Snap China on these intimate photo tours

Travel doesn’t really happen unless you have the photos to prove it to folks back home. But most of the time the photos are out-of-focus shots of people flashing the V-sign in front of beat up-looking monuments. Improving your photo skills is a great way to increase the enjoyment and lasting significance of travel. And photo tours are a great way to hone those skills.

Sharron Lovell and Stephen Radke run Asia Photo Tour. They have two trips planned for the spring—one to Kashgar (April 22-27) and one to Yangshuo (May 12-15).

“Often when photographers travel with family or friends, either they get frustrated because they don’t have the time to stop to make the pictures they want, or they frustrate their travel partners by interrupting the flow of family travel to take pictures,” Radke tells us. “On a photo tour it’s all about pictures.”

On photo tours, numbers are kept small and groups are led by seasoned pros. Lovell has done work for National Geographic, The Guardian and Newsweek. Radke has been honing his photo game for over 15 years. A typical day starts before dawn, as that’s the best time for light, and lasts until dusk. Night shoots are often part of the itinerary as well.

Locations are carefully scouted and even though the destinations themselves are well-trodden, Lovell and Radke put photographers in intimate contact with local people and challenging situations. The dawn cormorant fishermen shoot is a favorite, as is the shoot at a local bakery in Kashgar. Shoots like these help photographers break through psychological barriers. What you take back on your memory card are intimate portraits of people and places—not just a bunch of snaps your family flips through.

But a photo trip is not boot camp. There’s plenty of down time slated in for hiking Yangshuo’s Moon Hill or filling up on Kashgar cuisine. And all levels of photographers are welcome. Groups are small enough that everyone gets personal attention.

There are plenty of groups out there offering photo tours in China. Trips with Asia Photo Tour are shorter, though, which make them perfect for busy expats. Most of the big name groups run trips that last up to two weeks. M&M Photo Tours, for example, has a couple of 10+ day China trips scheduled for this September led by Ron Wyatt, who photographed the 2004 and 2008 Olympics for Kodak.

And if just want to get on the road with your camera on your own, Lovell recommends Chongqing for its gargantuan scale and waterfront culture, while Radke goes to Fujian whenever he has the chance.