PO Box 1505
Fresno, TX 77455-1505
ph: 281-778-1486
nchappel
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who should attend a Trogon Photo Tours workshop or photo tour? We welcome photographers of all levels from beginners to professionals. If you are a beginner and would like advice about which workshops or photo tours would be best to start with contact us - give us a phone call or email us. Professional photographers have won prestigiuos awards with images taken on our photo tours and workshops. Anyone who loves nature and wants to learn more about photography is welcome on our tours.
What kind of photo equipment do I need to go on one of your tours or workshops? Every workshop is a little bit different in terms of desired equipment. On the workshop or tour page that info will be listed. Most people who go on our tours own a DSLR or advanced mirrorless camera and intermediate to long telephoto lens. But a few people who use point and shoot cameras come on our trips and they are welcome as well. For all tours where mutli-flash hummingbird photography is done we provide all of the multi-flash equipment except you will need to bring one flash which goes in your camera's hotshoe. We also have photo equipment that we can rent out to participants at affordable prices (less than the equipment rental companies).
Are nonphotographers welcome? Yes nonphotographer spouses, friends, birders and companions are welcome to attend our photo tours and workshops. Often a spouse will be a birdwatcher and they usually enjoy the trips a lot because Nate Chappell is an excellent bird watcher and we hire excellent local birdwatching guides. If you are curious about how a specific tour will be for your spouse or friend contact us - send us an email or give us a call.
What is the difference between a photo tour and a workshop? In our case there is not much difference between what we call a photo tour and a photo workshop. We label shorter US based trips workshops and longer overseas trips photo tours. On any photo tours and workshops led by Nate Chappell, Charles Gangas or Ken Archer a presentation will be given on photographing birds and/or animals in the wild and a presentation on using flash for bird photography. On overseas photo tours not led by Nate Chappell, Charles Gangas or Ken Archer these presentations are not included. On any of our photo tours and workshops we often initiate discussion in the field about how to go about gettiing the best image including camera settings etc. and we encourage questions and discussion about the photography. On any photo tours or workshops led by Ken Archer, Charles Gangas or Nate Chappell we also have a presentation on raw image conversion and processing. For anyone who is interested in critique and review of images taken on our photo tours it is offered in the evenings. On some overseas photo tours the leader will be a local photography guide who is a good photographer and knows the locations very well but is not an expert level instructor.
What if I am interested in photographing a certain species or at a certain location where you are not currently offering a tour? Please contact us regarding what you are interested in doing. Nate Chappell has photographed in many different areas on 6 continents (all except Antarctica) so we may well be able to put together a private photo tour or workshop for you. Also we enjoy hearing input on what photographers would like to do in order to help plan future group photo tours and workshops. We are always looking to add new tour offerings and workshops.
What if your tour or workshop that I want to attend is full? Please contact us and let us know. We will put you on a waiting list and sometimes we will add another workshop.
Do the instructors and tour leaders photograph on the photo tours and workshops? Yes we usually do. Nate, Charles and Ken all find if they are photographing along side their participants it is much easier to give advice to the participants about what camera settings to use, how to compose a photo etc. But we put the participants first in terms of getting the shot, your experience is our priority, not ours. With the case of multi-flash photography the instructor will get the multi-flash setup and test it and then the participants will have a schedule for shooting on it.
What will I gain from going on a Trogon Photo Tours photo tour or workshop? We as instructors for the participants and most of the participants who go on our tours and workshops have 2 main goals. One of the goals is to get as many excellent photos as possible of the birds and animals that live in the area we are going to. The other goal is to improve as photographers. To come away with increased knowledge of nature photography that will continue to help you improve as a photographer. With these goals in mind we will ask each participant a month or two before each tour or workshop what species they are most interested in photographing and what areas of photography they would most like to work on improving. This way we can tailor each photo tour or workshop more to individual needs. While we will get the vast majority of the species advertised on a photo tour and workshop we cannot guarantee any species, it is nature after all.
What is your group size? For all US based workshops which last more than one day there is a ratio of no more than 5 photography participants to 1 instructor. For overseas photo tours the ratio is no more than 7 photography participants to each photography instructor/tour leader. A photographer for group size is considered someone using a DSLR system, in any case when adding in non photographer spouses and companions the maximum size of overseas tours is 10 participants. These ratios are smaller than almost all other photo tour companies and shows Trogon Photo Tours commitment to leading high quality tours. After all the less participants per instructor the more personal attention you will get and the better chance for growth as a photographer.
