Oregon Photo Safaris: Photography Training Oregon Geotourism
Oregon Photo Safaris teaches the art of photography to travelers from all over the world and helps them experience the culture, history, character, aesthetics and ecology of Oregon as no other tour can, while preserving the beauty and majesty of Oregon for years to come!
OPS offers Photography Training, All-inclusive Geotours: culture, history, character, aesthetics and ecology of Oregon while giving back a portion of workshop and safari fees to the Oregon State Parks, supporting Oregon's economy and cultural heritage through Geotourism, and providing amazing images, wonderful stories, and rich full experiences to take home.
The tours are planned to take advantage of state, ...
About You
Contact Information
Title
Mr.
First name
Dwon
Last name
Guvenir
Your job title
Owner / Photography Guide & Instructor
Name of your organization
Oregon Photo Safaris
Organization type
Guvenir Enterprises, Inc. S-Corp (Oregon, USA)
Annual budget/currency
$30,000
Mailing address
1478 Buck St.
Telephone number
West LInn
Postal/Zip Code
97068
Country
United States
Email address
Alternative email address
Your idea
This will be the address used to plot your entry on the map.
Street Address
1478 Buck St.
City
West Linn
State/Province
Oregon
Postal/Zip Code
97068
Country
United States
Geotourism Challenge Addressed by Entrant
Quality of tourist experience and educational benefit to tourists , Quality of benefit to residents for the destination , Quality of tourism management by destination leadership , Quality of stewardship of the destination.
Organization size
Small (1 to 100 employees)
Indicate sector in which you principally work
Tourism-related business
Year innovation began
2006
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Indicate sector in which you principally work
History, Living culture, Nature, Destination aesthetics, Indigenous people, Adventure, Education, General tourism, General destination stewardship/management, Other.
Name Your Project
Oregon Photo Safaris: Photography Training Oregon Geotourism
Describe Your Idea
Oregon Photo Safaris teaches the art of photography to travelers from all over the world and helps them experience the culture, history, character, aesthetics and ecology of Oregon as no other tour can, while preserving the beauty and majesty of Oregon for years to come!
OPS offers Photography Training, All-inclusive Geotours: culture, history, character, aesthetics and ecology of Oregon while giving back a portion of workshop and safari fees to the Oregon State Parks, supporting Oregon's economy and cultural heritage through Geotourism, and providing amazing images, wonderful stories, and rich full experiences to take home.
The tours are planned to take advantage of state, ...
Innovation
What is the goal of your innovation? Please describe in one sentence the kind of impact, change, or reform your approach is intended to achieve.
Teach the art of photography and the culture, history, character, aesthetics and ecology of Oregon, incorporating state and regional tourism programs, while giving back to Oregon's state parks.
Please write an overview of your project. Include how your approach supports or embodies geotourism or destination stewardship. This text will appear when people scroll over the icon for your entry on the map located on the competition homepage.
Oregon Photo Safaris teaches the art of photography to travelers from all over the world and helps them experience the culture, history, character, aesthetics and ecology of Oregon as no other tour can, while preserving the beauty and majesty of Oregon for years to come!
OPS offers Photography Training, All-inclusive Geotours: culture, history, character, aesthetics and ecology of Oregon while giving back a portion of workshop and safari fees to the Oregon State Parks, supporting Oregon's economy and cultural heritage through Geotourism, and providing amazing images, wonderful stories, and rich full experiences to take home.
The tours are planned to take advantage of state, regional, and local tourism programs to enhance their agendas. They are also coordinated with local civic members such as city councils wherever possible to maximize revenue possibilities for the smaller cities visited. Best of all, tours take advantage of mom and pop shops, restaurants, and hotels.
Explain in detail why your approach is innovative
We are educators. We teach Photography. We teach the culture, history, character, aesthetics and ecology of Oregon. We teach the programs of Oregon's travel bureaus to help incorporate their agenda into all our tours if possible. We make sure our travelers meet the people who live here in Oregon while we're on our tours.
Our tours are NOT what we call, "Drive, Drop, and Pick You Up Later" tours. Too many of our travelers recount other photo safaris and tours that are impersonal bus tours, or "tips and tricks" workshops. Founder Dwon Guvenir works hard to make Oregon Photo Safaris different from other photo workshops, safaris, and tours.
