Bored with the same old photography rut and longing for an adventure that will actually level up your skills? Pat Miller sits down with expert guide Angie Birmingham to reveal exactly how immersive “photography adventures” are helping hobbyists and pros alike capture their best shots—in wild, awe-inspiring locations.

Episode Highlights 🎤💡:

(05:36) - Benefits of Traveling with Photographers

(07:11) - Top Wildlife Photography Destinations

(17:49) - Camera Gear Packing Hacks

Connect with Pat Miller ⬇

LinkedIn | Website

Connect with Angie Birmingham ⬇

LinkedIn | Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

I'm Pat Miller and this is The Professional Photographer Podcast. You love taking pictures and you love traveling. What if you traveled just to take pictures? A photography adventure. Head out with your gear into the most beautiful settings on the planet and take photos of polar bears, or moose or birds or alligators or whatever it is. It's a photography adventure and our guest today coordinates them. Angie Birmingham of Jeff and Angie Photography. They take photographers all around the world for a living. What does it take to go on one of these trips? What should I pack? Give me some of those expert travel hacks. How do I protect my camera? How do I make my photos look better? And what's the benefit for me if I decide to go on one of these trips? Angie tells all photography adventures. We're going to lay it all out with Angie next. Angie, welcome to the show. How are you today?

Good, how are you?

I'm great. I'm excited to have this conversation. We get show and tell today. We have props on the show. This is going to be, this is going to be a lot of fun. But if someone hasn't had the chance to meet you yet, Tim, who you are and what you do.

I'm Angie Birmingham and I'm the Angie in Jeff and Angie Photography and we run photography workshops. And what sets us a little bit apart from everybody else is that we give you pre workshop classes to make sure you're ready for your adventure.

And taking people on an adventure. What a cool business model. How did this come about? Tell us about how you formed this business.

So there's a lot of trial and error for sure. I started off before COVID doing the workshops and of course then that kind of got nipped in the bud real quick and then so I figured that, you know, after about, I think 2023, I kind of kicked it back up when people started going out and doing their thing and started off with just Caddo Lake and just kind of started with doing casual workshops and just eventually created our profile now where we, we have a camera gear to lend to people if they don't have the gear. And if you just need a lens, a long lens, we have that. As long as you shoot Canon. We have gear which most people shoot Canon.

Smart, right? Yeah, all the smart ones.

Well, I shoot Sony, so I have a, I have a coup Sony lenses I can loan out as well. But and then we also have learned that, you know, people show up to their adventure, their photography workshop, and they don't even know how to use their camera. Some of them, I mean, of course, the PPA people, you know, they. They know how to use their cameras, but people that are not out, that are outside of that, they. They show up and they're like, ah, what do I do? They haven't even set up their cameras to even take a picture. So that's where we started the whole pre workshop classes through zoom. If they're, you know, far away, but if they're close, it's hands on.

Did people understand the concept of going on an adventure or a tour? The very first time you did it, was it an easy sell or did people get it right away?

It was a pretty easy sell, yeah. The first, my first workshop was filled with a bunch of my photographer friends that came along for the ride, and I. I think they all had a bunch of fun because they came back again and again and again.

Sure. So who's the right person to go on a tour? Like, who are the people that are thinking, wow, this sounds like the thing that I need right now. Who's the right person?

The right person to go on a photography workshop is somebody who might want to sharpen their skills or if they're wanting to just go on a vacation with their camera. Because photography vacations and family vacations don't go well together. Because most people that are not photographers don't get sitting and waiting for the light.

That is. I'm laughing. My wife is a photographer, and I feel like when we're on vacation, it's like walking the dog. Like when you walk the dog and the dog will walk 25 feet and then stop and do whatever the dog does. That's what it feels like. We'll be on Disney World or going through Spain or something. A whole on, I got to get a picture of this. And you stand around for a minute and she takes a bunch of pictures, and that's just kind of how it goes. She sees something and she wants to capture it.

Exactly, exactly. And if you're with a group of photographers, then everybody's like, ooh, look, we got to get a picture of that. Or wait, that bird might do something. Or wait, that moose might do something. You know, it's just, you know, when you're with photographers, they all get it. So that's the advantage. And then you also don't have to worry about finding the location, knowing where to go, knowing how to get there, booking a shuttle, all that, because we take care of it from the minute you land to the minute you depart is all taken care of.

Do people bond on the adventures? Do they show up by themselves and then leave with a group of people that they want to take pictures with more often.

Yeah, they - I find that the people continue to communicate. You know, all. All of the people that went on this last tour with us, they're all Facebook friends, and they're all texting back and forth now, and, you know, they're, and even guests that come on trips are now coming to South Texas to come hang out and shoot birds with me during the height of the bird season.

