TUI National Geographic Day Tours Photography in Portugal

Working with TUI’s content team in Portugal

I travelled to Portugal with members of TUI’s content team. Each day, we met local destination staff, suppliers and guides responsible for the excursions being photographed.

This local knowledge was essential.

The guides understood the stories, communities and locations behind each experience. TUI’s destination teams helped coordinate access and kept the schedule moving, while the content team ensured we captured the variety of photographs required across different marketing channels.

Travel photography assignments rarely operate like controlled studio shoots. Locations remain open to the public, weather conditions change, schedules move, and the light is not always ideal.

Over five days, I needed to work quickly while still producing a consistent collection of commercially useful images.

Photographing National Geographic Day Tours

Part of the assignment involved photographing National Geographic Day Tours available through TUI.

To be completely clear, I was commissioned by TUI’s content team rather than directly by National Geographic. The tours themselves formed part of the collaboration between the two organisations.

The photography needed to reflect the qualities associated with the experiences: local knowledge, cultural understanding, access, storytelling and meaningful interaction with the destination.

Rather than simply photographing people standing in front of landmarks, I looked for moments that showed the tours in progress.

That included guides explaining the history of a location, visitors listening and responding, people tasting local produce, groups moving through historic spaces and the smaller interactions that made each experience feel personal.

Locations and experiences photographed

The assignment covered a broad mixture of excursions and destination content across Lisbon and the surrounding region.

Ericeira and Portugal’s fishing heritage

Ericeira offered a strong mix of coastal landscapes, fishing boats, working harbour details, and traditional architecture.

The photography needed to capture both the beauty of the Atlantic coastline and the area’s connection to fishing.

Wide images established the location, while closer photographs of boats, harbour activity and guides helped add more depth to the story.

Wine and food photography in Bucelas

The Bucelas photography included a winery visit and wine tasting, with guests learning about the region and sampling local wine.

Wine cellars can be visually impressive but difficult to photograph. They often combine very dark areas with bright spotlights, reflective glass and mixed colour temperatures.

I created a mixture of atmospheric interior photography, natural interactions, wine details and wider photographs showing the overall experience.

Lisbon’s underground water system

The Mãe d’Água das Amoreiras Reservoir and Lisbon’s underground galleries created a completely different photographic environment.

The reservoir offered striking architecture, reflections and a sense of scale. The narrower underground passages required a more documentary approach, showing visitors moving through the tunnels while preserving the location's atmosphere.

My 16-35mm wide-angle lens was particularly useful in these confined spaces, allowing me to show more of the environment without needing to move far away from the group.

Photographing a Fado performance in low light

The Fado dinner was one of the most technically challenging parts of the assignment.

The performance took place in a very dark and atmospheric environment. The lighting helped create the mood for the audience, but it was not designed with commercial photography in mind.

I needed enough shutter speed to avoid motion blur from the performers while keeping image noise under control and preserving the room's intimate feel.

I brought compact continuous lighting with me, which allowed me to add enough light where necessary without making the setting look artificially bright or destroying the atmosphere.

The aim was not to turn the venue into a studio. It was to gently improve the existing light while allowing the musicians, the singer, and the audience to continue naturally.

Working confidently in low light is important for travel and cultural photography. Flash or excessive lighting can distract performers, affect customers and completely change the character of an experience.

I used a similar approach when photographing live entertainment in extremely challenging low light at Coco Bongo in Mexico.

Lisbon, Sintra and Peniche destination photography

Alongside the scheduled excursions, I created wider destination imagery throughout the assignment.

This included Lisbon’s historic streets, viewpoints, architecture, monuments and trams, as well as coastal and aerial photographs around locations including Sintra and Peniche.

These additional photographs helped give TUI a more complete image library.

A tour may be the main product being promoted, but the surrounding destination still plays a major role in the customer’s decision. Establishing photographs of the city, coastline and local architecture provide context and help content teams build a fuller story around the experience.

Adding drone photography to the assignment

Drone photography was included at selected locations where conditions, access and permissions allowed.

I arranged the required permissions before travelling, rather than arriving and assuming a flight would be possible.

International drone work requires proper planning. Regulations, restricted airspace, landowner access, weather, crowds and local requirements all need to be considered before the aircraft leaves the ground.

The aerial photographs added a different sense of scale and location to the final library, particularly around coastal towns and wider destination views.

Drone images work best when they add useful information rather than simply being included because they look dramatic. They can show the relationship between a town and the coast, the layout of a destination or the wider landscape surrounding an excursion.

You can see more examples of my drone and aerial photography.