Hiring a West Virginia Tourism Photographer for Your CVB
A tourism campaign lives or dies on its visuals. You can have the best copywriting in the world, but if the photos don't make someone stop scrolling and think "I need to go there" — the budget was wasted. It's something every CVB marketing director and tourism board knows from experience.
So when it comes time to hire a West Virginia tourism photographer, the question isn't just "who takes good pictures?" It's "who actually knows this place well enough to make it look the way it feels?"
That's a different question entirely.
WHAT TOURISM BOARDS ACTUALLY NEED FROM A PHOTOGRAPHER
Most destination marketing organizations need a lot more than a single shoot day. A well-rounded content campaign typically includes:
Wide establishing shots — the sweeping aerial and landscape images that anchor a campaign and communicate the scale of a destination
Lifestyle and activity coverage — real people doing real things: hiking, skiing, paddling, eating at local restaurants, exploring small towns
Seasonal variety — WV looks completely different in October foliage vs. January powder vs. July greenery, and great campaigns reflect that
Multi-platform assets — horizontal for websites and print, vertical for Instagram and TikTok, square for ads. A good West Virginia tourism content creator delivers assets ready to use across all channels, not just one format
Authentic local feel — stock-photo energy doesn't cut it anymore. Travelers can tell the difference between a generic mountain photo and one taken by someone who's actually been on that trail 50 times
That last one is where the real gap usually shows up. You can fly in a talented photographer from outside the state — but they're going to spend half the shoot figuring out logistics that a local already has dialed in.
WHY LOCAL EXPERTISE CHANGES EVERYTHING
When you work with a photographer who's based at the destination, you get a different level of output. The lighting windows, the hidden overlooks, the trail conditions, the seasonal timing, the relationships with local guides and venues — that knowledge doesn't come from a location scout. It comes from years of actually living and working there.
Wildhare Media is based at Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia. Lead photographer Kurt Schachner has spent a decade shooting in the WV mountains — everything from Pocahontas County's backcountry trails to the resort landscape at Snowshoe. His work as an in-house Media Producer at Snowshoe Mountain Resort means he's spent years producing exactly the kind of destination content that tourism campaigns need, with the access and local fluency to back it up.
Recent projects include the People Magazine West Virginia Travel Guide shoot — a regional campaign showcasing the depth and diversity of what WV has to offer visitors. That's the level of editorial and commercial work that translates directly to CVB and tourism board campaigns.
DRONE COVERAGE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
One thing that's non-negotiable in modern destination marketing is aerial photography. A drone shot over a ridge at sunrise, or an aerial tracking a kayaker down a river, does something that a ground-level photo simply can't — it puts the viewer inside the landscape and lets them feel the scale of the place.
Kurt is an FAA Part 107 certified drone pilot, which means legal, commercial-grade aerial coverage for tourism campaigns and destination marketing projects. Not hobbyist drone footage — licensed, insured, high-quality aerial photography and video cleared for commercial use across print, digital, and broadcast.
For CVBs, tourism commissions, and local businesses looking to attract visitors, that combination of ground-level storytelling and aerial coverage in a single photographer makes a real difference in the scope and quality of what you get back.
READY TO START A TOURISM CONTENT PROJECT?
Whether you're planning a seasonal campaign, a destination guide, or a content library for your CVB or tourism commission, Wildhare Media is set up to handle it. Based in Pocahontas County, available to travel statewide and beyond for the right project.
Check out the Tourism content page ( West Virginia Tourism Photographer | Wildhare Media ) to see the work and get in touch. A quick conversation is usually all it takes to figure out if we're a good fit for your project.