Fun - I know you were kind of teasing around about the workshops that you do in advance. People that really don't know all the options and all of the features of their cameras. But when you go out in the field, especially if you're shooting wildlife, you really have to know that stuff in order to capture the shots. So they improve their ability to use their gear when they're with you.

Yes, they do. We had one of the gals that was on us last trip, she said that she went from being so-so photographer to actually knowing how to use her camera and getting images that. That she's proud of now. Before, she was just clicking, she didn't know why she was getting what she was getting, and now she understands it. So that was a, that was a nice win - Win for us. Because when. When they go, oh, I get it. That's when I. That's what I enjoy the most, is when that little light goes on, for sure.

And the tours that you go on, the adventures, you said your first one was at Caddo Lake. And did you say that was Uncertain, Texas? Did you tell me that was the name of the town? Uncertain, Texas.

Uncertain, Texas. Everything there is uncertain. Let me tell you. Right down to the restaurants. I have a. I have my workshops catered for for dinner and lunch, because there's no guarantee we're gonna have a place to go eat dinner. And the place that is always open is a bar, and they allow smoking. And I– most of the people I go with, they're like, nope, I'm out.

Yeah, not for me. But it's expanded to a bunch of other destinations. Where have you taken. Where are you regularly taking people? Tell us about the adventures.

So we have recently acquired our license to operate in Grand Teton and Yellowstone, and Jeff and I have been going there since 2008 at least three times a year, so we know where the wildlife is. I've got the landscape spots, and we basically put everybody in a van and we drive them around either in a shuttle service or a van, depending on the time of the year. That we rent. And the reason being is because parking is so limited when you come up onto a bear or a moose or whatever. And it's better to have all six of the people in one vehicle than six other cars behind us.

Yeah, for sure. Give us a crash course on you roll up on a bear or you roll up on a moose. What do you tell people when it comes to capturing a great wildlife image? Can you give us just a quick piece of education on how to do it?

Well, so I would tell them, number one, be cautious of the animal, pay attention to the animal, pay attention to your surroundings because there's other animals around. And if you're too focused on the viewfinder, something can sneak up behind you. I know that from experience. And also you're going to want to get low, get down low to the perspective of the animal. The reason being is everybody sees an animal when you're standing and looking down on it. But a photograph, when you photograph it from down low, you give the animal more power, more majestic. It just makes it much more dominant. In your photo,

you were saying that you've scouted out Grand Teton and the Yellowstone areas. Was that fun to look and see? I want to take people here, I want to take people there. And what makes a good spot to take them, that's just where the animals cross or it's the background scenery. How do you pick those locations?

It's the. Where the animals typically hang out. And then also background is part of that. But I have, in the Grand Teton National Park, I probably have over 100 different landscape spots for landscape photography. And in the fall, the flower, or not the flowers, the trees are just off the chart. I mean, it's yellows and golds everywhere. And then you get those big majestic mountains in the background. And when the time of year we go, it's also a possibility that you're going to get a snow. So then you kind of get a clash of the two seasons. You get the fall and the wall and the snow, which is amazing when it happens.

And it's a workshop. So you'll take a bunch of pictures, but there is some touring. You're going to go around and do some sightseeing. It's not just taking pictures the whole time.

Yeah, yeah. So we focus on pictures in the morning and in the evening we will. If we roll up on a bear or a moose or something. Midday, we. We might get out and attempt to take the photos if everybody wants to, but sometimes the heat waves are just out of control. So you're you end up with soft images. But during the day we can, if the group wants to go whitewater rafting or go for a hike or whatever, we can, we can plan whatever they want to do. And that's kind of part of the, the pre zoom meeting is that to kind of get an idea of what people want to do midday. We can even set them up with a fishing guide. So they want to do some of that midday.

I would imagine that they'll start talking shop too. Do Mastermind style breakouts happen between the photographers while they're out there doing doing their photos?

Oh, definitely. Yeah, definitely. And a lot of people, they'll also just opt to just go back to the lodge and possibly do some editing classes, kind of talk through edits and stuff. And even though you have experience in editing, somebody else might have an easier way of doing what takes you five steps. Somebody else might say, oh, well, I know how to do that in two steps. And then, you know, we just kind of, we just kind of brainstorm and share editing, which is actually a lot of fun. We did that at the last Caddo Lake workshop and it worked out really well. People share the programs that they use because not everybody uses the Adobe Lightroom. There's so many different programs out there.

Yeah.

And then also everybody that goes on a tour with us, they get a lifetime license to Luminar Nino program. And then I also teach them how to use that program. And they'll get one class with the head of educator, which is for Luminar. And he comes in on the zoom and he tells every. He shows people how to organize their photos within Luminar. So basically you're going from chaos to travel photos.

