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As I said, no offense was intended. I was expressing my opinion with that qualifyer. Please show us your images from the tours you have been on and maybe I'll have a change of heart seeing the results from your tours. I, and I am sure others, would love to see them.
I can second this…Dennis is great.
Heck…as a male traveling alone I have some of the same concerns…and a solo woman is at even greater risk than I would be from sexual predators, bandits with weapons we would be similarly at risk. The purpose of a guide or workshop or whatever for me is they know where to go and how to find the critters in the local environment...for instance the common poo-too stick bird which the six people on our workshop would never have seen among the broken branches. And while I’m retired so time isn’t as big a deal…I still have far less local knowledge than they do. Just like folks here coming to FL for birds…living here I am a lot better equipped to recommend specific places based on what a person wants to see or can do physically and I’ve advised a decent number of folks who were planning trips.
I have gone on many guided tours around the world. A local guide helps one see things in the short amount of time I am visiting a particular location. Plus in a poor country one is supporting a local guide who often has no other way to make the same amount of funds. I can tell you of many excellent local guides (who often are great photographers) but since they are out all the time in a particular area, can help you get photos that you wouldn't get without months of preparation. In my "neighborhood", I wouldn't use a local guide but on a trip, can't imagine not. But if you have the time and abilities to find things on your own, more power to you.
This was mid-December 2023. We had a very mild winter last year without much snow. Very unusual.
Obviously you have not gone on a trip with photography tour guides and no one will fault you for that or say anywhere you go is like going to a zoo since you've mapped it out already, as if that makes a difference: I really don't think the animals care how we get somewhere. However someone chooses to travel should not be frowned upon as we are all different in our approach. As a rational individual I see no difference in who maps the trip or who drives on the trip as far as getting the shot. On no trip has an animal ever been simply waiting for me, waving it's furry little paw, and saying "so and so" said you'd be here to take a photograph of me...I'm here! I could only wish for that. I do have the money to go with guides and because they have intimate knowledge of the places they go and when the animals are there I benefit from that experience with them. I also don't have to spend hours of my time at home searching the internet for specifics on each animal I want to photograph and trying to figure out where they will be and when they will be there. Sometimes I do go to places that I know about without guides, the Central Valley wildlife refuges and Bosque del Apache, to name a couple because I'm familiar with those places and don't need anyone to educate me on the specifics of the place. It is a "satisfying scenario" to me to have all of the mundane details worked out so that I can simply focus on getting the shot. My journey is still rewarding and it is definitely less burdensome and less filled with the minutia of what boat goes where, where do the polar bears hang out, when do the puffins go to a certain place to nest, when do the foxes have babies, and on and on. Just because you don't use a guide does not mean that what you do is better nor does it mean you will get better shots, in most cases the end result is opposite.
Bingo!! I to live in SW Ohio and have the same idea as you. We have a bobcat living in the valley across the street from my house and hunting in the land next to me. I've seen his prints and heard him but have never seen him. I also shoot the owls during the fledgling season. Eagles are definitely here feeding in the large lake behind my house and have seen a couple osprey doing this also. Lots of hummingbirds and swallows. Swallows are tuff to get in-flight. And don't forget the wild turkeys.
I live in Northern Kentucky about 12 miles south of the Ohio River. Not a “grand landscape” area but plenty of wildlife and intimate landscapes. Love the hills and creeks in our region.
