About Us

We’re a team of 4 photographers working from our home towns in Slovenia, Germany, England and Wales. We care deeply about making PhotoHound a quality product that connects us as photographers and inspires us to explore creatively and responsibly. Plus we want to have fun.

Our Values

These are the values that guide the actions and decisions we take daily as a company and community…

Responsible

We put nature, cultures and others before our creative goals.

We share our successes and give back to our community and the environment

We are accountable for our actions and decisions; we hold our hands up if we’re wrong.

Inclusive

We are a welcoming and positive space for all photographers.

We value diversity, equity and inclusion.

We recognise that the thoughts, feelings, and backgrounds of others are as valuable as our own.

Impact

We lead by example and make a collective impact through small changes.

We are committed to building a brand that makes a positive difference.

We think of the bigger picture and make sure our actions match our words.

Inspirational

We inspire one another with our passion for photography and exploring.

We create beautiful products that inspire.

We remind ourselves daily that we are here to have fun!

Transparency – No dogshit!

We openly share our knowledge and skills with one another.

We have an honest, no-ego approach to all we do.

We work transparently to create a culture of trust.

Our Story

Back in 2012, Jules (Renahan) and I (Luka Esenko) went in search of a beautiful viewpoint above the Planina Plains that I’d heard about from my photographer friends but never shot from. Long story short (and a wasted trip downhill and back up again!), we realised when we looked again at the scrap of paper with our scribbled notes that we’d taken the wrong path out of the car parking spot. We did make it to the viewpoint –  just a bit later than planned!

At the time, Jules joked that there seemed to be an app for every aspect of life, and wouldn’t it be great if we’d had a handy app to direct us to the spot to catch the early light on that autumn morning. Cue light bulb moment…! 

Some months later, having won some funding in a start-up competition, the first version of PhotoHound (Snapp Guides) was born. We saw it as a sort of digital Lonely Planet for photographers who loved to plan their shoots and travelled for their photography. 

One fan of our guides was Wales-based travel photographer, Mathew Browne. He purchased our guide to North Wales and went on to make his own guide to South Wales plus many others for us. In 2017 we approached him to join the team and he became our CTO.

Then, in January 2020, nature photographer Anton Averin reached out to after hearing my podcast with F-Stop Collaborate & Listen on finding photo locations and responsible photography. He loved our move to PhotoHound, the curation of community content and our views on sharing and stewarding photo spots responsibly. Not long afterwards he joined us to develop the new PhotoHound app.

We decided that if we used our passion for photography, together with our joint technology and customer service skills, not only could we build the location finding app and website of our dreams, but we could also bring together a community of like-minded photographers who believe that, if done well, sharing photo spots could be done responsibly and socially. Now we had our company!

Luka Esenko