A Conversation with Louisa Albanese
A BACKPACKER photo editor shares rates and her budgeting system
Louisa Albanese is the senior photo editor at BACKPACKER and the host of the brand’s survival podcast, Out Alive. She loves podcasts, so when her company started talking about starting one, she dove right in and taught herself how to create one. It now has 215,000 downloads and her team is launching the third season this fall.
I worked with Louisa for nearly two years and was always energized by her drive, her vulnerability, her book and podcast suggestions, and her ability to uplift others. During our interview, we talked about how her definition of success has evolved, when she comes up with the most ideas, how she gets out of a rut, and a few surprising tidbits about her job.
You do a lot of different creative things. What would you say is your main craft?
My degree is in photography and that’s now my job. But I’ve always been a serial dabbler in lots of different mediums. I just took a ceramics class during COVID, which I really loved. I started making chandeliers out of vintage bottles and crystals. Even though I love photography, it’s not as hands-on as I’d like it to be sometimes. I feel like when one of your crafts is also how you make your living, some part of you needs another creative expressive outlet. You need those things that fill you up, too.
I love the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. She talks about guarding your creativity and not killing your joy by feeling pressured to make money. With my creative outlets, at first I was afraid that other artists wouldn’t take me seriously. But once I read that, I was like, that’s right, I do this other thing but I’m not going to burden my creativity and ask it to make me money. I feel like so many people who I admire were doing things just for the love of it. People gravitate towards that and want to pay you, which is the dream. I think we talk ourselves out of opportunities when we start thinking about it as a business. Or maybe that’s just me.
How did you get into photography?
My dad gave me a film camera from the ‘60s when I was going off to college. I was a dance major at first. But I started shooting film and just really played around with it and I kind of had an eye for it. I liked the hands on-ness of developing film in a dark room. In my second year of dance school, I decided to quit dance and focus on photography. I can’t remember if I started shooting weddings or family portraits or newborn photos, but it was definitely in that realm of photographing people for major events. It’s a really common path for a lot of photographers.
Louisa wrote this story about a trip she took to Alaska, where she reflected on memories of her dad who passed away in 2015. “I love that I get the opportunity to dabble in other parts of the magazine,” she says.
(Louisa on assignment in Alaska for BACKPACKER. Photo by Carson Davis Brown.)
Before BACKPACKER, you were a freelance photographer. For you, what is the difference between freelancing and being on staff?
One of the reasons I applied to BACKPACKER is because freelancing can feel isolating and it also can be tough if you’re introverted. It takes a certain kind of person who has to be really committed. I felt like I missed collaborating with people, being part of a team, and being part of something bigger than just myself in my own little microcosm of my world. When you are working for a company, you’re trading off some freedom, but you’re gaining a larger vision. I don’t think that it means you lose the hustle.
How much do you pay photographers to use their photo in the magazine?
When I first started, our rates were all over the place. That was really prohibitive to people getting their foot in the door. I feel really passionate about being transparent and open about it. We pay based on the size a photo runs in print and we have eight different rates. Then we have different rates for certain types of assignments.
$225 spot/business card sized
$300 1/4 page
$325 1/2 page
$350 3/4 page
$375 full page
$475 3/4 spread
$575 full spread
$1500 stock cover
Assignments: $400 for 1/2 day; $800 full day, $200 for IG takeover
Want to submit a photo to BACKPACKER? Get in touch with Louisa.
(Louisa’s husband, Jesse, and their son, Max, build a campfire during a family trip in a Colorado Teardrops trailer. Photo by Louisa Albanese.)
You and your husband, Jesse, have a really interesting way of budgeting. Can you tell me more about that?
We use the cash envelope system, which means we take out a monthly budget of cash and divvy it up into predetermined amounts for all our spending. This works well for our family since Jesse is self-employed and our cash flow can be unpredictable. We're not zealots about it though. We use our debit card at the gas station or if we forget to grab cash and just deposit it after the fact. We do this for everything from groceries to haircuts to trips to Disney World. It is so concrete and has been the only system that has worked well for us, allowing us to not have any credit card debt and live within our means. If we want to buy something, we just check the envelope for that category or start a new one with a savings goal in mind.
What’s something surprising about your work? What’s something people don’t know?
Well, 90 percent of my work is at a desk, even though we’re making a magazine about travel and backpacking. I think people are often surprised when I say we have eight people on our staff who make our magazine. It’s tiny. I definitely thought before I started that the photo editor picked the cover of the magazine. I actually don’t. I submit what I think are the best photos and then the editor asks for different things and then we test it and have people who are on our email list vote on it. We’ve all had times when we’re surprised by the cover that was picked, but then we publish that cover.
Something maybe a little more personal is that I decided years before I ever worked at BACKPACKER that I wanted to work there. That was the first time I set a super intentional goal and then I went after it. I just started introducing myself to people who worked at Active Interest Media (the magazine’s previous parent company before Pocket Outdoor Media). I just kept emailing. It was hard for me. I definitely have social anxieties, and I had to leave that at the door because it was something that I was determined to do. It just showed me the power of being so specific with your goals. I’ve read so many times and I think it’s true: Vague goals get you vague results. I really carry that around in my heart. Now when I do my goal setting for the year, for five years, for 10 years, I have really specific goals that I want to achieve. Not “I want to be successful or work in this industry.” Instead, it’s “I want to work with this person or I want to accomplish this specific thing.”
What are some ways you get inspired?
Something I’ve been doing more recently is getting up early. I’m not a morning person. It’s been a lifelong goal for me to claim that time to spend on ideas. I also feel like when the universe delivers an idea, there has to be space mentally in your brain but also in your physical space. Maybe that’s just my need for everything to be clean manifesting, but I feel like it helps.
What’s your workspace like nowadays?
Before COVID, we didn’t have a space set up. Jesse had an office and I just shoved a desk in there. I had no idea that I’d be here eight months later. My new office is now in what was once our guest room. We just put the guest bed in the garage because we’re not having any guests right now. I have a big table in there that I’m really excited about. If I have a really open space, ideas come to me.
(Louisa with her daughter, Sophia, and son, Max, during an adventure in Arches National Park. Photo by Jesse Albanese.)
When you’re in a rut, how do you build yourself up?
I’m constantly reading books by people who inspire me. It’s helpful reading stories about people who have gone before me and have journeys that mirror something that I want to do. I have certain books I go back to. Here’s my list:
Big Magic by Elizabth Gilbert
Daring Greatly By Brené Brown
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz
What do you like most about your work?
This has evolved for me a little bit. I think when you first start out in any craft, there’s a little bit of ego associated with it. At first, it was really important to me to shoot for BACKPACKER as much as possible. I used to feel like I had to be in the front, in the action. I felt like that was success to me. I felt like, how will people take me seriously otherwise? Now my definition of success has changed. I get so much more satisfaction in doing the creative briefing beforehand and being more of a creative director and working with other photographers to help whatever ideas we have come to life. That is much more fulfilling to me.
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Before you go…
This magazine includes stickers, paper, and other goodies with every issue (Flow Magazine)
An essay about unlearning shame around body hair (The Good Trade)