The intrepid and widely published travel photographer and writer — and former Perceptive Travel blogger! — Steve Davey is bringing his photographic and travel expertise to a wider audience. Not that you could get a lot wider than his books Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die and Unforgettable Islands to Escape to Before You Die, both excellent travel and photography compilations that took Steve to the higher echelons of the travel writing and photography world.

But now Steve’s doing something different. To coincide with the release of his new book Footprint Travel Photography, Steve Davey is launching a series of travel photography tours, with Morocco and India both being offered this fall.

It would be hard to pass up an opportunity like this. Long-time readers of the Perceptive Travel magazine and this blog will know that few people know India and Morocco like Steve Davey, and even fewer can give those incredible places the photographer’s eye like this long-time travel photographer and writer. If you doubt me, just check out this post on Marrakech or some of Steve’s thoughts on India in “On the veranda of my bungalow in my khaki pyjamas.”

So if you’re at all interested in these places, or in learning travel photography in the field from a renowned expert, these are tours you don’t want to miss. Impressions of Morocco starts 21 September 2009, and runs for 13 days, visiting the evocative cities of Fes, Casablanca and Marrakech, trekking in the High Atlas Mountains around the remote village of Armed, exploring ruins, gorges, kasbahs and holy sites, and spending a night under the stars in the Sahara Desert.

Impressions of India visits the stunning Taj Mahal, and the holy city of Varanasi before spending three days at the Sonepur Mela festival in Bihar. The largest livestock fair in Asia, this festival is noted for the ‘Haathi Bazaar,’ or second-hand elephant market. The tour will also visit the Buddhist pilgrimage site of Bodh Gaya with its strong Tibetan influence and the bustling city of Kolkata. The tour runs for 16 days from 26 October 2009.

Tours in the next two years will also include Southeast Asia and Southwest France. For more information about all these tours, including pricing and more extensive discussion of the technical photography aspects covered and taught, visit the Photo Tours website.

The new issue of the magazine published by the National Wildlife Federation (National Wildlife) features one incredible series of photo spreads by the 2008 Conservation Photographer of the Year, Florian Schulz. The pictures, taken from his book Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam, bring to life the best of the American and Canadian West: incredible viewscapes and vistas, wildlife freely moving in its own habitat, an astonishing sky lit by lightning and the Northern Lights. The book includes essays by some of the Rocky Mountains’ most well-known writers: David Quammen, Rick Bass, and others.

But even more interesting is the article attached to the photos, which discusses the decade-old attempt by a group of scientists to build a wildlife conservation corridor all the way from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, through the northern edge of the Yukon Territory.

The project, called the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative or Y2Y, has studied issues such as habitat fragmentation through roads and development, and the impact of various human activity on wildlife populations throughout the proposed corridor.

It’s a fascinating project, and expands tremendously our already outdated ideas of how we preserve wilderness and habitat. When Yellowstone National Park was formed, for example, its borders were based more on its natural beauties than on the entire range used by animals such as elk and bison that draw so many visitors to the area. The work of many has led to the formation of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, which is working to protect an area that reaches far beyond National Park boundaries.

The photographer Florian Schulz came from Germany and fell in love with the West. His other love, photography, has not only become the work of his life, but through this book and others will have a huge impact on the public’s awareness of the issues facing some of the world’s most amazing ecosystems, and what they can do to help preserve them.

Thanks to reader Tina for pointing us to the Peterman’s Eye travel photo contest. With a first-place prize of $2000, an entry might permit someone like me to afford one of the gorgeous skirts I drool over every time the J. Peterman catalog hits my mailbox.

The Travel section of Peterman’s Eye (which bills itself as “a community of curious minds”) is actually a fun place to spend a little time. With a softened, old-world website design and J. Peterman’s distinctive old-world voice, the site provides a little breathing space from the hectic pace of “10 best Whatevers” of newspaper travel sections. A bit like our own fantastic Perceptive Travel magazine. A place where travel lovers and readers have more time to ponder.

As much as I enjoy websites like this, however, as always, if you’re entering any contest with your own written or photographic material, read the terms and conditions carefully: “By posting or submitting content on or to the website (regardless of the form or medium), you are giving Peterman’s Eye Publishing, and its affiliates, agents and third party contractors a nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, sub licensable, royalty-free license to use, store, display, publish, transmit, transfer, distribute, reproduce, rearrange, edit, modify …”

You get the idea. You lose all rights to your work once it’s posted on the site. I’m not judging these terms one way or another (unusual, I know, not to have a highly prejudiced opinion, but I still am unsure whether opportunities like this are a way for nascent travel writers and photographers to get a foot in the door — instinct says no, but common sense says maybe). You should just always be aware of what you’re signing up for. And hey, if you win, two thousand bucks isn’t a bad price for a good photo.

Deadline for the contest is 12th March 2009.

I just finished uploading a bunch of photos of travel-related Christmas ornaments to my Flickr page - doodads from China to Israel - so click below for a slideshow and you can see what I’ve been up to with my new Canon camera holiday gift (thanks very much, Mom and Dad!)

For RSS readers and anyone who can’t see the box below, the URL for the slideshow is here.

Sophia Dembling’s audio slideshow ‘My Travels, My Feet’ got me thinking about what type of photographer I am. In a nutshell, I’d say a bad one. I’ve never mastered the concept of apertures, focal lengths, and shutter speeds. Even point and shoot cameras have me puzzled. And yet, at last count, I own six cameras. There are two SLR film cameras (one that never really even made it out of the box), a film point and shoot, a digital SLR compact, and a digital point and shoot. And let’s not forget that the cell phone also has a camera.

With all that equipment, you’d think I’d be able to get in a decent shot or two. And occasionally I do. But for the most part, I still manage to cut of people’s heads, end up with crooked buildings, and shadows in all the wrong places.

But it doesn’t really matter, cause taking photos is fun.

By the way, that’s my ‘foot’ photo. But unlike Sophia’s feet photos, it wasn’t planned. Just another photo dud.

If you want to check out Sophia’s feet photos, then head over to World Hum. It’s definitely worth the trip.