What is the minimum group size for your tours to run? Many of our tours and workshops will run with a minimum of 1 person and almost all of them can run with a minimum of 2 participants. This gives you the confidence to book your trip with almost a certainty that the trip is going to run. However, we reserve the right to cancel a tour for lack of participation or if there is a natural disaster or something out of our control that occurs. If this happens we will refund all payments. However in practice we have only ever canceled one tour for lack of participation where there was someone already signed up and that occured over 6 yeras ago.
What is included in the price? Each tour or workshop can be a little bit different so for specifics please refer to the photo tour or workshop page that you are considering. But in general almost all overseas photo tours include all lodging, meals, guiding, park fees, instruction and transportation within the country except air travel. Most US workshops include lodging, instruction, park fees but not meals. Some include local transportation, some do not. Again check the page of the specific tour or workshop that you are interested in.
What is the activity level for your tours and workshops? Each workshop is a little bit different. But in general the vast majority of photo tours and workshops are designed so that just about anyone can participate. For example on our Ecuador and Trinidad and Tobago photo tours the majority of the photography is done right around the lodges. There are walks to photograph special birds scheduled but if you think the walking will be too strenuous you are welcome to stay at the lodge and photograph what is there or rest. If you want to take a half day off during the middle of a tour or workshop to rest up there is no problem with that. If on the other hand you like to hike there are opportunities to do so on almost all of our photo tours and workshops. When walks are scheduled to photograph a certain species the vast majority of the time the walk is less than one mile each way. Contact us with any questions.
Testimonials - Click this link to read testimonials. If you would like references from participants who have been on a particular tour please contact us.
PAYMENTS/POLICIES
Note regarding Covid 19: To see our current policies regarding payments, cancellations and deposits please see our Covid-19 page. In short currrently whether the participant cancels or the trip has to be cancelled/postponed due to Covid-19 we are letting the participants apply their funds to any future trip they choose.
Payments: To reserve your spot on a photo tour or workshop we need to receive your deposit payment. You can make your deposit payment through Paypal without a fee on our website or we accept checks and bank transfers. For most photo tours and workshops the balance of your tour or workshop fee is due 90 days before the tour or workshop begins. A few photo tours or workshops require final payment more than 90 days before the trip starts due to payments we have to make to secure lodging etc. Check the specific workshop or tour page for details. If we do not receive your final payment timely then we will send you a reminder. For the balance of the workshop or tour fee we accept checks or bank transfers. If you would like to pay the balance due by Paypal there is a 3% bank charge added to the balance, if this is how you would like to pay please contact us and we will send you a paypal invoice. If you pay your deposit by paypal you will receive an immediate email confirmation regarding the deposit. If you haven't already contacted us regarding the tour or workshop we will soon after send you an email with the sign up sheet.
Cancelations: If the participant cancels please be advised that our workshops have a nonrefundable deposit due to small group size and advanced planning for leaders, guides and accommodation requirements. Therefore we highly recommend you purchase travel insurance within one week of making your deposit. In some circumstances we will allow the canceling participant to apply part or all of their deposit to a future tour or workshop. If a participant cancels after the final workshop fee is due (usually 90 days before the start of the workshop or tour) the balance is nonrefundable. In some circumstances we will allow you to apply part or of the workshop/tour fee to a future workshop or tour. During Covid-19 we are allowing customers to apply all funds from any cancellation to whatever future tour they would like. Again, we greatly encourage the use of travel insurance.
Tour Alterations: We carefully plan out each tour ahead of time. However changes in weather, political events, animal migrations etc may cause us to change the itinerary if in our professional opinion it will benefit the workshop and its participants by providing better photographic opportunities. Any major changes (which are rare) to the itinerary will be advised as soon as possible. We will usually consult the participants prior to making any such major changes. If in our opinion, it's necessary to postpose a tour due to current events we will discuss this with the participants to find dates and/or solutions which work for everyone. We also reserve the right to substitute another guide/ workshop leader for the original one (e.g. Nate for Ken and vice versa). Where this is necessary, notification will be given to workshop participants. A change in the order that locations are visited or a change from one lodge to a different lodge in the same region is not deemed to be a major change.
Last updated: March 01, 2020
This Privacy Policy describes Our policies and procedures on the collection, use and disclosure of Your information when You use the Service and tells You about Your privacy rights and how the law protects You.
We use Your Personal data to provide and improve the Service. By using the Service, You agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
The words of which the initial letter is capitalized have meanings defined under the following conditions.
The following definitions shall have the same meaning regardless of whether they appear in singular or in plural.
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy:
You means the individual accessing or using the Service, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the Service, as applicable.