Wow, what an awesome value. I've heard you say you like to take pictures of birds and if you can photograph a bird, you can photograph anything. Why is that?

Because those little suckers are fast. I was just out yesterday photographing. Today was the first day of spring migration and I have, I went home with 13,000 images and I have 300 keepers because I have empty branches. I got a bunch of bird butts, a bunch of side angles, you know, stuff that just is not good images. So when you're doing bird photography, you're taking a lot of images

and you have to be kind of quick draw. Right. You have to learn not only how to use your camera, but how to manipulate it quickly. What are you switching up and why is speed so quick? Just because they're so fast.

Yeah. Your little birds. I mean, it's really important to shoot them at a high shutter speed, which equals a high ISO. So it's very important to keep your images on the bright side because if you expose too dark, then you're going to get a lot of that color noise, the digital noise in there that softens your images. So it's really important. And that's kind of what I stress in my bird photography workshops, is to shoot to the bright side.

And you were sharing something last time we chatted about the right wing, watching the right wing extension. Is this a pro tip about how to catch a bird before it takes off or something?

So there's a few kind of tips for birds when they're fixing to take off. One of is their wings kind of, they start getting real fidgety and also a lot of times they will poop. They lighten their load before they fly. But a lot of times you'll see them, they start fidgeting back and forth. Their wings start going and they're kind of squatting down and just getting real fidgety. And that's when you got a whole. The hold the camera on them. And you got to be quick. You got to be quick. But nowadays the cameras have that pre capture on it. And if you have pre capture, when you come to a bird photography workshop, you, you need to know how to turn that feature on because it really helps.

Yeah, it comes naturally think to have the light behind us. But you also talk about having the wind at our back. Why is that important?

Because the birds take off and land into the wind. So if you, if you know where the wind is, you've already predicted their flight pattern and you're ahead of the whole game.

Got it, got it. So photographer, but also coordinating logistics for all of these adventures. What is that like for you? Do you, do you enjoy all of this coordination and the logistics that go along with taking people on these adventures?

Oh, yeah, I love it. I love it. And a few of my friends have said, wow, you're really good at this. I said, well, I really enjoy it. Like, let's see. We are planning a trip to British Columbia to go and photograph eagles. It's going to be the, it's the largest congregation of bald eagles in the world. And we're going to go try it out and see how, how amazing it is. But we're also going to do sea life and bears and everything is from a boat.

That's amazing.

Oh, yeah, it's going to be, I think it's going to be amazing. The friends that I have going with me they're like, I can't believe you found this place and booked all this. The lodge is incredible. And I was like, yep, I hope it all turns out y' all are my guinea pigs.

Oh, that sounds great. Traveling as much as you do, especially with gear, I would imagine you've become an expert packer. You know how to take things with you and how to get from point A to point B without taking too many things. You got any packing pro tips that you can share with us?

Oh, yes. My number one tip to everybody is to purchase a depending on how much gear you have is to purchase a f-stop. They call them ICUs. And inside here it opens up and it's got all the Velcro enclosures so you can modify it to your camera gear. And then I take that bag and you can put it inside of the camera bag you already have or buy a regular hard sided suitcase. And I've just removed the insides and my f-stop bag fits inside there. And the reason I do this is because sometimes you will get to the plane and they're going to tell you, well, all the overhead storage is full. That hard case is not going to sit in there, fit in the overhead. So I pull that f-stop bag out and I hand them the shell. And then that bag will fit underneath the seat in front of me or nicely in the overhead. It's real skinny.

Sure.

And then this is my, my personal carry on bag. This is a new addition. This bag here. I just love this bag. It holds lenses and it's separated compartments and it's padded. Yeah. So I'm able to put quite a few lenses and cameras in here along with my other bag. So I now am able to take quite a bit of gear with me.

Would you mind holding that bag up again? Just, I noticed that all of the zippers are those all separate compartments where lenses and gear can go.

Yeah. And inside each one of the compartments they have little storage compartments and then they also have another zipper pocket.

Wow.

All for storage. And then it also. It's got a drink holder on it too.

It's thirsty out there, but it will.

It also holds a laptop. Oh. Or iPad. And it can be a backpack or just a regular folding bag. And it's also got the other strap for shoulder bag. And what else? Oh, and then it's also got the little slip for slipping it over your roller bag. So it all fits on top of the roller bag. It's the best bag ever.

Hashtag.

Because all the, all the little compartments are all their own colors. So I know that, you know, the orange one has my cables in it and my chargers and all that stuff. And then I know that the other ones have lenses. And it. It's. Matter of fact, my last trip on Southwest, I was voted the best bag ever by the stewardess.

