Madagascar Photography vacation

Planet

We believe in the power of photography; the power to create incredible experiences, and the power to make a positive impact. That’s why we founded our own Trust, a non-profit organisation that uses photography to make a positive impact on both a social and conservation level. We finance the running costs of the Trust, so by just by joining one of our workshops, you're indirectly contributing. (So all you have to do to make a difference is have the photo adventure of a lifetime!) Through this Trust, we provide free professional photography to charities doing environmental and conservation work; images they can use for fundraising and communication purposes.

Environmental policy:
One of the guides on this trip, Nick van de Wiel, is a qualified wildlife biologist and guide who has also been responsible for guide training at an accredited wildlife school. For this trip, we partner with environmentally sound and ethical companies and businesses. A key component in our tours is one of responsibility and awareness. There is no single one thing that we can do to minimise impact and disturbance; rather it is in the entire approach to how we run the workshops by respecting the environment, the people and the wildlife that we encounter, and maintaining a goal of leaving no traces except a positive experience for both our guests and the people they interact with.  

Waste Management:
We try to use products, services and food that have the least impact on the waste management of the country we are traveling in. If waste is generated and cannot be immediately recycled or disposed of, we transport it with us to the best location for proper disposal or recycling. We firmly believe in only leaving footprints behind.

At our office in Cape Town, we recycle, compost, and minimise the use of paper by predominantly working with digital files.

People

Apart from supporting conservation initiatives through our photography, we also support social nonprofits. We provide free professional photography to charities that do valuable work and can use the images for fundraising purposes.

Through our Trust, we also run PhotoVoice workshops for youth in underprivileged South African communities. We identify talented young individuals with an interest in and talent for photography, and provide workshops where we encourage them to tell their stories, and the stories of their communities, through photography. We teach them creative self-expression, and the power visual images can have. Participants are encouraged to raise awareness about issues that matter most to them, which stimulates positive activism.

Cultural Photography:
One of the guides on this trip, Emil von Maltitz, is a Cultural Anthropologist. As such, ethics in travel photography is already a consideration and strong component of this photography workshop. We also incorporate seminars on awareness of ethics when photographing people.

Accommodation:
We use accommodation that is a mix between the best location for the photographic work that we are doing, and which benefits the local community. As a result we tend not to use large international hotel groups, but rather rely on locally owned accommodation. We avoid any accommodation that we believe is exploitative of either the local people or of the environment.