Freewheelin’ #7 - Reaching new heights
2024 started slow but ended up being my best year so far, despite being absent during the last month of the year. My portfolio expended even further, new opportunities have arisen and some things didn’t work out the way I wanted. The life of a freelancer is full of highs and lows, as it will always be.
Quick Recap
In 2024 I traveled for 80 days, got a record revenue, found myself a new apartment, struggled with mental health, produced some wonderful content and went all over the place (as usual). Basically, 2024 was another classic year in the books of a freelancer.
It was also the year of my first time going viral on social media, organizing meet-ups with other creators and giving courses to learning drone enthusiasts. I became ambassador of 500px and created a second website to improve SEO for local projects and findability.
This year was about reaching new heights. Mostly with business and income. I can confidently say, I managed to nail that in 2024. Next years will be about solidifying this progress and stabilize it to make it future proof.
In Freewheelin’ #7 you’ll read all about my travels, projects, business developments, personal life and goals of 2024.
Travel
With only 1 trip planned at the start of the year, I wasn’t sure if I would have another year like 2023. Though, at the end of 2024 I still ended up visiting 10 different countries, matching the number of the year prior. Here’s a quick recap of where I went:
I traveled for 80 days in total (22% of the year) over the span of 9 trips.
Destinations
As usual, I’ve been all over the place, literally and figuratively. In chronological order, this is where I’ve been this year:
On-Trek: Cape Verde
Currently, On-Trek has 6 different trekkings. Their new trekking in Cape Verde was the last one on my bingo card. At the end of January, I escaped the Dutch winter (hallelujah) and traveled to the warm islands of Cape Verde. For a week, we walked through the evergreen (Northern) side of Santo Antão.
I can confidently say, this was my favorite destination of the 6 trekkings. Check out all the content on the Cape Verde travel page.
At the moment, On-Trek is not developing new trekkings, so it was the last collaboration for the foreseeable future. I’m hoping to get a call again when a new trekking is released but we’ll have to see.
Hakuna Matata coaching: retreat egypt
Pretty last minute, I got a call from Hakuna Matata Coaching, who coached me earlier in 2023, to join their Dolphin Retreat in Egypt. As the year started out slow project-wise, I agreed to join the tour in March.
On this 10-day trip, we floated around in the Red Sea of Egypt and went swimming with dolphins multiple times a day. Such a dream come true! And, as we were in the middle of nowhere, there was no internet signal available. A true week of breaking out of the bubble.
Dutch Mountain Trail (DMT)
I met Marieke Mulder at K-Jak last year as an instructor. She then founded her own company Mudu Madness to organize her own trips. One of those trips was the Dutch Mountain Trail, which was a 4-day hike through the Dutch “mountains”. I joined the trip for free in exchange for shooting some content. Moreover, I got to walk together with one of my favorite people in the world as she joined the trekking as well.
Tenerife
Just before moving out, I went on a little vacation to Tenerife. I drove around the island for 5 days and photographed whenever I felt like it. It’s been a while since I did anything like that and quite enjoyed the feeling again. Also, my head was a little occupied at home, so it was nice to escape for a quick trip.
FlowTrack: Sao Vincente Surfkamp
For the summer, I had no travel plans. So, to diversify my portfolio further, I decided to contact a couple of surf camps. Flowtrack wanted to work together on a trip to Sao Vincente in North Spain. Here’s to more diverse work trips :)
Columbus Travel: Denmark and Switzerland
In 2024 I went on two photo journalist trips with Columbus Travel this year. One to Denmark and one to Switzerland. Both with different reporters. It’s so much fun discovering a country or area from a journalist angle. You get to know the locals and hear stories you would’ve missed as a tourist.
Originally, I was only going to Denmark. But as one of their photographers was fully booked in September, they asked me to join Switzerland too. And it was amazing!
At the start of 2025 we had a community meet-up of journalists and photographers in Amsterdam where I finally met some of the faces behind Columbus Travel. I’m looking forward to travel again for them this year!
