Photo Safaris Trip Reports

42°F!  That’s what the thermometer read early one morning.  42°F is definitely chilly.  But it’s even colder when you’re in an open boat going 40 mph through river mist at sunrise.&... Read More

By John Shaw on Sep 11, 2019

“Spectacular” is probably the best word I can use to summarize our 2019 Greenland’s Scoresby Sound photo voyage. A fantastic ship, good weather, smooth sailing, knock-your-socks-off fall-... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Sep 11, 2019

Our Spitsbergen trip began in the town of Longyearbyen located about 10 degrees North of the Arctic Circle on the Svalbard archipelago. Situated in the high arctic,  Longyearbyen is an excellent location from which to... Read More

By Jeff Vanuga on Aug 29, 2019

Our trip was just about over. As our boat was tying up to the dock in Petersburg, Alaska, the pungent smell of fish wafted from the nearby Icicle Seafoods plant. Our boat’s captain, Dennis Rogers, turned to me and sa... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Aug 15, 2019

This year, we had two back-to-back Costa Rica tours. Both were equally exciting and photographically productive. This trip report covers both tours.
 
After our welcome dinner and a brief talk about what... Read More

By Mark Thomas on Jul 31, 2019

Puffins are believed to have evolved in the Pacific. Today there are four recognized species—horned, tufted, and Atlantic puffins, plus rhinoceros auklets.  Millions of years ago when the continental configurati... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Jul 25, 2019

Utqiagvik, the town formerly known as Barrow, sits 350 miles above the Arctic Circle on Alaska’s northern coastal plain. It is one of the best locations in the world to photograph arctic nesting shoreb... Read More

By Eric Rock on Jul 03, 2019

The overnight rain showers had just subsided as our group’s flight touched down on the tarmac at Nome. The rain brought a glimmer to the unkempt charm of this coastal arctic community. We made the short drive to our ... Read More

By Eric Rock on Jul 03, 2019

It was heavily overcast and misty—a perfect day to visit a glacier. We headed out from Petersburg onboard the Northern Song, a luxurious motor yacht with a skilled captain who has worked in the waters of Sou... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Jul 02, 2019

Charles Darwin made his legendary visit to the enchanted islands of the Galápagos in 1835.  Today, more than 180 years later, the archipelago is recognized globally as a living laboratory of biological evolution and o... Read More

By Wayne Lynch on Jun 26, 2019

A highlight of our Namibia 2019 photo tour was the several outstanding opportunities we had for astral photography. Our first stop at the Quivertree Forest produced some beautiful images of the Milky Way, shining brightly ... Read More

By Mike Byrne on Jun 19, 2019

I have one word to describe my recent experience to Slovenia….Wow! What a picture-postcard country. As a young teenager I spent a summer living with a family in Switzerland and my exposure to the alps and ... Read More

By Jeff Vanuga on Jun 04, 2019

When you think about photographing one of the most charismatic animals on our planet, Bengal tigers rank far up there on the colorful and exciting megafauna scale. While tiger portraits may be easy to photograph in zoos an... Read More

By By Eric Rock on Jun 04, 2019

It was snowing hard when my plane landed at the Vágar airport in the Faroe Islands in mid-May. I was hoping to find dark and brooding North Atlantic skies, jagged cliffs and colossal crashing waves—a subpolar oceanic... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Jun 03, 2019

Croatia is a “road less traveled” when compared with many of the more popular areas in Europe. The country has a long history of human occupation which dates back to the Paleolithic Age, so it should come as no... Read More

By Jeff Vanuga on Jun 03, 2019

The 2019 Alaska Fairbanks Photo Safaris tour started off at the iconic Pike’s Landing restaurant overlooking the Chena River in Fairbanks. Trip participants got acquainted with one another over dinner, sharing past s... Read More

By Kevin McNeal on Apr 25, 2019

I can think of only one place on the planet where you can photograph a golden sunrise along a rocky, tropical shore at nearly 80°F, then sunset from 14,000 feet above the clouds at 25°F—all in the same day! T... Read More

By Todd W. Pierce on Apr 02, 2019

To some fair weather nature shooters, the notion of photographing in Alaska in winter might seem cold, dark and forbidding. Yet on the Southcentral coast in March, the late winter days are getting longer and the average da... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Mar 19, 2019

If I were asked to select the best season to visit Yellowstone National Park, I would unhesitatingly choose winter. Why winter? In winter the roads are not plowed so the hordes of summer visitors, and their cars, are not p... Read More

By John Shaw on Feb 21, 2019

The setting of the Horses and Icons of the West tour is in central Wyoming, at the base of the Bighorn Mountains.  Formed over 70 million years ago, the Bighorns rise over 9,000 feet and contain sedimentary strata lai... Read More

By Jeff Vanuga on Feb 21, 2019

The Incredible Faces of India photographic journey promised travels into the heart of India and its diverse cultures, conjuring up images of ash-covered yogis and throngs of colorfully adorned tribespeople—and it cer... Read More

By Eric Rock on Feb 18, 2019

The Falkland Islands are world-renowned for exceptional wildlife photography opportunities.  The islands are about 300 miles east of the southern end of South America.  Our tour visited three of the best location... Read More

By John Shaw on Dec 20, 2018

Probably the most unusual aspect of our Madagascar 2018 tour was the broad diversity of our photographic subjects.  While we devoted significant time to photographing lemurs, we also had many opportunities to photogra... Read More

By Mike Byrne on Nov 19, 2018

For months leading up to this year’s Colorado Fall Colors photo tour, the US Drought Monitor map showed my home state painted in blobs of red, orange and yellow, denoting varying degrees of drought conditions. Since ... Read More

By Todd Pierce on Nov 05, 2018

We left North Face Lodge by bus right after breakfast and headed east with the hope of getting a glimpse of The Mountain and spotting some wildlife within shooting range of the road.  In the first hour, as we drove by... Read More

By Gary Alt on Oct 09, 2018