NATURAL COSTA RICA WITH GREG BASCO, JON FULLER, & TOM TILL
This workshop offers a great mix of photographic opportunities ranging from landscapes to macro to wildlife. We will work on photographic techniques including landscape compositions, HDR, macro, and the use of flash as fill and main light. With three pro photographer instructors along you will receive lots of personalized, hands-on instruction.
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Features & Info
PERSONALIZED INSTRUCTION
All of our tours offer personalized, hands-on instruction in the field so that you can master your camera's functions and explore your artistic vision. Our goal is to help you obtain great photos in Costa Rica as well as back home and in your future travels. With Greg, Jon, and Tom along, you'll receive plenty of one on one instruction and tips.
GREAT LODGING
We use only Greg's favorite lodges, which he has selected for their comfort and the photographic opportunities offered right outside the door to your room. On this trip, you will be able to photograph the active Arenal Volcano all night from your own private balcony!
ALL INCLUSIVE PRICING
There are no hidden surprises on our tours, and we take care of everything from the time you step off the plane until the time you depart for home. All transportation, lodging, meals, activities, entrance fees, guide fees, and instructional fees are included. The only things our prices don't include are the airport exit tax (US$28), gratuities, alcoholic beverages, and non-mealtime drinks and snacks. This trip even includes multi-flash hummingbird photography!
Greg Basco, Tom Till and Jon Fuller packed our workshop with so many great photo ops that one professional photographer stateside suggested I offer to sell my images to National Geographic. Greg is an absolute find as a photo teacher with great local connections. Every country in the world should have someone like him knowledgeable about the whereabouts of image opportunities. Tom Till is a great landscape photographer who is willing to share his experience and Jon Fuller knows more than he puts on and is also a great workshop leader. My images from this trip speak for themselves; a great, great trip.
~ Richard Koch, photographer from the USA. Check out Richard's images here!
Full Itinerary & Tour Leaders
The Itinerary
June 11, San José
Arrival to Costa Rica. Meet our representative at the Juan Santamaría International Airport and transfer to our hotel near the capital city of San José, where Foto Verde Tours' Greg Basco will be awaiting your arrival. Those who arrive early can take the afternoon to photograph the beautiful orchids and other tropical flowers in the hotel's expansive tropical gardens. The hotel has free wireless Internet throughout the grounds and in the rooms.
no meals included
June 12, Atlantic Lowland Rainforest
After breakfast, we have an introductory session on macro photography and using flash in the field in one of the hotel's conference rooms. We then head out into the gardens for some practice before lunch. After lunch at our hotel, we travel to the beautiful lowland rainforests of the Sarapiquí region. A number of colorful birds including tanagers, aracaris, and toucans visit the our lodge's feeders, and this destination is also a fantastic place to photograph poison frogs, tree frogs, basilisk lizards, and lots of other wildlife. We arrive in the late afternoon with time for a bit of photography and then dinner and a Q and A session with the leaders in our lodge's riverside bar.
all meals included
June 13, Atlantic Lowland Rainforest
We spend all day today on the grounds of our lodge, where we will work to capture great photos at the bird feeders and the surprise photo opportunities that always pop up at this magical place. We will take a morning hike into the lodge's primary forest reserve for landscape photography, focusing on the beautiful buttressed trees along the trail. In the evening, we photograph the famed red-eyed tree frog with flashlights for different and dramatic images of this iconic amphibian.
all meals included
June 14, Atlantic Slope Mid-elevation Forest
Around mid-morning, we travel to the Arenal Volcano area. Though currently experiencing a lull in activity, Arenal is normally the country's most active volcano, with continuous emissions of lava and incandescent pyroclastic flows since the beginning of the recent active cycle in 1968. On clear nights, the views of incandescent avalanches can be breathtaking. En route, we photograph wild green iguanas at eye level in the trees on a riverbank and stop for a bite to eat. We arrive to our lodge in mid-afternoon and, after check-in, photograph the sunset over Lake Arenal.
all meals included
June 15, Atlantic Slope Mid-elevation Forest
After breakfast, we head to a nearby wildlife reserve to photograph boat-billed herons and possibly three-toed sloths, emerald basilisk lizards, and rufous-tailed jacamars. This little refuge boasts an amazing number of photographic opportunities in a small area. A highlight is the numerous species of honeycreepers that visit the feeders right by the entrance. We enjoy lunch at a nearby local restaurant and then continue our shooting at Danaus in the afternoon. We return again to our lodge in late afternoon to photograph the sunset and the Arenal Volcano.
