“If you’ve got someone like Taylor Swift who is literally parading along the beach where (Tom’s) mum lives and is pretty much just giving it up for the photographers, that’s kind of like a dream scenario,” said Dan Taylor, head of sales at photo agency Xposure. “It’s nice because it’s not so concentrated ... If it’s in the centre of the city, then you’re going to have a lot more photographers working on it. Whereas if it’s somewhere off the beaten track, then you have less competition and it’s actually a little easier to make the job worthwhile financially.”

Twitter has been going wild over the couple’s romance

As you can imagine, agencies have been enjoying the lucrative gathering of such in-demand photos. “It’s a sensational story – the pictures are extraordinary,” said Thibault Mauvilain, head of licensing at FameFlynet. “It feels really good, because it’s been actually quite some time since there was such enthusiasm from the clients and the audience, as well.”

“Enthusiasm” might be an understatement. The Swift-Hiddleston photos have been generating so much web traffic, he said, publications are fighting one another to get exclusive rights. Or clients are willing to pay big money to have the photos under embargo for, say, 72 hours, which means no one else can run them for that period of time. “We’re seeing the numbers skyrocket,” Mauvilain said.

The best part for photographers and agencies, besides the money? All the photos have been fairly simple to obtain. When Swift met Hiddleston’s mother in the small seaside town of Ipswich, England, the couple didn’t appear to mind that photographers were following them around on the beach.

“It’s only as easy as (the celebrities) allow it to be,” Ken Goff of Goff Photos said, explaining the challenges of photographing stars. “Because if they had gone there and stayed in the house and not come out, that’s as hard as it can be. So really, whether it’s in a small town or village or in a major city, it can be difficult anywhere or easy anywhere. It just depends on the subject and how much they don’t want to be photographed.”

Swift, like many stars, frequently has issues with the paparazzi; once, she hiked an entire trail backwards so photographers couldn’t get a shot of her face. These days, however, she doesn’t look fazed by photographers following her around as she takes intimate strolls on the beach with Hiddleston – and some industry veterans say that’s unusual.

“She seems like she’s very much wanting to parade her new man to the world, which is quite strange for her,” Taylor said. “On a regular day, that’s not really her personality as far as I know, or as far as I’ve seen.”

Meanwhile, Hiddleston and Swift were last spotted at the Vatican on Wednesday. None of the agencies would confirm exactly how they find out where Hiddleswift will be next – the Image Direct, which first snapped the photos of the couple making out on the Rhode Island beach, declined to comment.

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At this point, all the photographers and agencies can do is wait and see where the couple turn up – and hope their vacation never ends. “It’s this sort of international tour stopping in Rhode Island going into Nashville and then coming out to the UK and then going over to Italy,” Goff said. “You just wonder where the next stop is going to be.”