Wedding stockholm
My second wedding of the year was a destination wedding near Stockholm. We spent 3 days on an island of which I photographed 1 day. The married couple are friends of mine and it was such a honor to capture their special day. I’m now looking forward to photograph more destination weddings!
Stray Travel: Laos
Back in 2020, I traveled with Stray Travel in New Zealand and won their “Spirit of Stray” video competition afterwards. The price was a trip to Asia but due to COVID, they cancelled their tours in Asia for years.. In 2024, they finally started their operations again in Asia and we got in touch.
As I became a travel photographer in the meantime, I proposed to change the trip to a work trip. At first, we talked about all three destinations: Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia but due to planning we only managed to plan Laos.
During the 11-day tour, I captured both video and photo content of nature, culture, activities and food. I’m hoping to come back for the other two, because South-East Asia really surprised me with its beauty.
Philippines
Directly after Laos, I traveled to The Philippines. My friend Tino lives in the city of Cebu for a while, so we caught up for a week of touring and relaxing. Also, we celebrated Christmas with a local family. Amazing times!
After The Philippines I went on to Lombok for more traveling and relaxing. More on that in the next edition :)
upcoming Travels
Like 2024, my agenda is looking a little bleak at the start of the year. I came home from Lombok on January 8th and hope to go on my next trip in March, if possible.
Currently, I’m in talks with Overland Travel to join one of their tours in Africa later this year. Originally, I was asked for a tour to Norway at the end of February, but it fell through due to a shortage of participants. The trip in Africa would be a month long in September-October and spans over 5 different countries. That’s a trip of a life-time!
On-Trek and K-Jak don’t have any trips for me this year. Talks with Columbus Travel are ongoing and new talks with Travelbase have started. I’m looking forward to adding at least one more organization to the mix this year.
Personally, I would love to see Sicily and The Faroes this year as well.
Projects
The diversity of projects was high in 2024. From travel photography to festival videography and corporate shoots to social media content of products. It’s never boring in photo- and videography!
I’ll start with my new videography showreel for 2025:
Notable developments
Slow start: The year started extremely slow. Normally, around halfway into March the projects pick up pace and the year officially kicks off. This year, however, this happened around the end of April. Personally, I think it was caused by the long “winter” as spring started late in April. This influences the mindset of people as most projects tend to happen when the sun starts to shine and the leafs turn green again.
Emailing: To expand my clientele, I started cold contacting a lot of companies. Just an email introducing me and my work to specific branches. Not only travel agencies but also to festivals, businesses and marketing agencies. I received word back from about 20% (which is high for cold contacts) and got a handful of collaborations out of it, some of which I’m still working with. It actually worked out better than expected so I’m picking it up again in 2025.
Replacing videographer: Last year, I asked another videographer from the region to fill in on some projects as I was traveling. This year, she broke her leg and couldn’t do her projects herself for a while. As our work relation was already established, she asked me to produce most projects. This allowed me to film my first wedding and also film my first festival. This really is the importance of having good “colleagues” around you.
Product for content: Barter deals have been around since I started this job. In most cases this allows me to get an introduction to a company for long term collaboration afterwards. As I have more and more experience every year, a barter deal is not really an option anymore. Sometimes, like past year, I did accepted a barter deal for a product I wanted to buy already anyway. I got into paddleboards during the summer and contacted the biggest watersport store in The Netherlands. They agreed to send me a paddle board in exchange for some content. This way, they have quality content, and I don’t have to spend money on something I would’ve bought myself otherwise.
First FPV flights: I wanted to fly my FPV drone this year and I finally did. On two different jobs, I flew my FPV drone to add an extra angle and some diversity to my video material. And clients really seem to like the look and feel of the FPV content. So, not for 2025, fly more FPV drone.
Try-out Etsy: Etsy is a creative platform on which you can sell your products. In my case: prints. I tried to make a series of listings to boost my print sale. Sadly, half a year past and I haven’t sold any. Still glad I tried it because you never know, right?
