PhotoTrek Tours

I love photos and was determined to not come home with a camera full of pictures of my boyfriend and me alone so looked around and found phototrek, We took the 3 hour tour on the 28th December 2008 and thought it was very good, was a bit apprehensive as could only find reviews on this site and they all seemed positive which made me doubt it! (thats just me ha ha) really glad we did it, ended up with 145 great photos. My least favourite bit was the amount of time we spent in the village and soho, i did feel that this could have been more condensed but dont get me wrong i loved it and would defiantley do it again. Marc was very accomodating and would happily change the order of the tour to suit you if required.

Not being naturally predisposed to reading city guides and making plans for touring, we selected phototrek to give us a kick-start overview of New York and at the same time have someone else take the photos for a change. Marc's Phototrek acheived exactly that! Marc knew his city and knew it well. He gave us the typical whirlwind tour that covered all the main features and most importantly gave us confidence that we could continue to explore on our own. I think the winning feature of the tour concept was that it was personal. Sure it was clear Marc had done this numerous times before, but for that time, it was only Marc and us. If there was a negative, it was that every photo was dominated by ourselves. A few with us being a little less dominating might have been good. But that is us! At the end of the day the trek was everything it was advertised to be. Rapid overview and numerous photos of us!

great idea we always return from holiday with great pictures but none of us together this solved that problem we now have 100 pictures of us all over NY and we got a locals insight to NY from how to ride the subway to the best jazz bars in town

We had a great time with our tour guide he made it fun!!

First off I would like to say this was our first trip to New York City coming from Canada. We had advised Mark of this and told him we wanted to make this photo trip special being it was our first anniversary together. As a tour guide Mark was fantastic, as we went from photo location to photo location Mark was quick to point out local landmarks in the vicinity and provide history of the area we were in. Valuable as well, was Mark introducing us to the New York City Subway system which can be overwhelming at first but with Marks guidance we were able to fuigure out the system and this became an asset as our holiday moved along. As for the pictures Mark took we were both pleased and disappointed. Out of a total of 170 pictures taken by Mark that day, 37 were either over exposed or out of focus. Out of the approximately 7-8 action shots where we were walking only 2 were in focus. Some shots we did not know Mark was taking them so we were either looking away from him or trying to fix wind blown hair. In Mark's defence it was an extremely rainny, windy day but some adavnced notice of him taking the picture would have allowed for us to be ready. I would not recommend this tour in incliment conditions as it makes it hard to get good qualilty pictures as well as due to the low lighting the flash seemed to wash out many pictures. There were some very memorable pictures taken by Mark, however our only regret is that due to the weather there were not more. Due to time constraints you only have so much time and cannot go back and retake pictures once you are done.

We've been to NYC several times, so wanted to do something non-touristy. Marc was a pleasant guide and we really moved around the city on a very, hot July day. We are enjoying our photo CD and it's fun responding to the question, "were you really in Times Square or is that a photo backdrop." Got our Christmas photo all picked out! HINT: don't bring large bags or backpacks, hard to take good photos with those on your shoulders.

We did the tour on the 1st september 2010, the photo tour was amazing the man who did our tour was lovely and we enjoyed every min, it was nice to get some information and history about new york and learnt a lot from the tour guide, the pictures we got was fantastic and we would highly recommend it to anybody going to new york. Thank you so much for a fantastic tour and lovely photos

