recently landed a job with three tour companies to explore the National Parks of the United States and capture footage in short travel videos. Knowing the road would become my home for the next three months, I bought an inexpensive RV (to save on accommodation costs) and set out on my journey driving south […]
When I say “travel videographer”, you probably start thinking about travel to faraway places. And while traveling abroad might be your ultimate goal, you should know that there’s beauty, culture, and more business opportunities than one person can take on right at your doorstep. I’ve lived in several countries in the world including England, Germany, […]
Companies want to sell more travel packages… and when it comes to creating commercial tourism videos, there’s one thing they’re looking for: emotion. They want videos that evoke emotions in their potential clients — emotions that make them yearn for a certain destination or a particular experience. This is great news if you’re a budding […]
I’ve been filming scenes all over the world for quite some time and really enjoy the process. On top of that, I make good money from those videos, and you can, too. It’s easier than you might think. One thing my students always tell me is how much fun… and surprisingly easy… filming is. You […]
Over the years, I’ve advised readers to use a tripod in order to differentiate yourselves from the amateur videographer. With a tripod, you’ll create perfectly smooth and stable images. But carrying a tripod is tiring, and setting it up takes time. Luckily, new technology has almost eliminated the need for messing around with a tripod—at […]
It’s true that you need a few pieces of equipment in order to be a videographer – but not nearly as much as you might think. And if you start looking at those items as simply being tools that will allow you to gain invaluable experiences, you will come to understand how rewarding this lifestyle […]
When I signed up to produce a commercial video of my hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro – followed by a luxury safari and a beach vacation – I had no idea how much people pay for this kind of adventure… and how truly life-changing it is. I climbed Kilimanjaro via the Rongai route, […]