A grab from the shelf
As the year has been all over the place, I selected my favorite and most notable projects to tell a little more about.
Vacancy Photography
This was the hot topic of 2024 for me. Vacancy photography is used to promote vacancies online and attract new employees. Every company wants to show off their unique culture and benefits, so I was asked to capture their current employees in working environment.
Festival Videography
I substituted for another videographer to capture The Feestploeg while performing on stage at a festival. The video content was later used to promote future events and show off their skills as performers. Much fun to do!
Social Media Management
At the start of the year, I took over the social media channels of EveBase. I worked with EveBase before as a photo- and videographer and got in talks to manage their socials as they didn’t have the time and skills their selves. For a few hours a week, I now plan their feed and write their captions, as well as planning some photography shoots every now and then. It’s a welcome change to have a steady income stream from at least one company.
WakeStore sup board
A paddle board in exchange for some content? Yes please! I went out with a friend and got a full set of product photography to show.
Bamigo Clothing
During a photoshoot of new Bamigo products, I joined as a videographer to shoot some social media content as well. Especially their orange Polo’s had to be highlighted for promotion during the European Championship.
Corporate event photography
I’ve captured events before but never a corporate event. In a nutshell, its not much different from other events or weddings, as you need to be on the right place at the right time. But I still wanted to experience it for myself and get some experience with it. And I had to edit the photos during the event, as the company wanted to print a “thank you” to gift to the guest by the end of the party. A bit of pressure but everything turned out perfectly!
Company video Topjoynt
Its been a while since I was asked to create a company video. Topjoynt was elected for a special price and wanted to update their 10-year old website with new photo and video content. I supplied both. We planned a one-day shoot focusing on the production process and their craft as a production company.
Social Content Illusionist
The reward of most fun and random shoot of the year went to capturing an illusionist walking around on a party on a carting circuit. Yeah, that’s it.
If I look at the overall quality of my video productions, I really made a step from 2023 to 2024. Mainly due to more experience, I managed to create higher quality content and convince new clients. This is a progress I want to keep going for 2025.
Amazing Aerial Agency
A year ago, I joined Amazing Aerial Agency to sell my stock footage (drone) and create a little pressure for myself to push new content out. Past year, I produced, named and tagged over 1000 pieces of content and it finally paid off! To enter the agency, I had to pay a fee. I’m happy to say, I already made twice the fee with the content sold so far.
The best thing is, the content it there to stay. In 10 years from now, it can still generate revenue. So the more content I deliver to the agency, the more passive income I can potentially generate. In 2025, I want to add at least another 500 pieces of content to my portfolio.
Personal projects
I’ve not had many passion projects in 2024 as I gave priority to other projects. Though, I did have two notable side projects. One being a collaboration with my sister who founded BabyBootcamp. I created photo and video content for her to promote her business online. Secondly, I helped a local initiative to create a music video for Sinterklaas (Dutch Santa) which was a unique experience to help with!
Opportunities
The busier it gets, the less time you get so seize opportunities. Though, I still find new things to do or invest time in. Some I already do, some are still in the works.
Dutch Website
My Mite Visuals website is a large portfolio and focused on worldwide performance. I noticed I wanted to create something more local too, as the people here focus on Dutch websites and local creators. My current website didn’t work for that audience. So I decided to create a second website: www.miketesselaar-fotografie.nl
This website focusses on companies and links to my other website for travel content and specific portfolio items. I already received two requests through the contact form, one being from a local marketing agency, so it works as intended!
Gear Booker
I’ve been building up my hardware inventory, but I hardly ever use everything at the same time. So, I listed a couple of items on Gear Booker for local photo- and videographer to rent. This way, others are helped with a quick (and mostly cheap) rent, and I make some passive income from renting out gear I don’t use. Win-win.