Under GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), You can be referred to as the Data Subject or as the User as you are the individual using the Service.
Company (referred to as either "the Company", "We", "Us" or "Our" in this Agreement) refers to Trogon Photo Tours, Inc., PO Box 1505, Fresno, TX 77455-1505.
For the purpose of the GDPR, the Company is the Data Controller.
Service Provider means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Company. It refers to third-party companies or individuals employed by the Company to facilitate the Service, to provide the Service on behalf of the Company, to perform services related to the Service or to assist the Company in analyzing how the Service is used.
For the purpose of the GDPR, Service Providers are considered Data Processors.
Personal Data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.
For the purposes for GDPR, Personal Data means any information relating to You such as a name, an identification number, location data, online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity.
For the purposes of the CCPA, Personal Data means any information that identifies, relates to, describes or is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with You.
While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:
Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service.
Usage Data may include information such as Your Device's Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.
When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.
We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.
We use Cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on Our Service and store certain information. Tracking technologies used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyze Our Service.
You can instruct Your browser to refuse all Cookies or to indicate when a Cookie is being sent. However, if You do not accept Cookies, You may not be able to use some parts of our Service.
Cookies can be "Persistent" or "Session" Cookies. Persistent Cookies remain on your personal computer or mobile device when You go offline, while Session Cookies are deleted as soon as You close your web browser.
We use both session and persistent Cookies for the purposes set out below:
Necessary / Essential Cookies
Type: Session Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies are essential to provide You with services available through the Website and to enable You to use some of its features. They help to authenticate users and prevent fraudulent use of user accounts. Without these Cookies, the services that You have asked for cannot be provided, and We only use these Cookies to provide You with those services.
Cookies Policy / Notice Acceptance Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies identify if users have accepted the use of cookies on the Website.
Functionality Cookies
Type: Persistent Cookies
Administered by: Us
Purpose: These Cookies allow us to remember choices You make when You use the Website, such as remembering your login details or language preference. The purpose of these Cookies is to provide You with a more personal experience and to avoid You having to re-enter your preferences every time You use the Website.
For more information about the cookies we use and your choices regarding cookies, please visit our Cookies Policy.
The Company may use Personal Data for the following purposes:
We may share your personal information in the following situations:
The Company will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.
The Company will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period of time, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of Our Service, or We are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.
Your information, including Personal Data, is processed at the Company's operating offices and in any other places where the parties involved in the processing are located. It means that this information may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of Your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ than those from Your jurisdiction.
Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by Your submission of such information represents Your agreement to that transfer.
The Company will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that Your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of Your Personal Data will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of Your data and other personal information.
If the Company is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset sale, Your Personal Data may be transferred. We will provide notice before Your Personal Data is transferred and becomes subject to a different Privacy Policy.
Under certain circumstances, the Company may be required to disclose Your Personal Data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g. a court or a government agency).
The Company may disclose Your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:
The security of Your Personal Data is important to Us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While We strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect Your Personal Data, We cannot guarantee its absolute security.
Service Providers have access to Your Personal Data only to perform their tasks on Our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
We may use Your Personal Data to contact You with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to You. You may opt-out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from Us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email We send or by contacting Us.
We may use Email Marketing Service Providers to manage and send emails to You.
Mailchimp
Mailchimp is an email marketing sending service provided by The Rocket Science Group LLC.
For more information on the privacy practices of Mailchimp, please visit their Privacy policy: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/
We may provide paid products and/or services within the Service. In that case, we may use third-party services for payment processing (e.g. payment processors).
We will not store or collect Your payment card details. That information is provided directly to Our third-party payment processors whose use of Your personal information is governed by their Privacy Policy. These payment processors adhere to the standards set by PCI-DSS as managed by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is a joint effort of brands like Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. PCI-DSS requirements help ensure the secure handling of payment information.
PayPal
Their Privacy Policy can be viewed at https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/ua/privacy-full
We may process Personal Data under the following conditions:
In any case, the Company will gladly help to clarify the specific legal basis that applies to the processing, and in particular whether the provision of Personal Data is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract.
The Company undertakes to respect the confidentiality of Your Personal Data and to guarantee You can exercise Your rights.
You have the right under this Privacy Policy, and by law if You are within the EU, to:
You may exercise Your rights of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition by contacting Us. Please note that we may ask You to verify Your identity before responding to such requests. If You make a request, We will try our best to respond to You as soon as possible.
You have the right to complain to a Data Protection Authority about Our collection and use of Your Personal Data. For more information, if You are in the European Economic Area (EEA), please contact Your local data protection authority in the EEA.
