The majority of international travel photo tours stick to beaten tourist track and hire local persons who speak the language, but unfortunately in most cases are not advanced photographers. This is the cheap and easy way of organizing an international photo tour, in which participants are sure to miss out on photo opportunities, due to the local guide not being an experienced photographer. This is most evident for me while viewing workshop-tour photo’s that were taken at such photogenic opportunist location as in Kyoto, Nara, Mt. Fuji, Tokyo, Osaka, Nikko, Snow Monkey Park, Hokkaido’s North East, Big Island Hawaii and others. The photo’s themselves have heart and are well taken, but they are as common as a postcard!
Before my team and I venture out on a Japan photo tour, or an international private photo tour, or guiding for another international photographer or agency, we double-triple check each location making sure we know the lay of the land well and the best photogenic spots. I am constantly watching weather charts and can quickly make itinerary changes to provide the best photo opportunities; (could you imagine coming to Japan to photograph Mt. Fuji and you are hit with foul weather and never see or photograph Fujisan)? - Well, this happens more often than you might think!
Annually I lead ten or more private workshop/tours to photograph mt fuji, and it’s five lakes which are at the volcano’s base, Yamanaka, Kawaguchi, Saiko, Shōji and Motosu lakes. 99% of our private photo workshop groups successfully photograph Mt. Fuji. If you ask most including Japanese, if they have been to all of the fuji five lakes? the answer most certainly will be not yet! Not only do our participants see and photograph the sacred mountain at all the five lakes, but they also touch the water at each lake.