About Us

Foto Verde Tours, founded by Gregory Basco and Paulo Valerio in 2008, specializes in nature and travel photography workshops in our home region of Latin America. We recognize that you place your trust in us, spending lots of money and traveling thousands of miles, and our goal is to offer you the best and most professional photo experience possible in all of our destinations.

Foto Verde Tours founders Gregory Basco and Paulo Valerio

Why choose Foto Verde Tours?

We have a strong commitment to legal compliance, fair treatment, long-term partnerships, detailed planning, and attention to our clients' photography. We plan our workshops down to the finest detail so that you can focus on improving your photography and taking great images. When you travel with us, you're traveling with the Latin America photo workshop pros.

AS THE PIONEERS

in Costa Rica's photo tourism industry, we led the way in creating many of the best photo opportunities in our home country. And we're taking the same philosophy of working with local lodges and partners to our photo destinations throughout Latin America.

SCOUTING NEW

locations is a priority for us. We never announce a workshop to a place we’ve never been. We make a time and financial investment in scouting each location we travel to in order to ensure that every little detail is just right for our workshop clients.

And it's during our scouting trips that we take the photos that help to sell our workshops. With Foto Verde Tours, you know that your leader will not be using you simply to finance the photos they take to sell the next trip!

WE WORK WITH

local partners who are friends and photographers themselves at every destination. This allows us to have great support, to get the inside info on little-known spots, and even have special access for great photo opportunities.

Many tour operators advertise bare-bones prices and cut corners by booking tours directly in foreign countries without using registered local operators (it's actually illegal in many cases) and renting vehicles themselves to transport their guests with no insurance. Yes, believe it or not, these and many other shady dealings are all quite common in the industry.

At Foto Verde Tours, we do everything the legal and professional way!

A FULLY LICENSED

and registered limited liability corporation, we are a member of Costa Rica’s Tourism Institute, the Chamber of Tourism, and the Small Business Association. Unlike many people running tours under the radar, we’re official, we’re insured, we pay our taxes, and we use licensed providers wherever we go. We can't imagine doing business any other way!

AMAZING LODGES

that combine great service, fantastic locations, good food, and awesome photo opportunities are a staple of every one of our workshops. And we include everything except tips and alcoholic beverages in the cost of our tours. There are no hidden costs or surprises. We even take care of internal/domestic flights that form part of our trips, something many people don't do. From the moment you arrive in country until the moment you depart, we take care of everything for you!

PEOPLE ARE PART

of the planet, and we think it’s important to learn about the culture of the places we visit. In addition to natural history and ecological information, our leaders and guides always share as much historical, political/economic, and cultural information as we can.

BIG EGOS

are not to be found in our photo workshop leaders. We hear a lot about photo leaders who think they are rock stars and should be worshipped. We love photography and think that everyone can take great photos!

We offer photographic workshops, not tours. Though all of our leaders are professionals and award-winning photographers, we're there to help you. Wherever we go in Latin America, we know that our lodges, drivers, guides, and photo destination staff are always happy to see us. This philosophy translates into great photo and learning opportunities and a pleasant experience for you!

WE TEACH YOU

to master your camera settings so that you can go beyond the standard shot. We want you to take home images that stand out from the crowd and express your own artistic vision. And even more importantly, instead of simply calling out settings as many photo leaders do, we help you to learn new concepts in photography. We want you to understand the thinking behind why we choose certain settings for a given situation so that you can expand your photographic horizons.

WINNING AWARDS

is something to which our clients have become accustomed. Workshop participants' images have won dozens of awards from local camera clubs to major international photo contests! Our photographer friend and client Naser Mojtahed recently had contest success with this awesome photo of a nocturnal Red-eyed Tree Frog from Costa Rica. We love this image!

What our clients are saying

""We’ve just returned from Foto Verde’s Tropical Landscapes workshop with Greg Basco and Keith Bauer. The personalized instruction we received, both in the field and in the classroom was outstanding. The combined talent of Greg and Keith make this a complete workshop from field to post processing. As if this was not enough, our driver, Jose Lopez, is also an accomplished photographer. The pre-trip advice on what photo gear to bring was very helpful. This is our third photographic tour with Greg, and, hopefully, won’t be our last.""

Joyce S., USA

"Having just returned from the 'Art of Biodiversity Pacific' trip I just wanted to say, what a fantastic time I had. That was my 3rd trip with Greg and Jose and I cannot praise them enough. Excellent lodges with superb food are chosen to complement the amazing locations, which provide a wide selection of photo opportunities. Greg is a patient, experienced photographer, who readily imparts his knowledge to the clients and does not mind repeating what he has said when you don't always get it right or forget. I have learnt so much about taking photographs and the use of flash."

Moira G., Scotland

"While many photo tour leaders in the industry spend much of their time during tours photographing for themselves instead of working directly with their clients, Greg hardly used his gear except for demonstration purposes."

Kathy R,, Australia

"We just came back from our second photography trip with Greg Basco and Foto Verde Tours, and it was another amazing experience. Not only were there incredible opportunities to achieve amazing images but the places that we visited and stayed were truly wonderful. The tour was well organized with diverse locations to shoot and great food at every meal. Greg is a fantastic photographer, and as a tour leader he was wholly focused on his tour participants. He was constantly working with us, sharing his insights and expertise to ensure that we came home with great images. We can't wait for our next trip with Greg!"

Jim & Hali S., USA

"Dear Greg and Paulo, thank you both (and Jose) for a truly exceptional trip to Costa Rica - I have taken lots of trips over the past twenty years but have never come across guys who have worked so hard and thoughtfully to get us the right shots in the right light and the right circumstances. It has been a truly outstanding experience!!!"

Charles S., UK

Meet the Team

Greg Basco

Greg's nature photography from Latin America is highly regarded around the world. He is the author of numerous articles, books, and e-books. Greg is responsible for scouting and developing itineraries and photo opportunities for the company.

Paulo Valerio

Paulo is an ecologist by training and later became a tourism entrepreneur and nature photographer. Paulo is the General Manager of the company and is in charge of coordinating all of our legal, financial, and operational procedures.