See. Click. Learn.
First, we help you see the image, which is two-fold. Using any camera you have, including smartphones, we work with you on composition, leading lines, the rule of thirds, getting you in low and close, making sure the picture is interesting. Likewise, we show you where the images are amongst the famous and not-so-famous landmarks and locales in and around Washington, DC! We give you access to places that are unique, interesting, photogenic and places that you’re unlikely to see without the trained eye of a photographer who knows all the best angles.
Then you click on the image as we give you hands-on guidance on F stops, shutter speeds, ISO settings, white balance, and selective use of flash, getting you off of “Auto.”
Finally, the most important element, you look at the picture you have just taken and learn how to make a better image! Our instructor gives you advice on how to improve your pictures while you are taking them, rather than relying on post-production work on the computer.
To the photographic instruction, we also add history about the places that we have collectively been photographing for many, many decades. Clients come to understand the significance of the Korean War Memorial, for example, so that they can capture the fear on the faces of 19 young soldiers walking through a rice paddy in freezing-cold Korea, scared to death of being shot at any moment.
Many clients have told us that they find this approach of hands-on learning, while they are actually taking the pictures, to be more effective than having them sit in a classroom and watch pictures taken by professional photographers who then explain how the pictures were done.
Since 2013, Trip Advisor has awarded Washington Photo Safari the Certificate of Excellence and clients have ranked it as one of the Top 10 Attractions in Washington, DC. 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 in a 2012 segment aired by the Voice of America, and WTTG Fox News.
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.