Our classes and workshops are skillfully crafted using Dwon Güvenir's "Tao of Photography" to teach photographers of ALL levels the skills necessary to master the art of their photography and the ability to capture any image in any condition with any camera. This isn't one of those workshops that just covers one specific model of camera's settings that doesn't do you any good out in the real world. You'll learn photography: any camera, any shooting condition!
Several of our students have moved on to become successful professional photographers. All of our travelers go on to become spokespeople for the beauty and majesty of Oregon. Encouraging their friends and family to visit our great state.
Owner Dwon Guvenir wants to bring the romanticism of travel photography to reality by teaching his travelers the history, culture, and ecology of the places visited and helping them interact with the people who live and work in Oregon. By getting to know the region's history, culture, ecology and people, travelers not only create amazing images, but go home with wonderful stories and a rich full experience that will keep them coming back for more.
Impact
Describe the degree of success you have had to date. How do you measure, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the impact on sustainability or enhancement of local culture, environment, heritage, or aesthetics? How has it transformed or contributed to the power of place or demonstrated the sustainability of tourism? How does your approach minimize negative impacts?
How do you measure education? We've educated hundreds of students over the years, teaching them not only photography but how to be stewards of our environment and economy. By explaining how to make our state more prosperous our students are able to go on and help in their own way.
In what ways are local residents actively involved in your work, including participation and community input? How has the community responded to or benefited from your approach?
"Ghost Towns of the Oregon Trail" is a great example of the way these tours are crafted. The tour starts and concludes at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City. This tour takes travelers out the Colombia Gorge along one leg of the Oregon Trail to the ghost town of Shaniko, stopping along the way to patronize local shops and restaurants along the way.
To help bring in more revenue to the town and to enhance the photographers' experience, Dwon works closely with the Mayor of Shaniko to ensure any tourism, historical, or cultural programs are included. Lodging is in Maupin where Dwon is working closely with members of the City Council to ensure maximum revenue possibilities for Maupin while providing maximum historic and cultural interaction for the travelers.
The return trip back to Oregon City is routed through the Barlow Road Historic Oregon Trail route to include Mt. Hood Territory's Oregon Trail, Barlow Road program.
How does your program promote traveler enthusiasm, satisfaction, and engagement with the locale?
Owner Dwon Guvenir wants to bring the romanticism of travel photography to reality by teaching his travelers the history, culture, and ecology of the places visited and helping them interact with the people who live and work in Oregon. By getting to know the region's history, culture, ecology and people, travelers not only create amazing images, but go home with wonderful stories and a rich full experience that will keep them coming back for more.
Describe how your work helps travelers and local residents better understand the value of the area's cultural and natural heritage, and educates them on local environmental issues.
Photography tours are an excellent vehicle for teaching stewardship of our ecosystem. One of our main goals is to teach ecology, the impact we have on the environment. We don't do the run of the mill ecology talk, but actual impact analysis, talking about how we effect the world we're photographing. This includes discussing ways to get into and out of locations with as little carbon and erosion footprints as possible. Whenever possible we travel in appropriate vehicles to minimize our ecologic footprint.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative currently financed? If available, provide information on your finances and organization that could help others. Please list: Annual budget, annual revenue generated, size of part-time, full-time and volunteer staff.
We are a family owned S-Corporation funded through our classes, workshops, safaris, and name brand products we sell through our web site.
Is your initiative financially and organizationally sustainable? If not, what is required to make it so? Is there a potential demand for your innovation?
Since making the transition to all Oregon tours (bringing people into Oregon instead of taking people out) we've doubled our numbers each year. We are however unique in the fact that what keeps our numbers growing is the teaching method Dwon Guvenir employs to lead his educational programs. Students have dubbed it Dwon Guvenir's "Tao of Photography," an intuitive way to teach and learn photography.
What are the main barriers you encounter in managing, implementing, or replicating your innovation? What barriers keep your program from having greater impact?
Time is our main barrier and marketing dollars is our second. We have a great demand for what we do but at our current pricing. The demand is not great enough for us to raise our prices too dramatically so we're left with a minimal marketing budget.
What is your plan to expand or further develop your approach? Please indicate where/how you would like to grow or enhance your innovation, or have others do so.
