Frequently asked questions

If your question is not here, the contact page reaches the studio, and a person answers. These answers reflect how the journal works today; where a policy is involved, the linked policy page is the authoritative version.

About the journal and the author

What is Traveling Goose Photography?

It is an independent editorial journal about the craft of travel photography, published by Traveling Goose Photography LLC from Albuquerque, New Mexico. It publishes long-form essays on technique and fieldwork, organized into two sections: Aloft, on making pictures while you travel, and Afield, on making them once you land. It is a publication, not a shop or a service. Its only product is the writing you are reading.

Who writes it?

One person: June “Goose” Aldaco, a travel photographer who has worked from the high desert for the better part of two decades. She writes the essays, checks the facts, draws or directs the illustrations, and answers the mail. You can read more on the about page, and the plain business facts are on the company page.

Why is it called Traveling Goose Photography?

Every winter, tens of thousands of snow geese gather along the Rio Grande an hour south of the studio. Years of driving down before dawn to photograph them earned the author the nickname Goose, and when the journal needed a name, that one was already waiting. There is a full essay about that morning in the Afield section.

Is this a travel agency, a shop, or a school?

No. The journal sells nothing: no tours, no workshops, no presets, no prints through this site, and no gear. It takes no bookings and brokers no travel, and it is not affiliated with any airline, airport, booking platform, or camera maker. It is an editorial publication, and that independence is the point of it.

How the photographs and words are made

Are the images on the site photographs?

The plates that head each essay are original illustrations, drawn for this journal, not photographs. They depict the situations the essays describe, and they do not show any real, identifiable company, aircraft, product, or person. Keeping the artwork in-house is what lets the site stay fast, consistent, and unmistakably its own. The author's commissioned photography is licensed separately and mostly lives in print.

Do you use software or AI to make the site?

Yes, the way any studio uses its tools. Ordinary editing software, and modern assisted-writing and illustration tools, may be used while drafting essays and producing the plates, much as a light table or a spell-checker always was. Every published page is then read, fact-checked against its listed sources, and approved by a human, who is responsible for all of it. The How we work page describes this in more detail.

How do you check facts?

Where an essay states something a reader might act on, such as a security rule, a battery limit, a wildlife-area access rule, or an astronomical time, it is verified against an official or public source before publication, and that source is listed in plain text at the foot of the essay. The notes are text rather than links on purpose, so that searching the title takes you to the current official version instead of a page that may have moved.

What camera do I need, and why do you never name brands?

Whatever you already own, including the phone in your pocket. The essays describe equipment generically because the methods here are about light, timing, and attention, not hardware. Naming brands starts arguments, dates quickly, and blurs the line between teaching and advertising. If a technique only worked with one expensive object, it would be an advertisement rather than a method, and this journal keeps those out of its essays entirely.

Using the material

Can I reuse your essays or illustrations?

The writing and artwork belong to Traveling Goose Photography LLC and are protected by copyright. You are welcome to read, link to any page, and share those links anywhere. You may not republish an essay or illustration in whole or in large part, or present the work as your own, without written permission, which you can request through the contact page. The full rules are in the terms of use.

Can I quote a passage?

Yes, briefly, for comment, criticism, teaching, or news, with attribution to Traveling Goose Photography and, where you can, a link to the page. A fair quotation supports a point of your own; it is not a stand-in for the whole essay. Students and teachers asking for a little more latitude are usually told yes.

Can I use the site to train a machine-learning model?

No. Scraping or bulk-copying the site, including for training generative or machine-learning models, is not permitted, as set out in the terms of use. If you have a genuine research use in mind, write and ask.

Advertising, funding, and independence

How is the journal funded?

By its publisher, Traveling Goose Photography LLC. To help cover hosting and production, the site may in future display clearly labeled third-party advertising, kept visually separate from the essays. There are no sponsored posts and no affiliate links, and advertisers cannot buy mentions, placements, or reviews. The full account is in the advertising disclosure.

Do you accept sponsorships, free trips, or review units?

No. The journal accepts no free travel, no press trips, and no review products, and it takes no payment for coverage. That is the simplest way to keep what it says trustworthy: when it recommends something, nothing bought the recommendation.

Are there ads on the site right now?

At the moment, no advertising network and no analytics service are running. The cookie policy is written to cover the possibility that consent-based advertising or aggregate analytics could be added later, because it is more honest to describe that in advance. If either is switched on, it would load only after you accept optional storage, and the cookie policy would be updated first.

Privacy and cookies

What information do you collect about me?

Almost nothing. There are no accounts and no checkout. The only personal information the site holds is what you type into the contact form, plus the routine technical logs any web host keeps. The full picture, including retention windows and the rights you hold, is in the privacy policy.

Do you use cookies?

Today the site stores exactly one small item in your browser, and only to remember the choice you make in the cookie notice. Anything optional, such as analytics or advertising storage, is off by default and would run only with your consent. The complete, dated inventory is in the cookie policy.

How do I make a privacy request?

Email [email protected], or use the contact form and choose the privacy topic. Tell us what you would like, for example what we hold about you, or to delete a message you sent, and a person will handle it within the window the law requires.

Reaching us and practical questions

How do I get in touch, and how fast will you reply?

Use the contact form, which reaches the studio inbox. A person answers within two business days, and often the same day. Studio hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Mountain Time. Corrections are read first.

Do you offer workshops, tours, or prints?

No. The journal teaches through its essays and nothing else. There are no workshops, tours, or print sales through this site, and no gear to buy. If that ever changes, it will be announced plainly rather than slipped in.

Can I write a guest post or arrange a link?

No. The journal has a single author and does not publish guest posts, sponsored articles, or paid placements, and it does not sell or trade links. Declining these is part of keeping the publication independent.