Photography country tour in China
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Our small office is, apart from accounting requirements, paperless. We deal with customers electronically and do not print brochures to distribute. By remaining only as an online presence we reduce the wastage associated with producing annual brochures.
Community
This tour is an opportunity to learn not only better photography techniques but also how to be a responsible photographer when travelling. Great emphasis is given at the start of the tour about always asking permission before taking photos, respecting those that do not wish to be photographed, and not paying people to have their pictures taken.
The local people that give their time and permission to be photographed rarely receive anything much in return. We encourage all our clients to send us pictures that they have taken so that we can give these back to the locals when we next pass through. On all our tours we return many photos throughout the country.
In Ping’an at the Longji Rice Terraces we stay in the locally owned Lequn Guesthouse. This guesthouse is owned by Yibeng and Qing, local Zhuang people. Ping’an has seen a rapid increase in tourism and there are now many guesthouses owned by non-locals. We choose to stay with local hosts who are from the village rather than some of their imported competition. In Ping’an our entrance fees go towards improvements within the village infrastructure. We use local transport around the Guilin area which we rent from a local company.
Our group size is kept to a maximum of 8 clients. This is a reflection our desire to not be too over powering in our impact on a destination and our understanding that a group of photographers can be somewhat invasive in large numbers. We only run this tour a few times a year and have no desire to bring weekly groups through these regions.
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