Groups Today Magazine Features Photography Travel Tours
Groups Today is a travel industry magazine with over 20,700 readers that addresses tips and insightful destination news, industry best practices, the latest industry trends, and business management.
How it came about
The amazing managing editor of the Groups Today magazine, Sarah Suydam, sent out a request to their extensive mailing list to find a tour company that would like to be featured in their September/October issue. We responded, received a list of questions about our business, our approach to leading tours, our beginnings, our thoughts about the industry, our travel and photography philosophy, and many more and — drum role — we got accepted. We provided content and photos and the editor did a fantastic job condensing our text to its essence so that it would fit on two pages. But she didn’t stop there — she also put our article on pages number four and five at the beginning of the issue. We feel honored!
You can see the article here or read it below.
Jim & Magrit Nilsen:
Helping Groups Capture Europe’s Beauty Through a Lens
For over 15 years, Jim and Magrit Nilsen have been offering group tours for photographers of almost all skill levels in destinations throughout Europe, helping travelers capture truly stunning imagery. Whether it’s Italy, France, Portugal, Slovenia, or The Netherlands, their business — Photography Travel Tours — offers what’s often “the trip of a lifetime” for many.
Jim, who was once a commercial fisherman in Alaska, earned a degree in commercial photography and has worked as a professional photographer for over 30 years. Magrit was born in Austria and holds a degree in architecture, as well as graphic design. Both skilled and trained artists, the couple help participants with technical and composition instructions in the field, along with post-processing sessions on rainy days. They love sharing their knowledge and seeing the transformation their clients experience, even after only a few days on a tour.
“We guide our clients to some of the most beautiful and photogenic scenes on the planet and help them create their own photographic master pieces,” Magrit said. “It’s our goal to make each tour the ‘greatest experience’ and the most fun, positive, memorable, enjoyable, and productive photo tour possible.”
All locations including hotels, restaurants, and cafés are meticulously researched, with the couple noting they’ll never offer anything that doesn’t top their passion and excitement meter. Their groups max out at 12 participants allowing for personal attention and camaraderie amongst each other. Some even take multiple tours in a row to make the most of their time in Europe. And while smartphones offer higher quality images than they ever have before, the couple truly believe in the power of an actual camera and the beauty of taking the time to intentionally be making rather than taking images.
“We focus mostly on architectural and landscape photography. However, our clients who enjoy photographing people get many opportunities to ‘populate’ their images,” Jim explained, noting the difficulty in choosing a favorite tour. “Each European country we visit has its own unique identity when it comes to culture, architecture, language, cuisine, and landscapes. Choosing a favorite would be like choosing a favorite child.” (Although, Jim is somewhat partial to Italy — the beauty, the ease when it comes to tour logistics, the food …)
A highlight for the couple has been creating a viable business together they’re both suited for.
“We work together in a beautiful complimentary way and we get to combine the things we love most: travel and photography.” Magrit shared, adding that sampling local cuisine is also an added perk. (I loves to eat. :-))
“We’ve also over the years that while we can be very well prepared and organized, we also need to be able to turn on a dime if the weather gods conspire against us,” she added. “Unforeseen challenges (but also delightful surprises) do happen and what we’ve learned is to go with the flow and meet them with some level of equanimity (at least most of the time).”
Their advise for industry newcomers?
“Work hard and put in the research hours to make the experience as enjoyable and as easy as possible — for your clients, as well as for yourself.”