Attending Is Awe-Inspiring
Lisa Combs’ favorite moment on a guided photography trip is when the sun peeks over the horizon. “You’re traveling in the dark. You’ve never been to the location, so you’re just following the leader with your little head lamp, and carrying all your gear, and setting up,” she explains. “And then the sun breaks and you see where you are, and it’s usually magical.” Combs, M.Photog., has had this experience on a trip to Death Valley—where the sunrise highlighted the crevasses and colorful salt flats—and in the Smoky Mountains—where the light hit just right and made everything glow. Those awe-inspiring moments, she says, are the reason many photographers take these trips.
Combs, a Long Island, New York-based family, maternity, and newborn portrait photographer, enjoys landscape photography on the side. The six photography trips she’s taken have provided her the opportunity to travel with other landscape-loving photographers and enjoy nature with a skilled guide. “I’m in the 55-and-over age range, so for me, there is safety in traveling within a group,” she says. Many times, the shooting locations are remote, not places Combs would attempt to reach by herself, particularly in the dark. “There is just a safety factor in being with a group and somebody who has experience and knows the lay of the land,” she says. The guide has already scouted locations for optimum views and light.
Sara Epstein, an Atlanta-based real estate photographer who’s been on three guided photography trips since 2021, agrees that traveling with a guide leads to unique opportunities she would never experience on her own. “It’s a way to explore that I probably wouldn’t otherwise push myself to do,” says Epstein, who’s been on trips to Moab, Utah; Joshua Tree, California; and Scotland. Take, for example, the morning she got up at 4 a.m. to hike Old Man of Storr on Scotland’s Isle of Skye to catch the sunrise. In the company of a like-minded group of photographers and an astute guide, she happily tackled the challenge. “That is kind of what you are paying for, I guess,” she says: the camaraderie. “It brought me back to my art school days of being in a collaborative environment,” Epstein adds. “It is such a wonderful way to travel for me.”
Based on their experiences, Combs and Epstein recommend asking the following questions to select a guided photography adventure:
Do you like the guide’s photography portfolio? Choose a location that interests you, but it’s equally important to choose a guide whose work you admire. Combs made the mistake once of signing up for a trip before looking at the guide’s portfolio. When she did, she says she wasn’t impressed. As the trip date approached, she realized no one else had signed up. She was uncomfortable with the idea of venturing into the Olympic National Park rainforest alone with the guide and cancelled her reservation. Now she always looks at the guide’s portfolio before booking.
Does the guide have a robust internet presence? Trips are intimate experiences; you want to spend time with people you gel with. So, find out as much as you can about your guide(s) online, including any video footage of them. Epstein learned of photography educator Hudson Henry’s trips through his YouTube channel, which helped her get acquainted with his personality and skills before booking. “You don’t want to be surprised [by traits you don’t like] when you are in Europe or across the United States,” she says. Combs, too, recommends digging around social media to find out whether a leader has pictures with photography groups and testimonials from trip participants, to validate they are legitimate.
Does the activity level suit you? Typically, the amount of exertion and types of activities (such as hiking in mountains, boating, walking many hours, etc.) are explained in descriptions, so pay attention to your abilities and comfort level. Combs learned this lesson the hard way; on her first photography trip, she struggled to keep up while the group hiked across rocky ridges and through sand dunes. Though she calls it her “most exciting” trip, she realized quickly that the activity level was too advanced for her abilities.
Does the trip involve the instruction you desire? Some guides look through your lens and provide in-depth, hands-on instruction, while others lead you to the location and then focus on their own photography, says Combs. In addition, some guides use downtime to offer instruction on post-production and others don’t provide that feedback. So, ask questions to ensure your expectations line up with the instructor’s style.
Is the group size right for you? Epstein prefers a lower teacher-to-student ratio; her trips have had 12 participants and three instructors, which leaves room for one-on-one instruction.
Is there a social aspect to the trip? If you love the idea of bonding with other photographers over dinner after a long day in nature, check to make sure that’s included in the itinerary.
How do you want to get around? Driving to remote locations in national parks, sometimes in the dark, or on roads in foreign countries can be challenging, so select a trip that matches your comfort level. Epstein’s trips have required participants to convene at a meeting spot and then pile into a van together. “I find that really helpful, that I don’t have to drive,” she says. Some of Combs’s trips have involved carpooling with other participants from the hotel to shooting locations.