In the next 5 years we can realistically see Oregon Photo Safari training center branches in all the four corners of the state. We've already had offers to franchise, but we're committed to strict educational standards so we haven't made that step yet.
In the next 10 years we plan on adding two Antilles G-21 Super Goose amphibious airplanes, to better cater to our client's needs. It will also generate interest in our mission when people see these beautiful old school aircraft in the waters and skies around Oregon, just as our lead Landcruiser has done.
The Story
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers' marketing material.
Photography Guide & Instructor Dwon Güvenir is an International Award Winning full time professional photographer who's work is currently in the PPA Loan Collection. He sat on the Board of Directors of PMPA for many years. His work has been in books, magazines, movie theaters, television, online, on busses, on cars, and trains.
His experience as a licensed guide brings travelers closer to Oregon than any other photography workshop or tour thus providing amazing images, wonderful stories, and rich full experiences to take home.
He's the real deal and he uses his experience to help you improve your skills, get the right gear, and save you money by steering you away from gear you don't need. Expensive gear doesn't make great images, knowledgeable photographers make great images.
What is the origin of your innovation? Tell the Changemakers and media communities what prompted you to start this initiative.
We teach photography in class rooms, weekend workshops and on photo safaris. It occurred to us early in 2008 that we could do all this while helping Oregon's tourism economy directly. Why were we taking people out of Oregon on fun exciting photo safaris when we could be bringing people into Oregon.
We partnered with Travel Oregon, Mt. Hood Territory, the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, Travel Portland, and several Oregon based businesses to help enhance what we have to offer our travelers. Now we incorporate as much of the travel bureaus' tourism programs as we can to help them get their message out to even more travelers.
We partnered with the Oregon State Parks Trust, the only statewide not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing Oregon’s state parks system. Their mission is to preserve and enhance Oregon’s outstanding natural, scenic, cultural, historic and recreational sites for the enjoyment of present and future generations.
We donate portions of student fees from our workshops and safaris directly back into the parks we visit. Oregon State Parks Trust helps us direct our money into specific projects in those parks that mean the most to our travelers. Our travelers feel a sense of pride and connection to Oregon while helping preserve the beauty and grander of Oregon for years to come.
We also check with the travel bureaus, local civic associations, and regional authorities to ensure we bring as much of our traveler's money into the region and direct it into local businesses.
Our philosophy is "why not." We teach photography. Why not incorporate everything we can to help Oregon's beauty and economy, and to help out all the local mom and pop shops along the routes of our tours. It's good for our travelers, Oregon's businesses, ecology and long term sustainability.
Describe some unique tourist experiences that your approach provides. Be specific; give illustrative examples.
"Ghost Towns of the Oregon Trail" is a great example of the way these tours are crafted. The tour starts and concludes at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City. This tour takes travelers out the Colombia Gorge along one leg of the Oregon Trail to the ghost town of Shaniko, stopping along the way to patronize local shops and restaurants along the way. The tour focuses on night time photography for several nights in Shaniko.
It takes place during Shaniko Days to help bring in more revenue to the town and to enhance the photographers' experience. Oregon Photo Safaris works closely with the Mayor of Shaniko to ensure revenue is maximized for the city and to ensure any tourism, historical, or cultural programs are included in the tour. Lodging accommodations are in Maupin where Dwon is working closely with members of the City Council to ensure maximum revenue possibilities for Maupin while providing maximum historic and cultural interaction for the travelers.
The return trip back to Oregon City is routed through the Barlow Road Historic Oregon Trail route to include Mt. Hood Territory's Oregon Trail, Barlow Road program. Then the tour is concluded at the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center where travelers are encouraged to buy lots of goodies and get on the visitors' center's email list. The "Ghost Towns of the Oregon Trail" tour is just one example of the wonderfully robust tours Oregon Photo Safaris offers travelers while maximizing as many of the local travel resources as possible.
What types of partnerships or professional development would be most beneficial in spreading your innovation?
We're partnered with Oregon's state, regional, and local tourism boards. Partnering with organizations eager to help promote geotourism (like National Geographic) would help spread the "geotourism bug" around the world. We're a great example of making it work. It's easy to incorporate geotourism into any business. We can help others see just how easy it is.
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