In 2015, we launched our first photography tours. We wanted to create photography tours that allowed our clients to appreciate photography while experiencing the culture and interacting with the people of some of the scarcely traveled corners of the world.
We hand-selected several spots among the 40+ countries that we have visited, keeping three things in mind: safety, ease of photography, and an extraordinary cultural experience.
We wanted to offer clients the experience that we have when we travel on our own – the raw feeling of culture, along with a personal experience.
Small Groups (max of 4 participants)
Although larger tours are more profitable, we decided to offer smaller, limited tours of 4 clients. When traveling, we find that you can’t have the same intimate experience with the rich culture of a country when you are travelling in a “pack” of photographers, especially when capturing portraits. We offer our clients unique, cultural experiences – to name a few:
Unique Cultural Experiences
- Visiting the village shaman, Mongolia
- An intimate meeting and photography session with a Tibetan Buddhist lama, Mongolia
- A personal visit with award-winning Eagle Hunter family, Mongolia
- Homestays with Mongolian village mayor and family, Mongolia
- Photographing tigers in their habitat, India
- Volunteering with pandas, China
- Visiting Mongolia schools to meet nomadic children
Expert Guiding
We hire only the very best guides. Sometimes, for us, this means meeting with many guides prior to our trip and trying out a few to figure out the best fit for our tours. We have strict requirements, including patience, knowledge about traveling with photographers, as well as excellent English and a depth of knowledge about their own culture and history.
Private, Professional Drivers
We always hire a separate professional driver for each tour. Having a clean, comfortable, and modern car, is paramount to our guest’s safety and overall comfort. This makes a huge difference when spending many hours on the road each day!
1:1 instruction
Instead of hosting workshops, we prefer to give our clients personalized photography instruction specific to their necessities and style. Over the years, we have found tours range from people that desire individual instruction to folks that just want to watch and learn from how I shoot and interact with my environment.
Real Life
None of our subjects are paid models. We don’t believe in dressing people up in traditional clothing for a photoshoot. We’d much rather capture the raw essence of the subject in their own environment. This is very different from the majority of portraiture photography tours.
Travel Support
My wife, Ruth, provides travel support, both before and during the trip. From arranging visas, helping with hot water bottles in a cold ger, making flight arrangements, checking us into hotels, or simply holding a flash unit during a shoot.. She allows us to focus on the photography and not worry about the small, but necessary details of the trip.
Comfort and Luxury
We enjoy the finer comforts of life. We definitely aren’t the backpacker type and although we travel to remote areas of the world, we don’t mind paying extra for creature comforts.
The ideal client for our photography tours:
- Likes off-the-beaten-path adventure
- Avid about photography
- Enjoys photographing and experiencing scenic landscapes, wildlife and portraiture, and most importantly, culture
- Is comfortable with their own gear and looking to improve their lighting, composition and/or overall shooting skills
- Has a good sense of humor and takes delight in the small surprises adventurous travel brings
- Enjoys really getting to understand the culture and the individuals of the place they visit
- Is kindhearted and enjoys interacting and forming friendships with the locals
- Enjoys beautiful boutique hotels
Our travel expedition business is fully licensed by the State of California (2137038-70).