Leading is Learning
The moment will always stand out in his mind. Twenty years ago, Oregon-based travel and nature photographer, and digital photography educator Kevin Kubota, Cr.Photog., was guest teaching on a photography trek in Italy. As the bus approached the group’s Tuscan villa one evening, the photographers on board noticed the hillside was glowing as the sun set. “Everybody was like, ‘Stop the bus! Let’s get off!’” he recalls. “All 40 of us jumped out and stood shoulder to shoulder with cameras blazing, taking pictures of this beautiful scene.” At the end of the trip, the photographers shared their works in a slideshow, which included many captures of that hillside. Kubota was stunned at how much the images of the hillside varied. “They were all so diverse and different—different perspectives, color and black-and-white, different angles. And it blew my mind,” he says, as the diversity illustrated the strength of individual vision in photography and why it is so important to cultivate it.
Kubota returned from the trip reinvigorated. “It opened my mind to how important travel is to our photography and our creativity,” he says. At the time, he’d been deep in the business of photography: focused solely on clients’ needs and what was salable. “I was not spending a lot of time photographing for fun,” he says. “When I did that for the workshop [in Italy], I realized how essential that is for our creative growth and for continually being successful as a photographer.” He was so enamored with the experience that he and his wife Clare began leading their own guided photography trips, and have been doing so for two decades.
For Massachusetts-based John Slonina, a nature photographer for over 40 years, mentoring other photographers inspired him to organize day trips around New England. He would lead photographers to the ideal spots to capture images and provide his own expert tips. That was 13 years ago; today, he leads longer wildlife photo treks at national parks throughout the country as well as Northern Lights photo tours in Alaska. “What I love most is helping people experience and photograph incredible moments in nature,” he says. “Watching someone’s excitement when they see a wild animal or a dramatic landscape for the first time never gets old.”
For photographers looking to organize and lead photography trips, Slonina and Kubota offer tips and lessons learned:
Tap into local knowledge. When Kubota began planning his first photography trips in Italy, he knew he needed a local expert. He and Clare hired local guides to create itineraries. They still do this for their trips, which now take place in Peru, Ireland, and Ecuador, among other locales. They hire guides that they have met personally on their own vacations, as well as through online channels, Kubota says.
Consider working in some activities for non-photographer companions. Kubota noticed that many of the photographers on their trips brought a spouse or friend along. So, he began organizing activities for those non-photographer participants, such as a cooking class in Italy. These add-ons attracted more trip participants because they knew their companions would be treated to enjoyable activities as well.
Keep the group small. Twelve to 15 participants is the preferred range for Kubota, and 10 he says is ideal. This keeps the experience intimate and enables personal connections. “Even for the photographers to sit in a café and have a discussion about where they are at with their businesses and the challenges they are facing is rewarding for us and valuable for them,” he explains, “and that can’t happen with 40 people to herd around.”
Scout the area. Since Slonina’s trips focus on landscape and wildlife photography, often in national parks, planning begins months and even years in advance. That planning often includes multiple scouting trips, visiting potential photography sites at different times of day and in various seasons to determine the best lighting and times when wildlife are most active. He also notes changes in the landscape; for example, how the river flows will affect reflections, and peak salmon runs will determine when bears are attracted to a river.
Stay flexible and have a backup plan. Weather is a big factor in Slonina’s treks, so he always has a backup plan in mind if wildfire, snow, or rain throws a kink in his itinerary. “Extreme weather events are becoming more common, too, like the floods in Yellowstone,” he notes, so keeping a close eye on the weather is a huge part of his responsibilities.
Start small. Slonina recommends starting by offering weekend trips to a familiar location, and focusing on leading groups and managing the logistics before you scale up to longer, farther-away treks. Photography trips in national parks require gathering permits and carrying insurance, so there’s a lot to learn as you build up to more elaborate trips.
Don’t forget about marketing. “You can have the best trips, but if people don’t know about them, they won’t book,” says Slonina.
Remember that the experience matters as much as the photos. “A great tour isn’t just about the perfect shot,” says Slonina. “It’s about making sure everyone has a fantastic time.” That means everything from making safety and security a priority, planning ahead, being knowledgeable about the area, and building in fun and rest time.
Kubota agrees that the experience is everything. Photographers take these types of trips for creative inspiration, and those who lead them learn from their participants as well, he says. Photographers “come back with your heart full, eager to share what you learned,” he adds, “and you become a better person because of it.”
Amanda Arnold is a senior editor.
