american photo safari

We booked a tour with Natasha and it did not disappoint. My wife is more familiar with photography than I am, but it didn't matter because we were able to get some great tips on how to use our cameras. We were even given a cheat sheet just in case we forgot. We walked throughout the French Quarter taking pictures at less "touisty" places and we really liked that. We ended up using the tips she taught us for the rest of the vacation while trying to take pictures in low light settings and on cloudy days. It was a real treat!

Sat morning during a bachelor trip weekend.....I knew the only way I would get up to shoot some would be to set up a tour like this. It was just me and Natasha and once we talked about what gear I brought (Medium Format TLR with Slide Film & and Digital Fuji Mirrorless) we were off. She was helpful and respectful and just energetic enough to keep me moving until the coffee kicked in. If you are more advanced and just looking for someone to bounce ideas off of and guide you through the district then go ahead and sign up.

Have attended about 6-8 photography workshops in the last two years, I learned more on composition in the American Photo Safari's three hour New Orleans French Quarter Tour then in the other workshops combined. I had a lot of fun seeing the French Quarter as an eye of a photographer. The textures, colors, and American-French style provides an unique photography perspective, in which I gained much appreciation with this tour. The bonus was it was only two of us on the tour, so a lot of personal feedback and attention. At the beginning of the tour everyone gets a photography card, which describes the various aspects and relationships (ISO, Aperture, Shutter speed, white balance, metering, etc.) to photography and what to think about when taking a photo. I think this very informative card is almost worth the price of the class.A few things to consider: - If you have flexibility on days, pick the street cleaning day in the tour area, so that you do not have do not have cars on the street. It gives you more options in photography. My tour was on Sunday morning, it was very quiet, but there was always a row of cars on one side of the street. - Do not worry about bringing a tripod, you will be moving around a lot. Handheld photography is fine.- I brought a various lenses, telephoto, wide angle, and my mid-range. I am glad I did, where I used more of my telephoto and mid-range lenses.

What an amazing morning. Like some other lucky people here I had some cancellations from my group so it ended up being a private tour. Natasha was so helpful, friendly, knowledgeable and still so passionate about photography despite surely doing a similar tour with many people, many times. She was patient with my inexperience but also didn't waste our time by going through the very basics of photography and DSLR technique that I already understood. I was also impressed that she didn't just stick to a route and you had to come along. I was interested in certain sights so she just changed where we were going to find more interesting things. She knows the city very well :)I loved everything about New Orleans but this was definitely one of the highlights. This tour makes you look at the world just a little differently and I would do it again and again if I were to return

This was an awesome experience. Chris was fantastic in every way possible. He took the time to teach us about the settings, what different things on our cameras meant and walked us through the French Quarter so we could we could try thing out in real time. He was patient, polite, knowledgeable about cameras and the French Quarter!After the class we took loads of pics and some worked great, some not so much but that's the beginning of a learning experience. Chris is available by e-mail if we have questions and its been great taking my camera off Auto/Simple mode and taking some great pics.100% recommend!

I was lucky enough to be on a French Quarter tour by myself with Natasha. Within minutes, I learned some valuable lessons about my camera. We discussed composition, lighting and white balance among other things. They are providing an excellent service. I hope to go on the Garden District tour in the near future. I love the pics I took and and proud to show them off. Most importantly, I know how to fix some problems I've been encountering for years which had to be edited afterward. I enjoyed this very much.

Very interesting, I learned a lot about my camera and hope to learn more as I go!! Loved the hands on training and his techniques of looking at things differently..

The tour was a great way to see the French Quarter through the camera lens rather than a beer can. We had a small group and the guide/instructor, Natasha, took her time to explain the basics of each person's camera and basic photo composition.

Natasha took us on a photo walk around the French Quarter of New Orleans. Firstly she established how much we already knew. She gave us an excellent photo information card and loads of tips on our cameras. She found interesting topics to shoot and told us what settings to use for different effects. I would recommend this tour to anyone wanting to learn more about taking good shots of New Orleans.

A fabulous morningIf you have three hours, and would like both a wonderful experience and memorable photos from your trip, you cannot make a better investment in time and money than APS’s French Quarter workshop. My wife and I were making our first visit to New Orleans. My wife signed up for the workshop as birthday present for me. I was excited, but apprehensive - like a lot of people, when I hear “three-hour tour,” I immediately think “Gilligan’s Island.”Not the case with APS’s French Quarter tour – we had an incredible time. The French Quarter was quiet and we had a gorgeous sunny day. Our guide was Natasha Sanchez. Natasha is a gifted photographer and teacher. She is knowledgeable, informative, personable, and very funny. You can check out her work at www.nattie-concepts.comOur photography skills on the other hand are mixed. My wife describes herself as a point and shoot photographer. I’m a moderately experienced photographer. Our experience levels were not a problem. Natasha covered the basics with my wife and had her shooting good pictures in no time. Five minutes with Natasha, and I remembered everything I had forgotten from a photography class I took nearly twenty years ago. Natasha led us through the Quarter and into places we would not have found on our own. Three hours flew by very quickly as we snapped away. I looked at the photo cards when we got home and, between us, we shot over 700 pictures. The morning was the highlight of my visit. We are thinking of returning next year for Halloween, and, honestly, both of us would do the workshop again.

I recently did two morning tours with Natasha in the Garden District and Chris in the French Quarter. Both days were highly enjoyable and productive. I am a skilled photographer in little need of instruction, but was unfamiliar with New Orleans locations for shooting and safety which is why I reserved the tours. I am very impressed by how adaptive both Natasha and Chris were to my needs and desires. They were generous to show me their favorite locales and experienced enough to converse on a higher level about all things photographic. They were each a pleasure to be with on a purely social level. While I have no doubt that beginner and intermediate photographers will have a great experience on these tours, I can attest from my experience that advanced photographers will also find much to love with American Photo Safari.

Our guide Natasha was a wealth of information on how to set up my camera for individual shots under differing lighting conditions. When I downloaded my photos later, I found that I needed much less time in Photoshop than I usual. Also, she pointed out interesting angles and locations that I never would have found on my own. She also included some history and other touristic info, though that was not the focus of this tour.

It was my good fortunate to be the only person in this workshop. My guide, Chris was very patient and kind. He answered all of my questions regarding the settings on my camera and about different techniques for picture composition. He had special areas mapped out to demonstrate the techniques he was teaching and pointed out several photo opportunities along the way. Chris also provided a little history of the area throughout the session. This workshop not only helped me to understand how to use my camera properly, but also helped me to capture what i was seeing. I would highly recommend this workshop to persons who want to learn more about their camera and photography.

I made a reservation with Chris for the tour because I wanted to learn how to take better pictures. What I got was so much more. Not only answered Chris all my questions why the photos I took till then were sometimes a real disappointment but he also helped me to set-up my camera, explained the technical backgrounds of photoshooting, told the most interesting stories about the places we visited and guided me to some parts of the French QUarter that were not overcrowded, helped me to begin to understand how a good photo is composed and what elements to look for but also on top "lend" me his eyes to see subjects I would not have discovered without him. The tour was the best thing during my stay in New Orleans, and I saw a lot of good things there.

This was a good way to get to know the French Quarter and learn more about taking travel photos with my camera. My guide and master photographer Chris had locations mapped out around the French Quarter to match the concepts he was teaching. By the end of the tour, I had so many new ideas for taking photos. I was lucky to be the only one on his tour this day but I imagine that his patience and skill at teaching photography would extend to all levels in a group setting. I highly recommend this tour to anyone who enjoys travel and photography.