Photography course
In 2025 I really want to launch my first online course. I want to start simple with a hands-on photography course for beginners. I notice a know a lot of little details and manage to inspire new photographers whenever I talk to them. Why not create a course tailor-made for them to learn from me? Many others have already but it’s nice to give people a choice as well as a cheap option to learn from a self-made photographer like me (if I have to believe what people tell me :))
Ambassador 500px
During the summer of 2024, I managed to claim a spot on the Ambassador list of 500px. I’ve been posting on this photography platform since 2020 and managed to build up quite a name for myself. Joining the Ambassadors it such a honor. I can now moderate their website and choose “Editor Picks”. I’m curious to see if the role changes over the years and what it brings!
Style
I never really had a style in photo- and videography but I think I finally figured out what really differentiate me from others. I like to wander around and capture whatever I come across. So less planning and more spontaneous moments. This works really well with festivals, events and so on. Even weddings, besides the critical moments, of course.
However, this makes it hard for me sometimes when I have to dictate a scene. This is one of my biggest challenges. It gets easier with experience but still gives a little discomfort as I like to roam freely. I’m trying to get better at it nonetheless for the betterment of my profession.
Network
2024 went for a piggy back ride on 2023 shoulders with some extra contacts added here and there. Here are some new network changes.
Creator Drinks
With two videographers from Alkmaar, I started Noordkop Creatives. Periodically, we organize drinks for other photographers, videographers, designers etc. to network and socialize. It helps us to connect and to talk with others in our profession. I, for one, really needed nights like these as I’m working from home a lot, especially in months like January and February.
We’re looking forward to organize a meet-up every three months in 2025.
In the office
Starting in 2025, I’m going to work in the office of EveBase once every 2 weeks. This cuts both ways. We can communicate more directly about their social media strategy and I work away from home. A much needed bit of fresh air.
Drone Course
Back in 2023, I created a drone course with CameraNu. Till this day, people contact me for a private courses in addition to the one online. We never expected it to go this big, so that’s quite a positive outcome. And for me new customers and contacts.
Business
2024 was about reaching new heights. And I did! The revenue went up, cost went down. Part of this has to do with my tariffs changing from 60 to 80 per hour, which funnily enough only drew more companies in instead of scaring them away. I guess a higher tariff displays professionalism as well (as long as you make it true, of course).
From the end of September to the end of November, I experienced the busiest months of my career so far. I went out for shoots 4 to 6 days a week and edited in the evenings. Most weeks, I worked around 60-80 hours. And I’m happy I did, because now I have a small buffer to start the year with. That really takes away the stress, especially for the winter period.
Revenue
I wanted to lower my costs in 2024 (less investments too), so a revenue that matched 2023 would’ve been enough to get a higher income already. But to my surprise, I added another €10.000:
Revenue 2021: €23.724
Revenue 2022: €38.256
Revenue 2023: €54.000
Revenue 2024: €64.300
Photography and videography were once again pretty evenly matched, with videography earning just a little more. I also had a ton of projects where I did photo and video simultaneously, allowing me to ask more per project.
Profit
Honestly, I can’t complain about my revenue nor profit. I can now safely live from my earnings as a fulltime photo- and videographer. Faster than expected, might I add. I reached my 2024 goals to surpass 60k in revenue and matched my 47k profit goal.
In 2025, if things keeps progressing the way they are now, I want to push my revenue to 70k and profit around 52k. Hope it works!
Investments
In 2024 I invested a lot less than the years prior. I still compensate my write-offs every month to re-invest whenever the time comes for an upgrade. The investments I did make are:
RF 10-20mm F4 lens
Canon C70 (second hand)
In total around 5k of investments in 2024.
What’s next?
In 2025 I want to get the new Mavic 4 Pro drone when it releases (probably in April). Other investments are not yet on the radar, so lets see!
Personal life
It’s not all work. The life of a freelancer involves a lot of stress and doubt as well as personal freedom. Finding a balance is often hard. These are some of the things that happened.
Moved out!
