Photography Tour
Two short windows of light, three hours of track in between.
At a glance
- Duration
- 1–5 days
- Season
- April to November
- Region
- Vayots Dzor, Syunik, Aragatsotn
- Group
- 1–6
- Price
- on request
Every route is put together differently — we work out the price once you ask.
Fitness
Early starts, long drives and short approaches carrying gear; no particular fitness needed.
Why these months
From December to March we advise against it: the days are so short that there is no driving time left between the two usable light windows for a second location.
What to expect in Armenia
You plan this day backwards. First it is settled which subject gets which light at which hour, and from that follows when you get up and how long we drive. That order is what separates a photography tour from a trip with a camera.
Usable light turns up at two points in the day, and both are short: a good hour after sunrise and a scant one before sunset. In between the sun stands high, contrast tears apart and landscape looks flat. We use those midday hours for the drive to the next place, for monastery interiors, or for details that hard light does not hurt.
Overcast sky is the stroke of luck almost nobody plans for. The red cliffs in Vayots Dzor hold their detail under a closed cloud deck, while in sun they burn out at the top and block up at the bottom. So we rarely postpone for cloud and often for wind — wind makes long exposures impossible and carries dust into every open camera body.
Lenses get changed inside the vehicle, with the door shut. The dust of the Armenian highland is fine and dry, and it settles at the back of the body, on the sensor; you only see it at home, on every bright sky, as grey dots.
Looking through a viewfinder removes your peripheral vision. The most common accident in this category is the step backwards to fit more into the frame. So at every exposed position we say where the edge is, and we stand where it is not.
Nearly everybody brings a tripod and half of them leave it in the car. At two seconds of exposure inside a monastery it decides the picture, and in highland dusk just the same.
Driving time is the price of this tour. Between two worthwhile subjects in Syunik there are regularly three hours of track, and then you wait two more for the light.
Included
- 4x4 vehicle and driver
- A local guide who plans around the light
- Admission where it is charged
Not included
- Camera equipment
- Image editing
- Meals
Bring
- Tripod
- Spare batteries — cold halves their life
- Blower and cloth
- Head torch for the walk before sunrise
We provide
- First-aid kit
- Trekking poles on request
Safety and weather
When the weather doesn't cooperate
Bad weather is often the better weather for this tour. A closed cloud deck acts like a huge diffuser and rescues subjects that are unusable in full sun. Wind is what actually makes us reschedule: it ruins every long exposure and carries dust into every open camera body.
How we keep you safe
An eye in the viewfinder sees nothing beside it, and the step backwards at a drop is the accident that actually happens in this category. At every exposed position we mark the edge before the cameras come out of the bags, and in twilight we only work at places we walked in daylight. Tripods do not get left standing in the way on narrow ledges.
Sound like your kind of day?
Tell us what draws you — we'll build it into your trip or plan it on its own.