Angkor Wat, Cambodia: Personal Photo Tours for Nikon Digital SLR Photographers

For small groups ranging from 1 to 5 tour participants. It’s your party, whether you are alone or bring four of your best friends, the tour fee stays the same.

We specialize in personal photo tours and on location workshops in South East Asia. You let us know what you are looking to do and we will set up the trip for you. We are based out of Thailand & Cambodia, so we are always available to conduct these personal photo tours, and unless we are already booked, can be hired on very short notice.

If you wish to visit Angkor we would like to suggest scheduling a four day (or longer) stay in Siem Reap. The Angkor area is much larger and the temples more spread out than it appears when looking at the maps, ideally you want to spend at least three days exploring and photographing the temples.

When contacting us about a Personal Photo Tour please provide the following information.

1. For how many days would you like to hire our services? (minimum one full day)
You do not have to hire us for the full time that you are in Siem Reap, we don’t mind if you do but it is not required. Sorry no half day personal photo tours.

2. On what date would you like to start your personal photo tour?
Because George Mann is an essential component of our tours we can not schedule two tours on the same day. So please book as far in advance as possible.

3. How many people are in your party and which hotel are you staying at?
Our personal photo tours are designed to accomodate from 1 to 5 persons, photographers need space for their equipment. If you have a larger group we will have to negotiate another price as we will have to hire additional vehicles.

4. Do you have a trip itinerary in mind or would you like us to suggest one?
If you have never been to the Angkor Temples site before, it is pretty much a given that you will want to photograph, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Bayon (main temple in Angkor Thom), and Ta Phrom (trees growing over and out of temple walls) first. A second day would be a boat trip through the Tonle Sap Lake floating village and a walk through a remote fishing village with all their houses on stilts (plenty of close-up people photo opportunities).

Please email George Mann for more information – george@dpmac.com

Angkor Personal Photo Tours:
With Personal Photo Tour Leader – George Mann

Tour Location & Tour Guide – This agreement applies to any Angkor temple and Tonle Sap locations within one day driving distance (round trip) of Siem Reap – air conditioned van and driver (unless we are on a boat), plus a government licensed tour guide for the Angkor temples and Tonle Sap Lake are part of the agreement.

Transportation – The air conditioned tour van will be equipped with plenty of cold drinks, sandwiches and snacks so that we do not go hungry or have to rely on available food in the countryside. Restaurants in the countryside and in most of the temple areas can be pretty basic.

Personal Tour Leader - George Mann will be accompanying you on all personal photo tours and provide a laptop computer for image downloads and reviews (using Adobe Lightroom) while on location in the temples and out in the country side. You can think of George as your photographer friend in Cambodia.

Photography – What type of camera equipment you bring is completely up to you. If you are highly skilled photographer or a beginning enthusiast is not of any importance. We will assist you in every way possible to get the images you are after. At the end of the day we will transfer your images to CD-ROM (no extra charge) and if you wish, discuss your images with you at your hotel before going out for another day of shooting.

Digital Workflow – George Mann is a recognized expert on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and writes an Inside Lightroom blog for O’Reilly Digital Media, he also produces the dpmac.com website and an eBook project on Lightroom. How much of your Personal Photo Tour is spent on digital workflow questions is up to you. If you would like to maximize your digital workflow experience on this tour, please bring your own laptop computer.

Website Trip Reports – We can help you produce daily web pages of your adventures while you are here, so you can invite your friends and family (by email) to see what you are up to. We can publish your trip reports on this website or your own website.

Fee for Siem Reap Personal Tour service – US$ 500 per day. (1 to 5 tour participants)
The fee includes George Mann’s personal services, the tour van and driver, and a government licensed tour guide, plus a large picnic basket filled with drinks and food.

Angkor Park Pass – The fee does not include the Angkor Archaeological Park Pass which is $20 per day or $40 for a three day pass, per person. The pass can not be purchased ahead of time, as you have to pose for a photograph at the time of purchase.

Length of Your Tour – 3 days are recommended to see most of the major Angkor sites and a 4th day for Tonle Sap. If you are really pressed for time and we have the days open, we will consider two day personal photo tours of the main temple sites.

We require a $500 deposit on booking (your tour dates) and 50% of the total fee within 30 days of your tour, the remainder to be paid at any time before the tour date.

Personal Photo Tour – booking deposit
US$ 500 – Deposit required to book your personal photo tour dates. This deposit is refundable (minus a $100 cancelation fee) if the tour is canceled more than 30 days before the tour date. Contact george@dpmac.com for more information.

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Personal Photo Tours in other locations:
Follow the instructions above but substitute another location and tell us where you would like to travel. If you are in need of my assistance in Bangkok. I have been based out of Bangkok for over 20 years and know the city like the back of my hand, I also probably know the rest of Thailand (and all the border areas) better than almost anyone. Please remember though that there will be additional charges if your tour requires traveling from one destination to another.

Our base fee for Personal Photo Tours only covers the ground transportation and local tour guide services in the Siem Reap and Angkor areas. There may be additional charges for transportation and tour guide services in other locations.

Our Photo Tour & Workshop Philosophy:

Over the last 30 years I have traveled throughout Asia as a photographer for commercial clients, book and magazine publishers, international aid organizations, and just plain for the enjoyment of it. You could say I am a very lucky man because my work and my play has always been one and the same. Whenever people ask me where I went on my last vacation, I always have to grin and say that I never take a vacation, I do not understand the concept.

The journeys I always enjoyed the most were those I took with a group of fellow photographers, exploring the roads that normal tourists and even most veteran travelers never venture down. A key ingredient being that you have to have control of your method of transport. Another key ingredient being that you have to allow for chance and opportunity to decide your final destination.

In practice this means that we travel by road in a mini-van or suv as much as possible, so that we can carry all our camera equipment and personal effects with us. It is also very difficult to tell an airplane, train or boat to park it for awhile, so we can take some pictures.

For much the same reason we also specialize in personal tours for individuals and small groups of friends. Our experience says that throwing a group of strangers together almost inevitably leads to disagreements about alternate shooting locations, choice of restaurants and hotels, and time tables, etc.. This also makes it easier for us to cater to clients with different economic realities.

Siem Reap, where the Angkor temples are located is in some ways an outcropping in the middle of the jungle, but it also has a fair number of five star hotels and restaurants. There is also a large selection of low to medium priced hotels, and guest houses ranging from a few dollars a night to luxurious (foreign managed) Bed & Breakfast type establishments.

This wide variety of accomodations and restaurants makes it very difficult to offer a single tour package that will satisfy everyone, so we would rather offer advice and connect you directly to the appropriate hotel properties. If you want us to take care of the entire package we can, but will require some guidelines so that we can make you as comfortable as possible.

Personally I like nothing better than sleeping on a smooth teak floor and scooping a few buckets of cold water over my head in the morning, but it takes some time to get used to that way of life. The last thing we want is a bunch of grumpy photographers on the way to a sunrise shoot location. So please be realistic about the level of comfort you require.

Location Scouting & Base Photo Assignment Fee – US$ 500. per day (plus travel expenses), anywhere in Asia, images and reports can be transmitted to the client at the end of each day. This service is available for film and video production companies, and corporate clients for annual reports, real estate ventures, acquisitions, mergers, golf tournaments, etc.