On our private photography tours, you call the shots.
Travelshooters’ private photography tours are chosen by serious photographers and private groups looking for a carefully tailored travel photography experience. Our private clients, many of whom have done several tours with us, typically come to us looking for…
- General travel photography tours based around their creative interests and travel preferences — “I want to do some of the opportunities in Northern India, not too much road travel” — or
- Themed photography tours — “I want to do a series on tribal and pastoral lifestyles”.
General travel photography tours
We have tried and tested photography itineraries which can serve as a starting point for bespoke photo tour planning. For example:
- In India:
- Pushkar Camel Fair (and other, more productive livestock fairs)
- The tribes of Rajasthan and Gujarat
- Kolkata and West Bengal
- Assam and Majuli
- Ladakh and Nepal
- Kerala and South India
- Varanasi (with or without Agra)
- Old Delhi
- In Myanmar:
- The highlights circuit (Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Sagaing, Amarapura, Inle Lake)
Themed photography tours
We can focus your tour itinerary completely around the topics or themes you’re pursuing. Some examples:
- Traditional arts, crafts and processes
- Monasteries
- Wildlife, including tigers
- Desert and mountain lifestyles
- Tribes and tribal practices
- Dance and performance
- Festivals such as Diwali, Holi, in India, and the water festivals in Myanmar
- Traditional religious practices
Each of the general travel photography itineraries can be fine-tuned to emphasise specific opportunities. For example, you might wish to spend most of your shooting time doing classic portraits, lifestyle and environmental portraiture, or candids and encounters, and just take in a couple of the typical tourist ‘must-see’ stopoffs en route.
Some clients like to throw in a bit of classic holiday downtime before, during or after the main itinerary — and we can take care of that too.
Whichever way you go, your preferences set the pace, the intensity and the coverage, while our accompanying photographer-guide-fixer works with our logistics team to give your tour the smoothest possible ride.
How our private photography tours work
Shaped around you
The very best shooting opportunities
We can take you into shooting contexts that simply wouldn't be possible with a large group… tiny huts, sensitive situations, places where a group of shooters would inevitably destroy the mood. We can give you calm, in-depth time with your subjects so you can hand-craft each frame rather than skim the surface. And we can bring in specialist guides, including those who have worked with top international photographers for world-renowned publications.
Photographs first, itineraries second
A key Travelshooters concept is working backwards from the photographs. We plan your tour focusing first on the images and opportunities that will delight you. We know dozens of little villages, obscure groups, colourful practices and rituals, places where the light is soft and portrait-perfect, and we knit together those opportunities into a seamless tour itinerary. The result is day after day of rich shooting, a minimum of touristic 'filler', and the most productive use of your time.
Expert creative and logistic support
You'll be accompanied at all shooting sessions by our photographer, who will work with you to ensure you're working in the best photographic contexts, with the right subjects and the right light. If you prefer to use lights and reflectors or seek specialist shooting platforms such as helicopters, private yachts, special vehicles or drones, we can make those happen without you having to cart everything halfway across the world.
100% focus
It's your tour and the itinerary is planned 100% around you: dates, locations, subjects, support, the works. So it brings total control over the content, depth and pace of your shooting itinerary. We'll exchange photos pre-tour: your vision, our reccy and context shots, and share extensive scheduling and planning documents. Our goal is to ensure that when you walk in to the live setting, it's all about the shooting rather than the setting up.
Your kind of creature comforts
With a private tour, you naturally get to decide the standard of accommodation you'd like. Tents? Huts? Palaces? Tree houses? If it's available in the shooting zone, you can have it.
Our clientèle and their feedback on our tours
Comments from Travelshooters private photography tour clients
Our client profile covers a wide range of photographic experience and interests. We serve pro, semi-pro and highly skilled amateur photographers who simply want focused, no-nonsense subject material and logistics support, plus the ability to work in the time and manner of their own choosing.
We also provide private itineraries for small family groups looking for a premium travel photography experience, with learners on board. Patient, relaxed on-tour training and technical support is available where required. Fun excursions and diversions can be arranged for non-shooting members of your party, although we often see that non-shooters find the shooting destinations every bit as compelling as the photographers.
Present throughout will be a Travelshooters photographer-fixer-guide, whose role is to escort you to the planned opportunities, manage the interactions with the locals and his contacts and make sure everything runs smoothly. In addition to the local language, he will be fluent in English and of course, his knowledge of the context, history and sensitivities is unparalleled.
Evenings are yours, with or without the presence of your Travelshooters representative. Most clients welcome the one-on-one reviews of the day’s shooting, discussions about the next day’s itinerary and general chat, but if you’d just like to spend solitary time or with your companions, that’s fine too.
A private client from South America said this of his custom-designed, 22-day private photography tour of South East Asia with Travelshooters:
“Travelshooters delivered all we had expected and more.”
“Since in a 1 to 10 scale there is no more than 10, we give Travelshooters a 10. The planning and structuring phase was perfect. We were all along surprised by the speed and thoughtfulness of Bruce’s answers to our queries and concerns. The materials provided (particularly the travel agenda) contained all necessary information we needed to understand where we were going, staying and travelling. Hotel choice was perfect … Air, land and water transportation were as expected… Travelshooters exceeded by far the services we received last year when we travelled to India with [major British luxury tour provider].”
Private photography tour client Don Macalister from Auckland, New Zealand gave us this recommendation, and his permission to publish it:
“I was free to shoot as the Travelshooters team took care of transport, guides and accommodation seamlessly.”
“Our Travelshooters custom tour with pro photographer Arun put me in the right places at the right times for the shots I had hoped for. I was free to shoot as the Travelshooters team took care of transport, guides and accommodation seamlessly. Thank you for a memorable trip.”
Private photography tour client Ron Tate gave us this recommendation, and his permission to publish it:
“I have only the best of memories – plenty of opportunities for some really extraordinary photos of people just going about their lives, just what I came for.”
“Some photo opportunities and visits were creative and chosen to fit my interests, others we came across in our wanderings. I was able to give all my attention to taking the best possible photographs because everything else – transport, hotel and such – was done by Travelshooters. All I had to do was be in the hotel lobby at the required time.”
Private photography tour client Bob Miller gave us this recommendation, and his permission to publish it:
“The trip was spectacular, and we look forward to going back to India someday. We would definitely use your services. Although not inexpensive, your itinerary was wonderful and definitely worth it.”
“Everyone was where they were supposed to be on time. We were particularly pleased with how well organized and orchestrated the tour was.”
Private photography tour client Mike Woodworth gave us this recommendation, and his permission to publish it:
“Travelshooters is probably by far the best travel photography outfit in the world today. It is used by some of the world’s best known outdoor pro shooters.”
“If like me you are serious about your photography and you want to come away from a trip with top of the line fantastic images then this is who you are going to go with. It makes no difference if you’re a pro or an amateur, just being with these guides is going to boost your ability and creativity to a whole new level. From the moment you land in a new country you will be immersed in the culture, the people, and the photography. Your guides will make sure to have you shooting all different kinds of shots in different arenas (in a hut with tribespeople, street photography, landscapes etc.) and they are there to help you get the best shots. I just got back from a trip with Travelshooters and I will be heading out with them again in a few months to different spot on the globe. If you want to get the kind of shots you only see in the best photographic magazines then I suggest you go with Travelshooters.”