Who are we ?
Discover who's your guide and our company's philosophy and commitments.
Explographe EHF is an Icelandic company based in Flateyri, in the Westfjords.
We are a certified travel agency, meaning our tours comply with the highest quality requirements from the national tourism office (Ferðamálastofa) and get you fully covered.
Only certified agencies displaying this logo on their website are legally authorized to organize multi-day tours in Iceland (regardless of their origin country).
By clicking on the logo, you can see the full list of certified agencies in Iceland.
Our company:
Why choose Explographe?
Unlike most photography travel agencies, we don't offer to take you to numerous destinations around the world. Yet it would be so easy to multiply destinations while keeping the same clients... But we prefer to raise the bar with a destination and subjects we know intimately: Iceland and its wildlife. You'll therefore travel with a local guide who follows the animals year-round in their natural habitat. Not with random guides whose destinations are set by business opportunity, who navigates by guesswork, when they're not too busy taking their own photos.
Furthermore, we operate with our own logistics, vehicles and accommodations, and have all gear on-site, which guarantees a flawless organisation.
Finally, by choosing us, you certainly won't be signing up for a trip that might be cancelled due to a lack of participants to cover the costs. And for a good reason: we're on-site no matter what! For 12 years, we've run 100% of the trips we've planned, and we intend to continue doing so while our competitors come and go.
Your photography guide:
Professional nature photographer, Phil Garcia is also the author of various photography books, about Canon cameras and different shooting techniques. His nature images have been displayed in many European photography festivals, such as Namur or Montier-en-Der.
They have also been featured in various publications, and three photography books about Icelandic nature:
- Melrakki, a monography about the arctic fox
- Islande, souffles de vie (in french only), a general inventory of the Icelandic nature
- Lundi, a monography about the Icelandic puffin.
Phil has excellent local knowledge of the Westfjords of Iceland as he lives in Flateyri all around the year since 2013. He is a pioneer in conducting Arctic fox photography workshops in the area for over 10 years. He also collaborates with scientists of the Icelandic nature institute, and monitor various species at any time of the year. Phil participated in the making of several documentaries about the Arctic fox (Arte, BBC...). He will use his expertise not only to guide you to all the best spots, but also to improve both your naturalist approach and photography skills in this amazing landscape he can call his home.
Phil speaks: French, English, Spanish.
At Explographe, we fully compensate the carbon footprint of all our tours by planting trees.
Check how on this page.
Our commitment:
Leofoto is a high quality carbon tripod maker. Thanks to this partnership, we are now able to lend you tripods and ball heads during your trip so you can test high quality gear and don't have to carry your own tripod in the plane (however the quantity is limited, so please ask for availability when booking your trip).
Mr Jan gear is the maker of the world's best floating hides. The inflatable technology make them easy to transport at just 5.3 kg. This makes us able to propose floating hide workshops that you can attend without any special personal gear. Likely the only way to use this technique during a trip to Iceland.
Lagoped is a young French brand who designs mountain clothing, made in Europe from recycled materials. Phil is testing the gear in the harsh Icelandic weather and we are setting up partnerships to share our common vision of responsible actions towards nature.
The Heat Company is an Austrian brand specialized in super warm gloves that give extra freedom to your fingers for easier photography. Perfect for our winter tours. And our friends and customers can get a discount code through us !
Hikmicro is a leader in thermal imagery solutions. As an ambassador of the brand, Phil is equipped with thermal binoculars that will help him find every possible living subjects for you to photograph. He might even let you try them on the field.
Our gear partners:
We partnered with the following brands to bring you some extra services:
