We obtain permits for the places we take you. There’s nothing worse than having your investment in a photography trip ruined by your guide getting your tour shut down, and in some situations, if you workshop leader doesn’t have a permit for where they’re taking you, you may be risking getting ticketed as well! We’ve ven heard of workshop leaders with proper park permits getting deported for not having work visas! We’re local, and we do the extra work to ensure that your workshop goes smoothly.

For our Bodie workshops for example, we also invest the extra time, expense and effort of getting Yosemite National Park and Inyo National Forest permits, so the initial two days and nights prior to our night(s) in Bodie are spent practicing landscape photography and night photography in the High Sierra near Yosemite’s Tioga Pass, and in the exotic “Tufa” calcium carbonate rock formations at Mono Lake. Mono Lake permits are strictly limited, and we’ve had our permits checked multiple times in Yosemite National Park. Protect your investment in a photo tour: make sure that you’re working with reputable, insured, permitted organizations and first aid certified instructors! We’ve had permits checked in Death Valley National Park, NPS rangers frequently check permits in Yosemite, USFS rangers checked in on us during our last night photography workshop up in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest (which is closed to everyone without a permit after 10pm). We believe that most workshop leaders who skip permits will get caught. Don’t be with them when they do.