I’ve gotten so many emails in the last few months asking if Plateau Photo Tours has on tap.  I’m excited to reveal another one of our headline tours for 2012 – our 2012 Storytellers workshop Jerod Foster and myself couldn’t be more excited to announce our first Storytellers workshop.  Jerod and I have been able to develop a close friendship over the last few years, so we were excited when the opportunity to co-lead a workshop presented itself — especially over a topic that we are both passionate about — Storytelling. This workshop coincides with the release of Jerod’s new and amazing book – Storytellers.

Per usually with Plateau Photo Tours, we are excited to bring along some really great sponsors.  For the 2012 Storytellers workshop, we are happy to have Peach Pit Press, Black Rapid Straps, and 3 Legged Thing tripods along for the ride.  This means our tour will come with some great products from all of these sponsors.  You’ll either walk home with some free swag or get the opportunity to use some of their revolutionary products for free while on the tour. A bit more about the tour:

__________

ABOUT THE LOCATIONS:

Covering an area the size of the state of Montana, the Amdo region of the Tibetan Plateau has everything a photographer could dream of: Beautiful, high altitude grasslands filled with grazing yaks, alpine forests and rivers, ancient Buddhist monasteries, rugged mountains and one of the world’s most fascinating cultures. Tibet is one of the few remaining places on earth that is relatively untouched by the modern world. Many nomads still live in yak wool tents like they did 1000 years ago. Amazing, once-in-a-lifetime photography opportunities will surround you each day as we explore the monastery towns of Rebkong, Labrang and Lhamo.

This 9 day workshop will take you 350 miles overland through the heart of Amdo, one of Tibet’s three traditional provinces. The culture in Amdo is some of the best preserved in all of Tibet. We will be exploring ancient monasteries, walking ancient religious circuits, photographing lush landscapes and spending plenty of time with local Tibetan communities.

Most of the teaching in this workshop will be done on the field in an organic fashion. We will have reviews and teachings most evenings to cover events from that day and to prepare for the next. You will also have opportunities to break away from the group and to wander around each destination to find your own adventures! The group size is limited to only 10. With 2 workshop instructors, there will be plenty of time for one-on-one instruction to really take your photography to the next level. We’ve built this workshop around flexibility, community, discussion, freedom and your ability to learn what you want from the instructors while also having the opportunity to photograph what you want.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

Cultural and travel photography involves much more than catching a flight to a faraway destination and simply taking the camera out of the bag. Instead, it begs us to immerse ourselves in and tell the story of a place, a people, and a way of life with those tools we bring to the table. Story is what the entire world revolves around, it is the substance upon which societies are built, and it is the gateway to exploring and consciously learning about others.

During this culturally compelling photography tour, we’ll have the opportunity to establish a storytelling foundation and build upon our abilities as photographers to create meaning-filled images that truly speak about and to others. Throughout the tour, we’ll touch on photographic issues such as compelling composition, image dynamics, constructing and shooting along visual themes, and the role light plays in conveying emotions and visual subtleties to the viewer, as well as cultural entrée and engagement topics that will help facilitate photographing in a new place and among new people. All of this will be developed from a storytelling perspective, as opposed to a simply snapshot position. We’ll also develop storytelling technical workflows and use them to create visual narratives of one of the most beautiful and culturally rich areas of the world.

The tour will be both intensely photographic and educational, the field will serve as our learning environment, and organic discussions and critique sessions will be held as a coming-together of visual minds most evenings. The goal of the tour (and the tour hosts) is to provide each participant as much freedom as possible in their photography while also offering professional and constructive guidance from a travel and cultural photography perspective.

It gives me great pleasure to announce Plateau Photo Tours annual Lhasa, Everest, Nepal Overland Tour and workshop.  Last years tour was a ton of fun. We continue to call this trip a ‘bucket-list’ trip because, well, you’re going to see some amazing things!  If you are interested in what all the tour entails, please visit our Plateau Photo Tours website.

The overland route connecting Lhasa, Tibet with Kathmandu, Nepal is one of the most beautiful and and sought-out land routes in all of Asia. Covering a distance of 600 miles, this workshop will take us from the ancient Tibetan capital of Lhasa to pristine high altitude lakes, winding ancient rivers, beautiful farming valleys, Everest Base Camp and over the Himalaya Mountain passes to the ancient Nepali city of Bhaktapur. We will be visiting the most famous monasteries and temples in all of Tibet while spending 13 days immersed in the unique Himalayan culture. Join us on the Roof of the World to get up close and personal with Himalayan culture and the adventure of a lifetime!

