Adventure Mentorship: A Program

for Overlanding & Outdoor Skills 

Or, The “Adventureship,” teaches you the other essential skills of photography - the ones that don’t involve cameras at all - and helps you apply them to the traditional photographic skills you already know.

Capturing the best landscape and wildlife images is so much more than just knowing your camera settings and how to frame your subject.

What the professionals know and the amateurs don’t is that there’s a whole lifestyle associated with consistently coming home with award-worthy shots, and that lifestyle is designed to put you in the right place at the right time, every time.

If you’ve ever slept overnight in your car so you could be on-location for a shot at dawn, hired a jeep to take you deep into the backcountry, or rented a camper van for a photo trip abroad, then you have tasted this lifestyle, and you know what we’re talking about. You’ve gone to these lengths to assure that you don’t miss out on a magical moment because the closest hotel is too far of a drive, or the only car rental available is a sedan that doesn’t have the clearance to get you to the best vantage point. 

But what if you could create a rig of your own, equip it with all the essential gear, supplies and safety measures, and take your “lean, mean, photo dream machine” anywhere your heart desires? You could get as close to nature and the best photo spots as you could possibly hope for, while still eating and sleeping in relative comfort.


This is where our latest and most unique mentorship offering comes in; The Overland & Outdoor Skills Mentorship teaches you the essential skills of photography that no one else does - the part that doesn’t involve cameras at all - and helps you to apply it to the part you already know - lighting, composition, exposure, and camera techniques and technology.

BlueHour founder, Paul Nguyen, is not only an acclaimed professional still photographer, but also a sponsored overlander and outdoor filmmaker with a lifetime of experience in the wilderness. In this program, Paul will teach you the modern approaches and skills that go into preparing and equipping yourself and your vehicle for traveling and working in the backcountry, creating comfortable sleeping and eating arrangements for living in the outdoors for days or weeks at a time no matter what type of rig you have, and navigating through unfamiliar terrain to reach photo vantage points.

This program is tailored specifically to your own ambitions and expectations. You do not need to own any particular outdoor or overland travel setup in advance of this program other than your existing camera gear. If you do not already own the vehicle and equipment that you wish to learn to use, we will suggest vehicle rental options and equipment purchases. Whether you aspire to travel in an SUV with just a tent, a sleeping pad and a stove, or you would like to build out a more ambitious overland rig or even a self-contained RV, this program will help you.

Skills & Techniques You’ll Learn

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    Equipment for personal and vehicular travel in the backcountry. Learning the limits of your vehicle, and knowing what safety and recovery equipment to carry. How to use recovery equipment such as winches, traction boards, tow straps, and jacks.

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    Learning the differences between public land designations and what they mean for you. How to find the ideal free, improvised, or low-cost campsite for your rig on public land.

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    Off-road driving, including adjusting tire pressure for different surfaces, and how to use gearing and four-wheel drive effectively. Navigation and mapping for backcountry adventures.

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    Food preparation while on the road. Strategies for storing food, even when you don’t have active refrigeration.

  • ✺

    Leave No Trace principles, and how to recreate ethically and responsibly.

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    How to integrate these backcountry and overland skills into a complete photography lifestyle, whether your photo trip is a few days, a few weeks, or even longer.

What’s included

Getting to Know You

The program begins with a free half hour phone consultation, where we will gauge your interests and ambitions, and determine if the program is a right fit.

Upon enrollment, we’ll send you a questionnaire to determine your skill and comfort level with various aspects of outdoor travel and photography, and recommend potential program locations for you.

The “Heart” of the Adventure

We will have two, 2-hour online discussion and learning sessions well in advance of the on-location portion of the program that cover the equipment, supplies, and apps/programs you will need, the vehicle(s) you may need to rent, and various skills to learn and practice. 

Once these preliminary steps are completed, we will spend five days together, comprised of on-location practice, experience and photography in the outdoors with your rig as your home-away-from-home.

Follow Up

Post-program, we will meet online and have a discussion to go over areas of development and offer feedback on your photos.

Program Locations

Program Locations vary with the seasons, and include,
but are not limited to:

    • Sunset Crater and the cinder cones and ponderosa pine forests of Flagstaff

    • The Joshua tree “highway” of Western Arizona

    • The high elevation forests and sweeping viewpoints of the Kaibab Plateau and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

    • The Mount Rainier National Forest

    • The volcanic landscape of Lassen National Forest

    • The desert landscape and box canyons of the Blythe Intaglios and Indio

Meet Paul: Your Outdoor Guide

Paul Nguyen has lived and worked from coast to coast across the U.S., and has over 35 years of experience in film and digital photography. He specializes in digital photography of natural landscapes and wildlife, and capturing the authentic experience of outdoor adventure and exploration through his video series.

In April 2017, he served in the prestigious National Park Artist in Residence program at Petrified Forest, Arizona, and continues to create programs for the National Park Service. His accomplishments also include an exclusive assignment as a photographer for the Boston Museum of Science, and a position as a program guide and brand ambassador for Swedish outfitter Fjällräven.

His noteworthy image-making and teaching in the realm of photography have gained him sponsorships from Tamron USA and Sun Surveyor, and his acclaimed adventure and overlanding videos have led to numerous outdoor equipment sponsorships.

Hailing from Massachusetts and now based out of Flagstaff, AZ, Paul spends most of the year exploring the western U.S. to research photo tour destinations and create video content. You may run into him, his Jeep, his trailer, and his cat somewhere along your own travels. Despite the distance, he maintains an active connection to New England camera clubs, and continues to serve as a remote lecturer and competition judge.

You can view his professional photography on his website, or follow along on his Overlanding adventures on his Youtube Channel.

Limited Enrollment Only

Limited Enrollment Only

Ready for an Adventure?

Adventure Mentorship:

A program for Overlanding & Outdoor Skills

$5000

This cost reflects the total program fee. Registrations made before September 1, 2025 for program completion in 2025/2026 lock in this rate. A $2,000 nonrefundable deposit is required for registration with the remainder due 90 days before program commencement.