We are often asked the same questions by clients and friends thinking about taking one of our seminars.  We know that booking a seminar is a leap of faith as you probably don't know us or the quality of our work.  To help you with your decision and hopefully answer some of your questions immediately, we have included this FAQ page. 

Please don't hesitate to call us at 1-306-241-8894 or email us at grant@dougallphotography.com if you have any questions at all. 

1. I will be travelling with my wife/husband//friend but they aren't interested in photography - do they need to take the seminar as well?  While two or more of you have booked the cabin, only the person/people attending the seminar need to pay the registration fee.  The fee is $195CDN pp attending.

2. I see photo seminars costing thousands of dollars - why do you only charge $195CDN for yours?  We wanted to keep the pricing in line with a good shore excursion. The seminar is about 7 hours which we feel is a good balance between giving you value for your money but not using up all of your vacation time on board the ship.

3. Who are your seminars aimed at?  Whether you have just bought your first point and shoot camera or are a long time DSLR user, anyone who wants to learn more about their camera and wants to improve the quality of the images they create will find this seminar of use.

4. But I don't know a thing about my camera!   Don't worry, with two instructors, we will be able to give you the assistance you need.  There are two optional camera tutorial sessions that you can come to if you want more personal time with us to answer your questions.

5. How do you meet the learning needs of so many different learners? First, we will have a conversation before the cruise to determine what in particular you would like to learn so we can include it in the seminar.  Second, we check over and over again during the seminar itself to ensure we are meeting your learning needs.  Third we have two, optional tutorial sessions where you can receive small group or one-on-one instruction to provide you more leisurely learning time.

6. So what exactly do I get for my $195CDN? 
- Seven hours of classroom instruction
- On deck photo assistance during Hubbard Glacier experience
- Two optional camera tutorial sessions
- All seminar material including:
       - photo guides to each port
       - guide to taking better photos
       - all Power Point presentations used during the seminar

7. How do I pay for all this?  When you decide to book your cruise with our travel agent will handle the cruise booking and payment details.  A deposit is required at time of booking with the balance due approximately sixty days before the cruise.  The deposit is refundable up to the time of final payment.  The photo seminar is payable directly to Dougall Photography at the time final payment is due to for the cruise.  Payment can be via PAYPAL or an international money order can be sent directly to us.

8. I travel alone - can I still book this cruise?  Most cruise lines charge a "single supplement" that is more that the cost of a single guest but not as much as two guests. 

9. How often have you cruised in Alaska and how often have you been on this ship?  We have cruised eight times to Alaska. If you come on this cruise, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have about the ports we will be stopping in and the shore excursions that are available - just email us or give us a call!

10. This web site is all well and good, but how else can we learn more about you and your qualifications?  Great question as you always want to know how good your  hosts are.  We have included some anonymous comments on our "About Us" page so you can see what others have said about us.  G  rant maintains a professional profile on LinkedIn and we can be followed on Twitter for even more up to date information.  As stock photographers, we sell our work on iStockPhoto and our portfolio is available here.  We have placed a few examples of our photos on this page of our web site - in fact, every photo you see anywhere on this site has been taken by Jan or me.  In addition to photo and travel writing on this site, Grant also writes for other sites including Travel Blog Exchange,One Travel, and ImprovePhotography.com.

11. What do you mean when you say you are a "stock photographer" - do you do portraits of sheep?  I guess I could do portraits of farm animals, but I don't :-)  We are represented by Istockphoto out of Calgary who in turn license our images to buyers for use in online and print publications. We specialize in travel and destination photography as well as some studio work.

12. Great, now I know what stock photography is.  Are your pictures published anywhere?  Yep, we have sold photos all over the world.  If you want to see a very small sample of our photos, follow and of the links below:

Farncobme Estate
Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Association
ScienceDaily.com
Pology.com
See Scenic Saskatchewan
MarieClaire.com
About.com
ScienceDaily.com
MSN Lifestyles
How Stuff Works (Brazil)

13. Aren't there free photo workshops on board the ship I could just take instead?  Yes, there are.They are often an hour in length and have a number of passengers attending.  They are offered by very friendly and overworked photo department staff who will do their best to answer all the questions you have about your camera but there is only so much time and many people looking for help.  Our seminar is designed to cater to your learning needs and we will take all the time, over as many days as it takes to ensure all your questions are answered.  We are at your service when you need us, not just during a quick one hour camera orientation.

Well, this is a few of the questions we get asked.  If you have a different question, don't hesitate to call us at 1-306-241-8894 or email us at grant@dougallphotography.com. 

All text and images copyright Dougall Photography.  Copying or reproduction in any form is prohibited without express written permission