The Company is the Data Controller of Your Personal Data collected while using the Service. As operator of the Facebook Fan Page (https://www.facebook.com/chappellphoto), the Company and the operator of the social network Facebook are Joint Controllers.
The Company has entered into agreements with Facebook that define the terms for use of the Facebook Fan Page, among other things. These terms are mostly based on the Facebook Terms of Service: https://www.facebook.com/terms.php
Visit the Facebook Privacy Policy https://www.facebook.com/policy.php for more information about how Facebook manages Personal data or contact Facebook online, or by mail: Facebook, Inc. ATTN, Privacy Operations, 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, United States.
We use the Facebook Insights function in connection with the operation of the Facebook Fan Page and on the basis of the GDPR, in order to obtain anonymized statistical data about Our users.
For this purpose, Facebook places a Cookie on the device of the user visiting Our Facebook Fan Page. Each Cookie contains a unique identifier code and remains active for a period of two years, except when it is deleted before the end of this period.
Facebook receives, records and processes the information stored in the Cookie, especially when the user visits the Facebook services, services that are provided by other members of the Facebook Fan Page and services by other companies that use Facebook services.
For more information on the privacy practices of Facebook, please visit Facebook Privacy Policy here: https://www.facebook.com/full_data_use_policy
Under this Privacy Policy, and by law if You are a resident of California, You have the following rights:
The right to know about Your Personal Data. You have the right to request and obtain from the Company information regarding the disclosure of the following:
The right not to be discriminated against. You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of Your Consumer's rights, including by:
In order to exercise any of Your rights under the CCPA, and if you are a California resident, You can email or call us or visit our "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" section or web page.
The Company will disclose and deliver the required information free of charge within 45 days of receiving Your verifiable request. The time period to provide the required information may be extended once by an additional 45 days when reasonable necessary and with prior notice.
We do not sell personal information. However, the Service Providers we partner with (for example, our advertising partners) may use technology on the Service that "sells" personal information as defined by the CCPA law.
If you wish to opt out of the use of your personal information for interest-based advertising purposes and these potential sales as defined under CCPA law, you may do so by following the instructions below.
Please note that any opt out is specific to the browser You use. You may need to opt out on every browser that you use.
You can opt out of receiving ads that are personalized as served by our Service Providers by following our instructions presented on the Service:
The opt out will place a cookie on Your computer that is unique to the browser You use to opt out. If you change browsers or delete the cookies saved by your browser, you will need to opt out again.
Your mobile device may give you the ability to opt out of the use of information about the apps you use in order to serve you ads that are targeted to your interests:
You can also stop the collection of location information from Your mobile device by changing the preferences on your mobile device.
Our Service does not respond to Do Not Track signals.
However, some third party websites do keep track of Your browsing activities. If You are visiting such websites, You can set Your preferences in Your web browser to inform websites that You do not want to be tracked. You can enable or disable DNT by visiting the preferences or settings page of Your web browser.
Our Service does not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13. If You are a parent or guardian and You are aware that Your child has provided Us with Personal Data, please contact Us. If We become aware that We have collected Personal Data from anyone under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, We take steps to remove that information from Our servers.
We also may limit how We collect, use, and store some of the information of Users between 13 and 18 years old. In some cases, this means We will be unable to provide certain functionality of the Service to these users.
If We need to rely on consent as a legal basis for processing Your information and Your country requires consent from a parent, We may require Your parent's consent before We collect and use that information.
Our Service may contain links to other websites that are not operated by Us. If You click on a third party link, You will be directed to that third party's site. We strongly advise You to review the Privacy Policy of every site You visit.
We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify You of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.
We will let You know via email and/or a prominent notice on Our Service, prior to the change becoming effective and update the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy.
You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, You can contact us:
"My wife and I attended a Trogon Tours Eagle workshop recently and I must admit that we both had an exceptional experience. I arrived as a nervous "advanced beginner" but left with the knowledge and confidence to capture well composed and properly exposed images. Nate Chappell and his colleague, Ken Archer, are excellent teachers and very enjoyable and knowledable field guides. Nate has an uncanny ability to make difficult subjects understandable... Two incredible photographers - excellent attention to everyone's needs, great information and the perfect number of participants! My wife, who was along as an observer, and I agree that we will eagerly attend more workshops when we can. Thanks Nate and Ken for a job well done!"
Dr. Robert Penny, Dallas, TX
Washington eagles participant 2011
Copyright Trogon Photo Tours, Inc. All rights reserved.
PO Box 1505
Fresno, TX 77455-1505
ph: 281-778-1486
nchappel