all meals included
June 16, Atlantic Slope Mid-elevation Forest
This morning we roam the hotel grounds in search of wildlife to photograph, including crested guan and collared aracaris. We also will take time to photograph the numerous Montezuma oropendolas at the lodge feeders. Later this morning, we depart for a nearby spot with an amazing collection of frogs, snakes, and lizards. This place is run by one of Greg's friends, and the staff there will help us to photograph these colorful animals on natural stages that we will set up on site. This is a great opportunity to photograph a number of species that are very difficult to find in the wild and also to continue our work on creative lighting for pleasing macro images. We will enjoy a delicious home-cooked lunch as well as refreshments and coffee throughout the day. We return to our lodge in late afternoon to photograph the sunset and the Arenal Volcano.
all meals included
June 17, Atlantic Slope Cloud Forest
After an early breakfast, we travel to the higher cloud forests of the northern Central Volcanic Mountain Range and our next lodge, another of Greg's favorites. Our lodge is located in one of the most biodiverse areas of the country, nestled in a picturesque valley at approximately 4,500 feet above sea level between two large national parks. With its rushing mountain streams, cool air, and orchid and moss-festooned trees, the area is akin to a tropical Colorado. On the way, we visit a surprise secret destination – a nearby farm owned by a local family that is a great place for photographing both the Great Green and Scarlet Macaws. The macaws are free flying but stay close to the farm to roost and feed. Greg has recently put up a new feeder at the farm that offers great opportunities for beautiful portraits of the macaws. We enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal at the farm. We arrive to our lodge in the early evening with time for a relaxing dinner and then time to download images and recharge batteries for the next day's shooting.
all meals included
June 18, Atlantic Slope Cloud Forest
After breakfast, we set in immediately to begin photographing hummingbirds at our multi-flash setups right on the lodge grounds. We will concentrate on the violet sabrewing (Costa Rica’s largest species), the purple-throated mountain gem, and the green-crowned brilliant. Greg's company, Foto Verde Tours, is the only company that has permission to do multi-flash hummingbird photography at this lodge. When not on the setups, you can relax and download images, keep shooting the guans and coatimundis, or explore the cloud forest trails for macro and landscape photography.
all meals included
June 19, Atlantic Slope Cloud Forest
After breakfast today, we make a day trip to a nearby waterfall, which is 110 meters high and offers beautiful photographic opportunities of the waterfall itself and the surrounding cloud forest. In addition, we have secured permission to set up our multiple flashes near the feeders at the restaurant at the waterfall, which gives us a great chance to photograph some hummingbird species, such as the green hermit, black-bellied, green thorntail, coppery-headed emerald, and white-bellied mountain gem, that are less common at our lodge. And there are some spectacular tropical foliage shots here of palms and ferns on the cliffs surrounding the waterfall. We enjoy a delicious typical lunch at the waterfall and return to our lodge in the evening for a relaxing dinner and time to download our great hummingbird and landscape images.
all meals included
June 20, Back to San Jose
After more morning photography around the lodge grounds and feeders, we have lunch and then leave for San José and our San Jose hotel. After a stop in Greg Basco's hometown for some HDR photography of the beautiful park and church, we arrive to our San Jose hotel with a bit of time to unwind before dinner.
all meals included
June 21, La Paz Waterfall Gardens
After breakfast today we enjoy a fun last day with a trip to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, a great place to shoot everything from butterflies in their butterfly house to hummingbirds around the feeders to native orchids to captive ocelots in a nice setting to a series of fantastic waterfalls. We also enjoy a nice buffet lunch at La Paz. We return to our hotel in the late afternoon for final packing and our farewell dinner.
all meals included
June 22, Airport
Private transfer to the airport for your flight home.
