About Washington Photo Safari™

Background: DC architectural landmark photographer E. David Luria, a Paris-trained member of the American Society of Media Photographers and the Association of Independent Architectural Photographers, founded the Washington Photo Safari in 1999 as a sideline to his own architectural photography business and hosted a total of just 72 people that first year. The program became so popular that by 2011, it had grown 50-fold, hosting over 3,600 participants annually. In 1999, it made Washington DC the first city in the United States to offer regularly scheduled photo Safaris. Now in its 13th year of operation, the Washington Photo Safari has developed a manual that helped spawn similar Safari programs in 15 other cities including Baltimore, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Harrisburg, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Chesapeake, Greenville, Raleigh, Ocean City, Salem OR, Richmond, Portland OR and Ottawa, Canada.

Mr. Luria’s own images of Washington DC have appeared in over 100 local and national publications – including TIME, Prevention, and Washingtonian magazines – has 31 magazine covers to his credit, and has contributed to 80 postcards, guidebooks, calendars and tourist publications sold throughout the area, including a cover story that appeared in the May 2006 edition of WHERE-Washington. Twenty-five of Mr. Luria’s images have appeared in a full-color coffee-table book entitled Washington DC Visions. He has appeared twice as a photographic expert on the local NPR affiliate WAMU’s Kojo Nmandi Show and he photographs for the US Capitol Historical Society, Destination DC, for the Washington Post’s Apartment Showcase magazine, Guest Informant, Washington Spaces, and the Entertainment Book. Trained in Paris at the Parson’s School of Design by a protégé of Henri Cartier Bresson, he is now a member of the Society of Photographic Education as well as a frequent photo study tour leader for the Smithsonian Resident Associates Program, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Kreeger Museum, and Penn Camera. He has been a featured speaker on photography at the National Press Club and is currently an official photographer of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Samples of his photography can be viewed at http://www.edavidluriaphotography.com.

Impact on tourism: Since 1999 there have been over 25,600 participants in 3400 Safari groups who have been trained in the techniques of landmark and portraiture photography by the Washington Photo Safari. Averaging only 7 people per group, clients have come from over 34 countries, including Australia, China, France, Germany, Holland, Liberia, Macedonia, the UK, and from all over the US, Mexico and Canada, as well as from the entire DC, Maryland and Virginia region. Voting positively with their feet, over 7,100 of these participants are repeaters, coming on two or more Safaris: 450 people have been on an average of 8 Safaris apiece, and one client has been on 57 of the organization’s 130 different itineraries! Washington Photo Safari is “Top-Rated” on Trip Advisor and rated “Excellent” on Viator.com It is also rated No.1 in “Best Places to Learn Digital Photography in the DC area“ on Washington.CBSLocal.com. 

The local Penn Camera retail store network has served as a primary sponsor, and participating groups have included the Associated Press, National Press Club, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Deloitte Consulting, Hasselblad USA, U.S Capitol Historical Society, the Smithsonian, Things to Do/DC, National Public Radio, the Corcoran Gallery, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Professionals In the City, Strathmore Education Center, the US Marine Band, Capital Photography Center, The International Photographic Society of the World Bank/IMF Group, and several local camera clubs.

With volunteer help from its 12 instructors, Washington Photo Safari has also conducted fundraising benefit safaris to assist disaster victims in Indonesia, Japan and Haiti and for earthquake repairs at the Washington National Cathedral.

Critical acclaim:  Called “a real treat”,  “an absolute BLAST”,  and “an invaluable experience” by some of its participants, the Washington Photo Safari has also received considerable press attention. including the Washington Post’s and WHERE Magazine’s lists of the “Top 10 Things To Do in Washington.”and Washingtonian Magazine’s list of “50 Fun Things To Do in Washington DC.”  It was highlighted in a 2000 segment on the NBC Today Show, in a 2007 segment on Discovery TV’s Travel Channel’s “Not Your Average Travel Guide,” in a 2002 segment on the Fine Living cable TV network entitled “Back to Basics In Photography”, and in segments on WTOP All-News Radio in 2005 and WTTG Fox News television in 2006.  It has been written up in the Columbus Dispatch, the Washington Post,  the Los Angeles Times, Washington DC Examiner, the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer,  the Richmond Times Dispatch, AAA’ s Car and Driver Magazine, USA Today, in the online magazine DP Review, and in American Airline’s American Way and in Go, Air Tran’s in-flight magazine. Washington Photo Safari is also listed in the Shaw Guide to Photo Safaris,  the Insider’s Guide to Washington DC and the the Offbeat Guide to Washington DC, Time Out Guide to Washington DC, The Business Travelers Guide to Washington DC, the AAA Guide to Washington DC. and Fodor’s Guide. Travel Guide. Safaris have been made available via Excitations, Expedia, XperienceDays, Viator. Alcatraz, ARES, Cloud9, Travelzoo, Groupon, and through Living Social, which calls Washington Photo Safari “the best way to see the monuments through a lens.”

Describing his experience on one photo Safari, client Hill Montague said: “Thanks for the great experience yesterday!  I thoroughly enjoyed spending time on the Safari and love that I have picked up so many tips. Your program was worth every minute and dollar.”

Cherry Blossom Safari participant Brent Sandweiss of Tuscon AZ, wrote:“Thank you so much for a terrific experience during the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington. Of all the activities we were lucky enough to participate in Washington, yours was the very best experience we had.  In less than 3 hours, your personal, hands-on attention improved our photo taking capabilities exponentially.”

Other unsolicited comments received from Safari graduates (and their spouses) are:

“You have created a Camera Monster!”

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the time and concern you have for your students.  You were born to teach!”

“I just love these photo Safaris!  They get my husband out of the house so I can get some peace and quiet!”

Washington Photo Safari is a member agency of Destination DC , Cultural Tourism DC, and is an official activity of the annual National Cherry Blossoms Festival.  Contact us by calling 202-537-0937 or emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).