Got my own apartment! Finally! After almost a year of searching, I got an apartment in the area. It was particularly hard as a freelancer to prove I had a steady income and most of the time a couple with steady jobs were chosen instead of me. And honestly, I can’t blame the house owners for that choice. Fortunately, with help from a neighbor, I got in touch with a house owner who granted my wish. And perfect timing, as I got a fulltime income in 2024 too.
Cancelled plans and heartbreak
As said before, dating has been a struggle. Last year, I managed to find a genuine connection with someone and we were planning to travel to Australia and New Zealand together. Sadly, things fell through and we had to cancel our plans. It was a tough pill to swallow but we got to move on.
Photobooks
I started to make photobooks of all my professional travels from 2022 onwards. Each country has 8 pages on which I printed my best work. The books look amazing and I can’t wait to receive the 2024 edition in the mail soon!
Life phases
I turned 28 in December and I really start to notice the subtle and not so subtle changes to my friends and family. People are settling down, some are pregnant and so on. Life in general, basically. Though, I still travel a lot and have a lot going on in my personal life still, especially being single. It takes a little to adjust to the new reality but also opens new doorways with people in the same scenario as me. The dynamic shifts slowly but things are still going in an upward trajectory, so its fun to see these things develop.
Vacations
In 2024 I traveled to Tenerife, The Philippines and Lombok for vacation. Something I didn’t do for the last few years, as I traveled a lot for work already. It was a nice breeze of fresh air to not be pressured during these trips. Just enjoy and capture the moment whenever I felt like it. Which is still a lot of moments but hey, I like it.
Mental health
The start of 2024 really challenged me mentally. Projects basically started from April and the first three months of the year I was stressing over income. Moreover, sitting at home with nothing to do really pose a challenge for the mind. I couldn’t accept the slow months and really struggled to keep motivated throughout this time. This comes in combination with my yearly winter dip, so that was a rough time.
When to stop?
In contrary to having no work, is when to stop when you’re overbooked. I like a bit of pressure as it motivated me to work more efficiently but a longer period of working 7 days a week starts to get really challenging as well. As a freelancer, you have to ride the wave but its hard to calculate when to take a moment off. You tend to spend every moment you have on your work without any proper breaks or days off. This is something I need to work on in 2025 and really schedule days off in my agenda. That would be a great relieve.
2024 Goals
For 2024 I wrote down a couple goals in my Freewheelin’ series. I crossed out the goals I managed to reach.
Expand stability of income
Expand client pool & travel partners
Attract more long-term clients with frequent projects
Create more passive income
Average of one week of traveling per month
More coaching and teaching
Get into FPV Flying
Finding ways to make Mite Visuals more future-proof
Revenue and business is going well! I’d like to get more long-term clients and projects to really secure my job in the future. So that needs a bit more work. That allows me to make Mite Visuals more future proof
2025
2025, what are we looking at:
Travel for a quarter of the year (1 week every month on average)
Get more steady jobs and hours (if possible, also remotely)
Keep evolving my crafts
Attract new clients with updated showcases and portfolio
Say no more often
Plan more free days and a vacation
Find ways to stay motivated and keep my mental health in check
Overall, I like where Mite Visuals is going and what diversity and excitement it brings. I just need a little nudge to stability and I’m set to keep this going for many more years to come!
Social Media standings
I finally went viral! In August I posted a video of a waterfall in Iceland and it went through the roof! And the craziest part of it? I posted the same exact video before (a year ago) and it only got 3000 views. The second time it almost hit 1M on Instagram and 3M on TikTok. The numbers are looking a bit more positive now :)
See you in 2026!
Cheers, Mike
More of this series
GOOD TO SEE YOU!
My name is Mike Tesselaar, in short MiTe. I’m a photo- and videographer from The Netherlands with a heart for traveling and adventure.
I write blogs about photo- and videography, travel, freelancing and personal related stories. Hope you’ll find inspiration and feel welcome to stick around a little longer!
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