Had a great time with Marc! We did the two hour 8am tour on our first full day in the city. We have fabulous pictures in Times Square and Central Park! It'll be hard to choose which ones to print/frame there are so many great ones. We also have some wonderful photos of us on the Brooklyn Bridge and a few in Soho. The Soho pictures are probably the least satisfying. The biggest reason is our own fault, but also the area is nice to walk and look around in- not as nice as a background for photos. In retrospect, would have loved more pictures in Central Park (or even in the Chelsea Pier/Washington Park area) instead. Marc gave us some great recommendations on places to eat at and see while in New York. There were places we never would have gone, and then loved, without Marc's suggestion. He also gave us an education on the subway system and advise on our specific itinerary & on how to get tickets for shows. Because of this we're glad we did the tour near the beginning of our trip. We had our CD with the [130+] photos three days after our trek which was within the time frame we'd been promised. We've already recommended this to several of our friends, and if we come back to NYC we plan on doing this again! TIPS: Make sure you (and everyone in your group) keep your perma-smile on! If you start getting hungry or distracted- do it after the pictures have been taken. The best photos are the one where you're looking at the camera. Also if you feel squinty because of the sun- especially on the Brooklyn Bridge- just put on your sunglasses! It is much better to have a bunch of photos with sunglasses that turn out with you smiling, rather than a pile of pictures with you making stupid faces trying to smile and look at the camera with the sun shining in your face.

This was the highlight of our trip. Marc was excellent! He was very personable, seemed interested in us, and took 150 pictures of us around the city. We had a great time.

Our tour guide Marc was wonderful, not only was very knowledgable, he was friendly and funny. He took the time to listen to our requests, make great suggestions and give us much more information about the city that I am certain any other tour guide would have since we were full of questions. Marc's photographs were great!!! It really captured the fun we had. In addition, when it was time to go, Marc made sure that we got a cab, suggested a great place for lunch, WE TOOK HIS SUGGESTION AND WE LOVED IT. Ended up staying for a few hours and enjoying discussing the tour and the cites. I would definately recommend this tour again and, if you could ask for Marc it would be even better!!!! See ya next time New York!!!

This was absolutely one of the funnest items we did on our trip, and we did a lot. Coming into the Phototrek tour, we really wanted to take advantage of the incite and knowledge that a local would give to us, and Marc went above and beyond our expectations. He was very knowledgable, personable, and a fantastic host to his hometown of New York. We will be recommending this trip to all of our friends that visit the great city of New York. Thanks a million Marc!

Would highly recomend this activity, we had a great time and the photos were good even though the weather was not as it rained for most of the day.

Marc was fabulous and the pictures were fabulous. Highly recommend this tour!!!

Although some of the photos taken on this "tour" were some of my favorite of our vacation, they were no better quality than others taken by strangers we handed our camera to on the street. Yes, the photographer had a nicer camera than ours (though not a professional camera), but many of the photos he took were out of focus. One of the locations we went to had no usable photos. Also the web site suggested that there would be many famous locations included in the photos when actually there were only three. In that location there was not time enough to even look around. The photographer took no time to get to know our likes and dislikes or interests. He shot his "stock" spots but did not even point out the large "clump" of my hair that was across my forehead until the last few pics of the entire shot. Many of the photos would have been great if not for that one detail. As far as a "tour" this was anything but. The photographer spoke incessantly about the subway and how to use it (despite my husband telling him he had lived in the city in the past). He did not let us get a word in edgewise, not even to speak to one another. When we did ask about landmarks other than the most famous, he did not know anything about them. Overall, I would call the photographer amateur while, for the price, one would expect a professional. It was nice to have someone to take pictures of us together without having to ask a stranger to do it, although we accomplished this quite easily on our own by asking other tourists to take pics of us with our camera. If I had known ahead of time that it would be that easy I would not have booked a photographer. Because of that and the amateur quality of many of the photos, I would not recommend this service.

It was just the two of us, so it was wonderful to have someone take pictures of the BOTH of us instead of either having just one of us in all of the pics, or bugging other people to take pictures that may or may not be any good. The pictures are beautiful. Also, being first timers to NYC, he gave recommendations about certain areas and restaurants we would personally enjoy and also REALLY helped us learn the subway system. That was one of the best parts of this tour. We learned so much that we would have had no idea about, if it weren't for him. (By the way Marc~ if you are reading this, we ROCKED the subway system the days after your tour thanks to you!! We even rode the bus and knew to use our metro-card.) ~ Kerissa & Danielle Knoxville, Tennessee