breakfast included
END OF SERVICES
THIS ITINERARY INCLUDES
Lodging as specified
Meals as specified
Private transfers to and from hotels on first and last days
Professional driver and private transportation in spacious tour bus
Three professional photo guides
Professional bilingual photo/nature/culture guide
Photo guide educational presentations and assistance in the field
Multiple-flash setups for hummingbird photography
Photo guide assistance with caption and ID info for your images
Entrance fees for all described activities
Taxes on all services listed above
THE ITINERARY ABOVE DOES NOT INCLUDE
Airfare
Airport departure tax (US $28)
Alcoholic drinks
Gratuities
Non-meal time snacks
Non-meal time soft drinks and bottled water
Single room supplement of $598.00
Your Tour Leaders
Greg Basco is a resident Costa Rican professional photographer and environmentalist who enjoys a working relationship with Canon. He is a BBC/Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Nature's Best Windland Smith Rice prizewinner, and his photos have been published by National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, Newsweek, and other magazines and have been used in many books, public exhibits, calendars, and other projects. Greg's latest work in progress is a coffee table book of artistic photos from the rainforest.
In addition to his own photography, Greg truly enjoys working with tour clients to help them improve their photography and capture great photos of their own in the challenging habitats of Costa Rica. Indeed, he liked it so much that a few years ago he founded Foto Verde Tours, Costa Rica's first and only travel company specializing in photographic tourism.
You can see more of Greg's photography here.
Jon Fuller is the owner of Moab Photo Tours, LLC in Moab, Utah. He is a working free-lance stock photographer and has been represented by stock photo agencies in London, Tokyo, and the U.S. He is also a member of the North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA). His first published photo was a two-page spread in National Geographic Magazine in January 1983. He has since been published in hundreds of publications worldwide, from the Singapore Times and Ranger Rick Magazine to Geomundo and the Insight Guide Books. He was featured in the Showcase section of the May 2008 issue of Outdoor Photographer magazine. His work also appears in the Ancient Images Greeting Card line. Jon lived overseas for nine years, traveling extensively internationally and has photographed in more than forty countries.
He has planned and guided small private photographic tours to England & Scotland, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand, and multi-day photo workshops in Costa Rica as well as the Moab area. Most of the year he guides private photography tours in the Moab, Utah area.
Jon was also a founding partner in the Moab Paper Company and a member of the board of directors of Moab Paper until its sale to Legion Paper. He has a great sense of humor, loves meeting people, and works hard to ensure that you have an enjoyable and safe experience with Moab Photo Tours, while working to help you get the 'shot of a lifetime.' He loves to share his knowledge of photography with anyone who will listen!
You can see more of Jon's work here.
Tom Till Tom Till is one of America's most published photographers. Over 150,000 of his images have appeared in print since 1977. In 1998, Till opened the Tom Till Gallery in Moab, Utah. Till's images depict landscape, nature, history, and travel subjects worldwide, including all fifty states and nearly sixty countries overseas.
Till's stock photography images have been featured by National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, Outside Magazine, Canon Copiers, Delta Airlines, The New Yorker Magazine, Life Magazine, Browntrout Calendars, Eastman Kodak, Reader's Digest, Rand McNally, MGM, Arizona Highways, Lonely Planet, and thousands of others. An exhibit of his images of UNESCO World Heritage Sites has been traveling the world for almost three years, with stops in Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, Geneva and Oslo, among others.
Though Till has been known as a master of the large format (4x5) camera and film for over 30 years, he has switched to 35mm digital Canon equipment. Recent trips have taken him to South Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Denmark, Sweden, Slovenia, Costa Rica and numerous sites in the United States. A 35-year resident of Moab, Utah, Till has one of the largest photo libraries in existence of the Four Corners region.
Profiles about Till have appeared in Backpacker Magazine, Outdoor Photographer Magazine, Camera & Darkroom Magazine, and many other publications. Also numerous conservation and environmental groups have used Till's photos to galvanize support and illustrate their publications. Till was awarded Arizona Highways Photographer of the Year in 1996, the NANPA/Guilfoyle award for landscape photography in 1994, and was named one of the ten best landscape photographers by Nature's Best Magazine. Till received a special award from The Nature Conservancy in 1998. In 2006, Till was awarded the prestigious NANPA Fellow Award for 20 years of excellence in nature photography. Till is one of only a few landscape photographers to receive the honor, and the only Utahn. Till was also featured in the book "World's Best Photographers: Landscape." Also in 2006, Till was inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Featured in the book World's Best Landscape Photographers: Landscape, Till is also the sole photographer for over 30 other books. Tom does only a very limited number of workshops per year, and Moab Photo Tours is very fortunate to have him participate with us so you can take advantage of his vast knowledge of both the art and the business of photography.