Our vision is to see the three things we love most come together for a greater good: a love of travel, a passion for photography, and a deep desire to give back in some way. Our vision comes alive when we partner with amazing organizations in developing nations, who are at the ground level of a community, and attempting in their seemingly small, but actually enormous way, to help. Our vision comes alive when photographers are moved to action out of compassion, humbleness, and the understanding that seeing the world through a lens and capturing all its moments of beauty and heartache, of victory and agony, of joy and struggle must be one of the most amazing roles on Earth – whether you’ve shot half a million frames, or just a few; whether it is your hobby, your job, or your entire life.
We are a community of photographers who are drawn to exploring the world, and giving back while we do it. We do this by hosting one-of-a-kind international travel photography workshops, complete with expertly planned photography destinations and guided by two professional travel photographers, and an emphasis on benefiting the communities and landscapes we visit, and capture. But there's a twist: for several days we pause the travel photography side of things to work with a local grassroots NGO, both documenting their work and teaching photography to the community. When the trip is over, we donate back not just the images, but share our profits too. Travel - and travel photography - is a privilege. Let's make the world better while we do it.
Travel Photography Workshops with a Meaningful Twist:
PHOTOGRAPHY
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS
A call to adventure: travel photography workshops offer the chance to combine two major passions in one epic trip. We scout locations, plan the shoots, find the light, and walk with you through it all. Along the way we discuss ethics, best practices, composition, editing, working with the light, and so much more. Then, we spend 2-4 days volunteering our time and talent with a worthy NGO – giving you the chance to give back while learning documentary and storytelling skills at the same time.
NON-PROFIT WORK
VOLUNTEERING
We find and partner with grassroot non-profits that see value in the creative, and we work with them to volunteer our camera, hearts, time, and energy in whatever way the Non-Profit needs most. Most often, it is by teaching photography classes to the community youths, or underprivileged communities who crave creative outlets to express themselves. We also document the NGOs efforts (and issues) and donate back a few images each for their use. You get to try documentary photography, be impacted by the local community, and explore a lesser known side to the place.
EMPOWER
SEEING IS BELIEVING
Photography can change how people see their world. Photography – these days – is affordable, fast, and results are instant. You don’t need math or education or even a shared language to point, and shoot, a camera. But watch their faces light up! All ages, races, regions, backgrounds, gender, religions, and cultures: making your photo and seeing it come to life is inspiring, powerful, uplifting, encouraging, and empowering. We want to bring photography around the world to empower anybody who needs it to find their vision, their voice, their unique story – and tell it.
DONATIONS
SHARE THE WEALTH
We donate our time and energy on the ground documenting their issues (and victories), and then we donate our images from that time. We donate cameras fundraised for the trip for their on-going use exploring photography and photo projects. Most of all, we donate profits from the trip with the NGO, knowing full well that while photography is impactful, it won’t pay their bills. We share anywhere from 10 to 60% of our profits (depending on budget, relationship, trust, and more).
BY PHOTOGRAPHERS, FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
AN ITINERARY FOR PHOTOGS
Our trips are planned by photographers, with photographers (of all levels) in mind. Good light, low crowds, cultural experiences, photogenic opportunities of all kinds, editing time, rest time, and more is taken into consideration when we plan our trips. We will seek the good light for you, and with you, and together as a team.
CULTURAL EXCHANGES
EXPERIENCE A PLACE AND ITS PEOPLE
While we won’t exclude bucket-list photo opps like Machu Pichu, Angkor Wat, or Petra, we strive to get away from the rest of the tours when we can and explore the culture, lesser known locations, or just hang with locals. We aim to provide immersive experiences to you go beyond just visiting a place and get at understanding that place better, deeper, and more – and its people too!
EPIC GUIDES
YOU'RE IN GOOD HANDS
Too often we notice that guides are either not locals (and as such cannot possibly offer much cultural insight) or are, but appear underpaid, overworked, and limited in options. We hire guides that have a fire for their culture and a passion for helping guests like ourselves discover and understand this place and its people. Not to mention your professional photographer leaders who will be with you every step of the way: not just excellent photographers but experienced in travel, navigating cultures, various genres, editing, the business of travel photography (ie Instagram), and troubleshooting any issues that arise!
RESPONSIBLE TOURS
RESPECTING PEOPLE + THE PLANET
We only hire guides and tour companies that are committed to ethically responsible tourism and sensitive cultural exchanges. We believe in minimizing the impact of our presence, in honouring and understanding local cultures and practices (but not exploiting them), in staying in locally owned hotels and dining at locally run restaurants (as opposed to foreign-owned / chains) as much as possible. We are constantly learning how to travel better!
WORKSHOPS
OUR VISION
GALLERIES
travel photography, but better
We have a Vision
Meet Some of our Epic TGL Team Leaders
Daniel Nahabedian
Photographer and Blogger
Varina Patel
Photographer and Educator
Michael Bonocore
Travel Editor, Photo & Videographer
Paul Pichugin
Landscape Photographer
Susan Roderick
Photographer and EducatorBehind the Scenes
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