Meet Brad Manard | RMNPhotographer Tours

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brad Manard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brad, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When I retired after 39 years as an educator, 27 years as a school superintendent, I moved to Estes Park with the intent of starting a new adventure. Immediately, I began giving tours 2-3 days a week combining my love for Rocky Mountain National Park, hobby as a nature and wildlife photographer, and ability to related to people. Then the pandemic hit. That’s where the idea for RMNPhotographer Tours began. To answer people’s health concerns and desire to see Rocky Mountain National Park, I developed the concept of RMNPhotographer offering private tours in the guest’s personal vehicle. It provides a high level of comfort for the guests, and we go at their pace focusing on what they want to see. Also, everybody has a camera from cell phones to high end cameras, so we try to give our guest the opportunity to photograph throughout the park. We know the best scenic photography locations, places for family pictures, and where we will likely find wildlife. We want our guests to leave with a lifetime of memories captured on their cameras. Started as a seasonal, part-time business, we hoped to do 100 tours the first year. We exceed that goal by doing 225 tours. We now operated from May 20-October 15, have five highly professional guides, and operate up to five tours per day. Our guides all have photographic experience in RMNP and come from professional backgrounds including education, management, and the medical field.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
During my 39 years as a educator, the last 27 as a school superintendent in Iowa, I was known as Dr. Manard, yet I always felt like Brad. I liked that personable, down to earth way of relating to people. That’s how I felt on vacations in Estes Park. I began going to Estes Park as a high school student attending camp at the YMCA of the Rockies. That’s when I feel in love with the outdoor world and Rocky Mountain National Park. Between then and when I retired in 2021, Estes was my go-to vacation spot. I’d go once or twice a year with my Rebel Canon camera and take pictures of elk. Through those experiences, I joked that when I retired, I was going to be a tour driver in Rocky Mountain National Park. I knew it would be a way of combining my people, educational, and photography skills to share RMNP in a way that enhanced others’ interest and love for the park. Within a week of being retired, I moved to Estes Park, met a local tour owner, and began driving 2-3 days a week. It was fun, and there was a difference from my previous role. As a school superintendent, no matter what decision I made, someone, somebody always disagreed. It was the nature of such a public and often political role. But as a guiding taking people on tours into the park, they were excited, interested, and enthusiastic. Everybody was happy, and I was able to add to their enthusiasm with my knowledge of the park. And everybody calls me Brad. It was from that knowledge and experience that RMNPhotographer Tours was conceived.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Everybody that comes to RMNP wants to see the park, but wildlife is what they’re truly excited to see. As a photographer in the park nearly every day, I know where the wildlife can be found and about what time. So we organize RMNPhotographer Tours around the special interest areas of the park where we know we’ll have the best chance of spotting bighorn sheep, deer, elk, and moose. For many people, it’s the first time in their life they’ve seen these animals. So our tours are designed to stop, enjoy, appreciate, and photography wildlife. Our tours focus on what the guest want to see, then we strive to deliver.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ve always thought that retirement was not an end, but a new beginning. As an educator, the concept of being a life long learner was deeply ingrained in my thought process. I knew when I retired I would continue writing books in addition to the four I’d already published, but my escape, my adventure was nature and wildlife photography. Influenced by photographers like Thomas Mangelsen and Estes Park’s own Richard Hahn, I wanted to use this motivation to pursue my interest and improve on my photography skills.

Website: RMNPhotographer.com & bradmanardphotography.com

Instagram: estesparktours_rmnphotographer, rmnphotographerestespark, & rmnp_tours_rmnphotographer

Facebook: RMNPhotographer – Estes Park & RMNPhotographerTours

Image Credits
All photos taken by Brad Manard except those with Brad as the subject. Those photos were taken by. Carolyn Manard.