Happy Earth Day!

& Happy 10 Years to Being in Business.

When we began BlueHour…it was originally because of our love for the outdoors. BlueHour was a way for us to share our knowledge, skills, and to more fully experience our world outdoors with others. It was a way for us to spend more time in the places we love most, doing what we love most.

Over the past 10 years, BlueHour has evolved.

Paul Nguyen founded BlueHour in 2014, and Allie joined as a partner a year later. We began by offering a handful of short workshops all over New England. Imagine - we taught a 3 day workshop in Acadia National Park for the low low price of — $85! It is mind-boggling to think about the amount of hours, sweat, (and yes, tears too) that have gone into making BlueHour what it is today. We couldn’t do what we do without our wonderful team of workshop instructors, who now offer some 50 workshops per calendar year with us. Whether they’ve been teaching with us for many years (special shoutout to David Long - our first instructor and still with us today) or are brand new and still finding their footing, we are so grateful for them. They have enabled us to reach further, and make BlueHour accessible to every New England state and beyond.

In 2015, we launched our very first official “photo tour” to the Canadian Rockies. We ran a Kickstarter campaign the year prior to fund our scouting trip to be able to do this. Every dollar given to us from that campaign was put to proper use: every shoot was pre-planned before even arriving in Canada. We camped outside. We cooked our own food. Every minute was spent outdoors to prepare for that tour. The original Canadian Rockies tour was a huge success, and one person from that group still travels with us every year to this day.

We continue to lead fun, photo-focused tours to popular destinations all over. We have hosted tours to Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Arizona & Utah, Oregon, Washington, Yellowstone & Grand Teton, Charleston & Savannah, The Azores Islands, and have been able to visit places like the Faroe Islands and Nova Scotia. We have won over hobbyists, lifelong learners, travelers and professionally-minded photographers who plan their calendars around our offerings.

We love what we have accomplished. We love that there are so many photographers out there that want to learn with us.

There were certainly - certainly many ups and downs in this journey. COVID was particularly bad for us, and all-things tourism. But it has also renewed a need for exploration and the drive to spend more time outdoors. National Parks and natural areas continually report record-high visitation, and with that come record problems. Throughout the post-Covid period, we’ve thought about our role as a business as it pertains to our world around us. As a tourism business, and specifically as photographers who inspire others to visit natural places, we want to help reduce this impact. We want to be responsible business owners, teachers, visitors and humans. As leaders in this field, we think it necessary to take a stance and make preservation a part of our mission. So that our favorite photo locations will still be there for us for many years to come.

So that is why we are celebrating our 10th year by officially partnering with Leave No Trace.

Leave No Trace is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing Leave No Trace programs, education, training and outreach in all 50 states and more than 100 countries around the globe. Utilizing the power of science, education for all, and stewardship to support and protect nature, Leave No Trace is on a mission to ensure a sustainable future for the outdoors and the planet. Learn more at: www.LNT.org.

All of our instructors are trained in LNT principles, and we hope to extend this to our students.

What does this mean for BlueHour?

BlueHour will remain largely unchanged, however, you will see us practicing the LNT principles in everything we do. We will be sharing more about LNT, stewardship of nature and LNT ideals as it pertains to photography and travel, and we hope to foster a more positive community among photographers where we shoot. According to research, just one person who is trained in Leave No Trace principles goes on to educate 256 additional people. So beyond creating and teaching others how to make beautiful photographs, we can make a big difference in a whole other, very important way.

Join us in this venture and take the pledge to take better care of our Earth.