M&M Photo Tours:The Mike Gulbraa Interview

(Image: Dead Vlei Triplets Location: Africa) All images featured in this blog are courtesy of Mike Gulbraa and M&M Photo Tours. 

    In the following blog I interview M&M Photo Tours Inc. founder Mike Gulbraa. Mike has been shooting for 40 plus years and is a long time travel photographer who turned his love of travel photography into a thriving business. 

How did you start M&M Photo Tours? I have been an avid photographer for 40+ years and when I decided to end my “normal Joe” working career I decided to pair 2 things I love to do – travel and photography.  I have been to 162 countries in my lifetime and loved most of them and want to share that bug with folks.

Tell me a little bit what M&M Photo Tours is?  M&M is an all-inclusive photo tour company that specializes in getting people to the right place at the right time to capture iconic images.  We travel the world and work with some great guest pros.

What is the goal of M&M photo tours has it relates to your clients?  Simply put – help them enjoy travel photography while capturing awesome images and offering the amount of instruction and feedback a guest desires.

What do you personally enjoy shooting?  I love shooting everything – I do not specialize in anything but lean towards wildlife and candid’s of people doing natural things.

How long have you operated M&M Photo Tours?  We launched in January 2009.

Does M&M Photo Tours have any awards?  We have been nominated for a few but being young have not had the luck of winning anything yet.  We’ll keep working hard.

Who are your main tour sponsors? We have 20 awesome sponsors - Blackrapid, Lexar, Clik Elite, Tiffen, Adobe, Hunts Photo & Video, Benro/Induro (The MacGroup), Acratech, Columbia Sportswear, DxO, Kaenon, and many more.

Image: Happy Monkey Location: Africa

When a client books what should they expect?  They should expect clear communication, plenty of info about the trip, suggestions on gear/packing, and most importantly they should expect to shoot a lot of awesome images.

What does their booking include?  Our international trips are all-inclusive (RT economy air, all meals, all lodging, all ground transport, all entrance fees if any, cultural events, etc.) from our gateway city (varies by trip) – no hidden costs – show up and plan on shooting a lot without having to worry about getting around, where you’ll stay, what you’ll eat, etc.  We do not cover Visa/passport fees, some alcoholic drinks, laundry, phone costs, and other items of a personal nature.

Image: Giraffe Water Spout Location: Africa

What should one bring on a trip?  It really depends on the trip but 2 bodies (always need a back-up just in case) and 3-4 lenses with plenty of memory cards, laptop, external travel safe storage device, a small travel tripod, and an imagination and creativity to shoot, shoot, shoot.

Is there something you have not shot yet that you would love to shoot?  NCAA Final Four, Super Bowl, & The Dali Lama.

Who are your favorite photographers alive or dead, travel or otherwise?  I respect all photographers but do not pattern myself after anyone.  I am sure I have been influenced by many but have studied none.

What’s your favorite place you have been too?  Cambodia, Japan, Italy, Tanzania…there are really too many…

How do you pick the places M&M Tours visits?  We always ask our followers where they want to go next and we monitor what our competition is doing and what trips are filling.  The photo tour industry is rather small for all-inclusive folks so keeping the pulse of where folks are going is important.  And we go where we like to shoot because there are just so many cool places to shoot on this earth.

Image: Sossuvlie Dunes Location: Africa

Special Deal for my blog readers!!!

Scotland - $4,700/person (normally $6000) – 3 Seats available

Tuscany - $4,500/person (normally $6000) – 3 Seats available

Croatia & Slovenia - $5,500/person (normally $7000) – 3 seats available

For more information visit the links below:

2015 Workshops

2016 Workshops

Website 

twitter

Facebook