About the workshop - We like to consider this workshop as a ‘photo tour with a strong teaching element‘.  Most of the teaching will be done on the field in an organic fashion – we will have some specific teaching areas we will cover as well.  Also, we will have reviews and teachings most evenings to cover events from the day and to prepare for the next.  However, we understand that you will want to get lost in the endless alleyways of Lhasa and wander around monasteries to find your own adventures.  Their will be no ‘flag-totting tour guide following‘ whatsoever.  We’ve built time in for everyone and those who want one-on-one time with the instructors will get it.  Those who want to simply shoot will get it.  We’ve built the tour around flexibility, community, discussion, freedom and your ability to learn what you want from our instructors while also having the opportunity to shoot what you want.

Today we are excited to announce a tour that we’ve been working on for a while now.

Lhasa, Everest, Nepal Overland w/ Matt Brandon!

The overland route connecting Lhasa, Tibet with Kathmandu, Nepal is one of the most beautiful and and amazing land routes in all of Asia. Covering a distance of 600 miles, this workshop will take us from the modern Tibetan capital of Lhasa to pristine high altitude lakes, winding ancient rivers, beautiful farming valleys, Everest Base Camp and over the Himalaya Mountain passes to Kathmandu. We will be visiting the most famous monasteries and temples in all of Tibet and will spend 15 days in the unique Himalayan culture. Join us on the Roof of the World to get up close and personal with Himalayan culture and the adventure of a lifetime!

We will be hosting Matt Brandon for 15 days travelling from Lhasa to Mount Everest and then finally to Kathmandu over some truly amazing terrain and through some of our favorite cultural spots on the entire Tibetan plateau.  We’d love for you to join us on the Lhasa to Kathmandu overland tour.

Furthermore, our awesome sponsors, Think Tank Photo and BlackRapid camera straps will be throwing in some pretty cool stuff and we are excited to be partnering with them on this trip.  They are such amazing companies – more on there participation in the coming days!

To get an idea of what we will be doing, I suggest you check out Matt’s site(and here) as well as our Plateau Photo Tours workshop site(more info here soon) and our Tibet information site get a full details on this trip.  Also in the coming days we will be covering why we chose this route for our first Plateau Photo Tours trek of 2011 and quite a lot of behind the scenes stuff on this trip!

Also, I’ll be posting here some of the pictures and some cultural points from this area over the next weeks.

Plateau Photo Tours couldn’t be more happy to announce our partnership with Frontier Treks & Tours India, Lumen Dei, and Matt Brandon in order to bring you an amazing Lumen Dei photo tour.

Lumen Dei: Heart of Kham will take participants to some of the most untouched, culturally rich, and authentic Tibetan locations in all of the plateau.  Read more after the break.

Check out what Matt is saying about the tour – his words have more poetry than ours:

Today I am excited to announce a new Lumen Dei workshop lead by yours truly. It’s the trip dreams are made of: Tibet! How cool is that!

This summer, June 18- 29th, I will be leading a tour/workshop that focuses on the Tibetan people of Kham. Kahm is the southeastern portion of the Tibetan Plateau and is the most populated region of Tibet, home to nearly 40% of the Tibetan population of China. This tour provides a unique, refreshing, and authentic experience compared to the mostly Chinese and heavily toured Lhasa region. In other words, the real Tibet! We will be exploring some of the more remote and untouched lands in Tibet.  Participants of this workshop will have amazing opportunities to see the nomadic culture of Tibet that few others have been privileged to see. In fact, we will even be camping (if weather permits) in Yurts with the nomads! We will be visiting the high altitude grasslands, hanging out with yak herders, nomads, visiting monasteries nestled up in the Himalaya peaks. Can it get any more cooler than that?

This is a photographers dream! Whether you are young or old, novice or pro we have a place for you on this trip. Find out more information on this trip HERE. If for some reason the dates don’t work or you have something against me, “Mr Vision” himself, David duChemin is leading a tour right after mine. Find out more information about his tour HERE

Plateau Photo Tours couldn’t be more happy to announce our partnership with Frontier Treks & Tours India, Lumen Dei, and David duChemin in order to bring you an amazing Lumen Dei photo tour.

Lumen Dei: Yushu Horse Festival will take you to THE most famous horse festival in all of Tibet.  Read more after the jump…