About Kevin Pepper
Photography Workshop Leader at Akari Photo Tours
Photography has taken me to some remarkable places, but what keeps me travelling isn't simply the photographs I bring home. It's the people I meet, the experiences along the way, and the opportunity to help other photographers experience places that have meant so much to me.
I've been leading photography workshops around the world since 2013. Over that time, I've photographed and led groups across Africa, Mongolia, Namibia, Antarctica, Europe, Canada and many other destinations. Just as important to me are the relationships that have grown from those experiences. Today, 50% of the photographers who travel with me have joined me on at least two tours, and 30% have traveled with me on three or more workshops—something I believe says a great deal about the experiences I work hard to create.
Some of these places I've returned to again and again. That's important to me.
I believe there is a big difference between taking photographers somewhere and truly knowing a destination.
HOW PHOTOGRAPHY BECAME PART OF MY LIFE
My interest in photography started long before I ever imagined it would become my career.
Like a lot of photographers, I simply enjoyed having a camera in my hands. Photography gave me a reason to explore, to pay attention and to look at familiar places differently.
Eventually, travel and photography became inseparable.
The more I travelled, the more interested I became in wildlife, landscapes and cultures around the world. I found myself returning to certain places—not because I hadn't photographed them successfully the first time, but because I knew there was more to experience.
That curiosity eventually led me to photography workshops.
I began leading workshops in 2012 and became a full-time photography workshop leader the following year. What started as a love of photography grew into something I enjoy even more: helping other photographers experience these places for themselves.
MORE THAN A DECADE LEADING PHOTOGRAPHERS AROUND THE WORLD
Leading photography workshops has taught me something important:
Knowing how to take a good photograph and knowing how to help someone else take one are two very different skills.
When I'm leading a workshop, I'm constantly watching what's happening around us.
Where is the light coming from?
What's happening in the background?
Is an animal about to move?
Would changing our position by ten feet create a stronger photograph?
Does someone need help with their camera settings?
Is there another photographer who simply needs more time to work through a composition?
Those small decisions can make an enormous difference.
That's why, when I'm leading, my own photography comes second.
Your photos are more important than mine.
Sometimes that means my camera stays in the bag while I help someone beside me. I'm perfectly happy with that.
I've been fortunate enough to photograph many of these places before. Seeing someone experience a snow leopard, an African elephant, the Milky Way over Namibia or an eagle hunter riding across the Altai Mountains for the first time is often more rewarding than taking another photograph myself.
PLACES THAT HAVE BECOME PART OF MY STORY
There are destinations I've visited once and enjoyed.
Then there are places that have become part of my life.
Mongolia is one of them.
I've been travelling there since 2012, returning again and again to photograph its landscapes, wildlife and people. Over the years, relationships with eagle hunters, families and local guides have grown into friendships. Those relationships have changed both my photography and the experiences I'm able to share with photographers who travel there with me.
Africa is another.
I've been leading photography workshops there since 2013, photographing wildlife and landscapes across countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia and South Africa. Experience has taught me that successful wildlife photography isn't simply about finding an animal. Position, light, background, behaviour and patience matter just as much.
And then there are the polar regions, Canada's wilderness, the streets of Paris and dozens of other places photography has given me an excuse to explore.
I don't think I'll ever lose the desire to see what's around the next corner.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH?
People sometimes ask me what I think makes a great photograph.
For me, it isn't simply technical perfection.
A photograph should make you feel something.
We can become so consumed with shutter speeds, apertures, autofocus settings and composition rules that we forget why we pointed the camera at something in the first place.
The photographs I remember aren't necessarily the technically perfect ones.
They're the photographs that take me back to a moment.
A person I met.
An animal encounter I waited hours for.
A landscape where the light finally came together.
Or a place that looked and felt completely different from anywhere I'd been before.
Technical skills matter. I teach them on every workshop.
But eventually the camera needs to become a tool that allows you to tell the story you want to tell.
HOW I TEACH PHOTOGRAPHY
I don't believe there's one correct way to make a photograph.
My job isn't to turn you into a photographer who takes pictures like I do.
It's to help you become better at creating the photographs you want to make.
In the field, that might mean helping with camera settings, autofocus, shutter speed or exposure. It might mean looking at backgrounds, changing position, anticipating wildlife behaviour or thinking differently about composition.
When we're photographing people and cultures, the conversation changes. We talk about relationships, respect, environmental portraiture, light and how to create photographs with people rather than simply taking photographs of them.
And sometimes the best teaching happens later, when we sit together and look through the images from the day.
That's when we can talk about what worked, what didn't and what we might do differently tomorrow.
WHY SMALL GROUPS MATTER TO ME
After years of leading workshops, I've become a strong believer in keeping groups small.
A workshop can have two instructors and still have too many photographers competing for the same position.
I've seen how much better the experience becomes when photographers have room to move, time to think and access to the instructor when they need help.
That's why I pay close attention to group size, vehicle configurations, photographic positions and how many people will actually be standing beside you when the moment happens.
Better photographs often come from having a little more space and a little more time.
AKARI PHOTO TOURS
Today, I lead my photography workshops through Akari Photo Tours, the company I co-founded with fellow photographer Kevin Lisota.
We created Akari around many of the lessons we've learned from years of travelling and leading workshops ourselves: keep groups small, work with excellent local people, scout carefully, plan around photography and never forget that the person who invested in the trip deserves our attention.
Akari now takes photographers to destinations around the world, accompanied by a team of professional photography guides who share that philosophy.
COME PHOTOGRAPH WITH ME
If you've found your way to this page because you're considering joining me on a photography workshop, I hope we'll eventually meet somewhere in the field.
Maybe it will be beside a herd of elephants in Africa.
Inside an abandoned diamond-mining town in Namibia.
Under the stars at Spitzkoppe.
Among thousands of penguins in South Georgia.
Or sitting around a table drinking tea with an eagle hunter family in Mongolia.
Wherever it is, my goal will be the same:
To help you experience the place, become a better photographer and come home with photographs that mean something to you.