Oh, that must have been fun. Okay, so we have all of our gear, and we've got amazing bags which are fun to buy, and you got to have them to take care of your stuff. But there is just being out in nature. Do you have any tips about staying comfortable when you're sitting out in a field for hours on end to capture that perfect shot?

So if you're going to be sitting for a while waiting on something, I would recommend a tripod to hold your lens and maybe a chair to sit in. I have these little low rider chairs. They're about that high off the ground, and it makes all the difference in the world versus just sitting on the ground.

Yeah. Yeah, I bet.

Yep. And then I also have a monopod. And all of our. All of our tripods, gimbal heads, and ball heads are all Pro Media Gear, which is one of our sponsors. And this gear is. It's phenomenal. Once you buy it, that's it. You don't need. Don't. You won't never need to buy another one. I've had my tripod for probably 12 years now, and the owner of Pro Media, Gary, keeps telling you need a new tripod.

You need.

It's got new designs. And I was like, no, this is like, a testament to how long it lasts.

Yeah.

Plus I have all of my hiking medallions of all the different parks I've been to on all the legs. So mine kind of stands out from everybody else's tripod.

What about water? You're in boats. It may rain. How do you keep your stuff dry when you're out in the field?

Dry bags, they are. They're called dry bags. And you put your gear down inside of it, which. That f-stop bag comes in handy as well, because they usually fit down inside of them. Then you roll it closed, and then you snap it closed, and it's watertight. And if you leave air in there, it will actually float.

Oh, I never thought about that. Because if you're in boats as often as you are, it better float.

Yes. Yep. And then you can also get, you know, rain gear, of course, for yourself, but they also sell rain gear for your camera gear so that your camera gear has a raincoat on as well, which, whether it's raining or you're out and blowing snow or just, you know, just inclement humid. Sometimes it's best just to have that on because especially if you have a zoom lens, because otherwise it gets all up inside your lens, sand and all that.

Let's talk about the highlights. Just which adventure has been your favorite? Can you think of a favorite moment or a favorite adventure that you've gone out on? That, that was the one that I've enjoyed the most so far.

Probably my trip to the polar bear. Polar bears in Svalbard, I guess Norway, because the island of Svalbard is actually a island where anybody and everybody can live there without a visa. It's. It's a. I don't know what exactly they call it, but as long as you have a job, you can stay there. But that was a lot of fun. We spent eight days on a boat, and then when we see polar bears, we get off on the little Zodiac boats and then go and go up. Not real close to them, of course, but close enough to where we can photograph them while they're on the land and we're in the water. And we got walruses, lots of birds, Lots and lots of birds. They actually, on that island, they don't allow people to own cats, house cats, because of the birds. It's a big migration corridor, and they found that house cats kill too many birds, and they're too worried about that. So there's only one cat on the island, and they say he identifies as a fox.

Smart cat.

Yeah, very smart.

With a lifetime of taking these photos, capturing all this wildlife, traveling all over, how do you display your work? How do you reflect on the pictures you've taken? Are you making prints? Do you do slideshows? How do you personally enjoy all the pictures you've taken?

So we do print. We've printed a few. There's a few back there. You can't really see most of them. They're over here and then going up the stairs and then in the spare bedrooms. But I've shared them at local art galleries and of course, our website. We got a lot of images on our website and we have a link to a store where people can purchase them. You can even buy jigsaw puzzle, which is kind of cool.

That is cool.

Yeah, I've sold a lot of jigsaw puzzles.

Oh, that's a great way to do it. Okay, that was my next question. If someone wants to follow along and learn more from you, maybe go on one of your adventures, give us the website. And how do we learn more.

It's jeffandangiephotography.com go check us out. I'm actually working on a complete revamp of the website, which should be done probably by the end of the month. It's a lot of work, but I think it's going to be a beautiful project. It's going to be gorgeous when it's done.

Well, we'll go there to see the photos, maybe pick up a jigsaw puzzle. Angie, thanks for coming on the show. I really appreciate it.

Well, thank you. Hope you have a great day.

That was easy. That was so easy. Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of The Professional Photographer Podcast. Make sure now make sure to click like and subscribe on this episode. One will help us with the algorithm and two, we'll bring our next episode right to your feed. As a bonus, if you could leave us a comment as well, tell us, what did Angie say? It either taught you something or got you thinking. Either way, it helps us build better episodes in the future. The other thing is, if you're not yet a member of Professional Photographers of America, well, you're missing out. PPA offers incredible resources like equipment insurance, top notch education and a supportive community of photographers ready to help you succeed. It's perfect for photographers who are serious about growing their business and in a sustainable and profitable way. At PPA, you belong here. Discover more about membership at PPA. That's ppa.com. I'm Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community and your host to the show. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you right here next time. Take care.