Photo Safaris Trip Reports

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

Sunday, June 24
 
The Spitsbergen Pack Ice Voyage aboard the Freya officially began at 3:00 PM in the lobby of the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel in Longyearbyen where 20 participants... Read More

By Gary Alt, Wayne Lynch and Rinie van Meurs on Oct 01, 2018

Tourism is increasing around the world and travel to Iceland is no exception.  This tiny island country is currently one of the darlings of the travel industry and has seen an exponential increase in travelers to its ... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Aug 27, 2018

This year I had the good fortune to lead three consecutive Photo Safari tours to the Pantanal. All three tours were full of incredible photo opportunities, yet each was very different from the others. Below, I have combine... Read More

By Mark Thomas on Aug 27, 2018

Every journey begins with a single step. For our photography journey to St. Paul, one of Alaska’s Pribilof Islands, our group’s trip began with a single flight. After a slight delay, the three-hour flight over ... Read More

By Eric Rock on Aug 02, 2018

While traveling around the world on the HMS Beagle, British naturalist Charles Darwin spent five historically significant weeks in the Galápagos Islands studying the flora and fauna.  His research during this... Read More

By Jeff Vanuga on Jul 09, 2018

I've just returned home from leading the 2018 Joseph Van Os Photo Safari to Namibia.  This is an unique tour in that it is split into two distinct parts, with the first half of the trip all about landscape photogr... Read More

By John Shaw on Jun 22, 2018

There are few places I’ve been to on this planet as dynamic as the Big Island of Hawaii. Its diverse climatic zones, weather, vegetation, and dramatic elevation changes make it one of the most interesting location... Read More

By Todd Pierce on Jun 04, 2018

WOW!  Slovenia!  To my taste Slovenia is one of the nicest countries I have visited in Europe—and certainly my new favorite. Spectacularly photogenic, this tiny New Jersey-sized country sits at the nexus... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Jun 04, 2018

The Old City of Dubrovnik has a lot of stairs!  If you are prepared to climb them you are rewarded with spectacular access to commanding locations from which to photograph this beautiful city.  It has been less t... Read More

By Joe Van Os on May 30, 2018

Costa Rica, with its diversity of habitats and wildlife, is one of my very favorite photo destinations. And this year did not disappoint. After a quick orientation talk, it is on to our welcome dinner where I am able to an... Read More

By Mark Thomas on May 21, 2018

Our Holland at Tulip Time tour begins with three full days at Keukenhof Gardens.  The main grounds include hundreds of thousands of blooms, including tulips, hyacinth, daffodils, and much more, all beautifully display... Read More

By Mike Byrne on May 16, 2018

Our journey to the Mountain Landscapes of Patagonia began as participants met at our Buenos Aires hotel on Avenida 9 de Julio, the location of the widest avenue in the world.  With a total of seven lanes, two parallel... Read More

By Jeff Vanuga on May 03, 2018

Our Ultimate Tigers photo safari began in Delhi, India, where our group assembled before the departing flight to Raipur, the capital of the newly-formed (in 2000) Indian state of Chhattisgarh. When our flight arrived at Ra... Read More

By Eric Rock on Apr 30, 2018

Even though I had been to Homer many times, until I scouted this adventure in 2017, I never fully realized the astonishing variety of wildlife species available for photographers during the winter months.  The bald ea... Read More

By Perry Conway on Apr 04, 2018

Interior Alaska in winter promises snow-covered landscapes and crystal clear skies along with the chance for a display of the northern lights. This year, with snowfall in the area approaching 80 inches, there were plenty o... Read More

By Eric Rock on Mar 20, 2018

If there was one thing I knew to expect in Iceland after many trips to this enchanted island, it was the weather. Watching the forecast prior to leaving the US was nerve racking to say the least. The news was reporting mul... Read More

By Jeff Vanuga on Mar 14, 2018

This was my first time leading the tour to Japan. While I had been to see the snow monkeys once a very long time ago, I had never visited the red-crowned cranes, whooper swans or Steller’s sea eagles. John Shaw, who ... Read More

By Mark Thomas on Mar 13, 2018

The weather during a photography trip can be seen as a make-it or break-it element for travelers. This year’s two winter trips in Yellowstone National Park had plenty of weather to go around! Winter in Yellowstone is... Read More

By Eric Rock on Mar 13, 2018

I’ve come to think of our winter trips to Lofoten, Norway as “patterns shoots.”  Along with abundant impressive coastal and mountain landscapes, we are regularly in the field searching for patterns&m... Read More

By Joe Van Os on Mar 13, 2018

This winter’s Horses & Icons of the Wild West trip at the Hideout in Shell, Wyoming—what I’ve always just called the Cowboy Horse Shoot—was my last tour with Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris. Retirin... Read More

By Darrell Gulin on Mar 05, 2018

The 2017 Yosemite in Autumn tour was a photo adventure to one of the most spectacular parks in the US to witness the fall colors. The national park is renowned for its impressive granite cliffs, endless waterfalls and gian... Read More

By Kevin McNeal on Dec 04, 2017

Washington State's Olympic Peninsula never ceases to offer wonderfully diverse photo opportunities. This, my fourth tour of its varied landscapes and ecosystems, was no exception. After a relaxing ferry ride and 2-h... Read More

By Todd Pierce on Oct 23, 2017

Most of the photo trips we embark on have well-defined goals, but our August Grand Teton Solar Eclipse trip had a very specific goal. Our group’s goal was to observe and photographically capture the process of the... Read More

By Eric Rock on Oct 11, 2017