Free Olympic National Park Webinar

This weekend, we will open registration on Facebook for another free webinar. In the past, we've had students tell us they wished they'd known about upcoming webinars sooner - so we're giving you a few days notice before we start accepting registrants.

This webinar will focus on Olympic National Park in Washington. Facebook fans will be able to sign up as soon as registration opens this weekend. You can find our facebook page by clicking the link below:

Click to see our Facebook Page

Free Olympic National Park Webinar
Location: Online
Date: May 9, 2010
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 PM EST

This seminar will focus on shooting in Olympic National Park and the techniques we use to capture some of our images. We'll show lots of photos, so you can see what the park looks like, and we'll talk a bit about what students can expect if they join us for one of our workshops.

We hope that you will be able to join us. Feel free to post questions here on our blog - or on Facebook.

Upcoming Workshop: Olympic National Park

A lot of planning goes into a photograph like this one - and a bit of luck. After consulting weather charts, we realized that the Washington coastline would be cloudless on this particular morning - so we decided to try our luck at Lake Crescent. We hoped that high humidity in the region would leave us with mist over the lake - and it did! We roamed a section of the lake shore looking for promising spots, and when the sun began to peak through the mist, we were ready for it.

Olympic is a fantastic park. It is home to a variety of lakes, rivers, and waterfalls, lush temperate rain forests, sprawling rocky beaches, and the beautiful Mount Olympus. We have spent a lot of time exploring this park, and this year, we've decided to offer a Photo Tour. We hope you'll join us!


Olympic National Park Workshop
Friday, May 28, 2010 - Monday, May 31, 2010
Regular Price: $949 per person
Price for former Students: $649 per person (If you've taken classes with us before, don't forget to ask for your student discount code!)

For registration and more information, go to: http://www.regonline.com/onp

Here are some of the site you can expect to see in Olympic National Park:

Sunset at Second Beach

Along Solduc Falls Trail

Rialto Beach

Solduc Falls

Mystic Mountain

Temperate Rain Forest

Rainforest --> Third Beach

We decided to take a detour this morning - rather than going to Ho, we drove through the Quinalt Rain Forest instead. We got a few nice shots - and saw quite a few caribou. Everything is very green right now. Just beautiful.

Afterward, we hiked down to Third Beach. The light was too harsh to shoot, but we wanted to explore the beach and see how close we could get to the base of the waterfall at low tide. We stayed long enough to let the tide run out quite a bit - I think we'll need to come back when the tides are at their lowest... maybe we can get closer then. Waiting on the beach is hardly a chore. :) We both fell asleep for a short time in the sun. What a treat!

We'd like to go out to Second Beach this evening, but we're not likely to get the cloud cover we want. We'll decide in a little while.

Thanks to all of you who left comments on my photo at Fred Miranda. I appreciate your responses!

-Varina

Cleveland --> Pittsburg --> Houston --> Seattle --> and beyond!

And, we're off. We're sitting in the Pittsburg airport waiting for our flight. I love airports with free WiFi. I get so much work done without any distractions. I am definitely ready for a few days in the wilderness. One of the things I love about Olympic is the diversity of the park. Mountains, rainforests, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, flowers, the Pacific Ocean... We're keeping an eye on weather patterns so we'll know where to be when the light is right - and it's rhododendron season... maybe we'll find some blooming. We'll be watching tide chards, cloud cover, and humidity levels on this trip, too. The better to put ourselves in the right place at the right time.

Is anyone else traveling this weekend?

Going Home

We're headed for Olympic National Park next week. The Pacific Northwest feels like home to me - and I look forward to trips like this one more than any others. Don't get me wrong - put me in the wilderness just about anywhere, and I'll be happy... but air that smells like pines makes me feel completely at peace. The Rocky Mountains are where I belong. And we'll go to great lengths to get there this time...

We're driving from Cleveland to Pittsburg... stopping in Houston before flying to Seattle... and then driving to the park. We won't be there long, but we'll make the most of our time. Can't wait!

-Varina