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.

I Love the Desert

I took this shot along the road to the Devil's Golf Course in Death Valley National Park, CA. It's titled "Broken Heart" (thanks, Suzy!). The dirt road was closed because of last week's rain storms, but we walked down to check out the condition of the location before most of our students arrived. Jay noticed these unusual patterns in the mud along the way, so he ran back to the car for our cameras. This one looks like a heart to me... and it makes an unusual valentine. :)

We had a great time in Death Valley. We had eleven students with us, and I really enjoyed this group. Everyone seemed ready to learn, and the whole group meshed really well. We've seen some really neat photos from this trip. We were lucky to get some fantastic skies, too. I'm looking forward to processing some more of my own photos... and seeing more from the group.
We shot at the dunes a couple of times, and after the sun rose, some of us started playing around with our own shadows. We ended up laughing so hard our stomach muscles were cramping up... we looked pretty ridiculous trying to capture our shadows as we posed and jumped around. It's a good thing there aren't very many people out there! Here are the results...
The series is titled Desert Petroglyphs thanks to Tex Schneider. Thanks for the suggestion, Tex! :)

Death Valley Workshop - January 2010

Registration is now open for our Death Valley workshop coming up in January of 2010! Spaces are limited - if you want to join us, you’ll need to register right away!

For detailed information, and to register, use this link: https://www.regonline.com/DVworkshop

Death Valley is a Landscape Photographer's dream-come-true. Beautiful skies, incredible textures, and intense colors provide inspiration wherever you go. This is a land of extremes... it is the driest, the hottest, and the lowest place in the Western Hemisphere. Intense weather conditions and an amazing variety of landscapes characterize the area. From the scorched and windblown sands of the dunes, to the peaceful flow of Darwin Falls - from the bizarre salt formations at Badwater, to the fascinating tracks left by moving stones at the Racetrack - Death Valley is a fascinating place.

Students will face a variety of challenges here - including handling a high dynamic range of light, dealing with extreme temperature changes, and reaching remote locations. One of the most important skills for a landscape photographer is choosing the best possible shooting location based upon weather conditions and other environmental factors. In order to learn this skill, students will be encouraged to participate in the selecting the right location under the direction of the instructors.

• Registration: https://www.regonline.com/DVworkshop

• Dates: Jan 29th - Jan 31

• We will meet in the evening on Jan 28 (the day before the workshop begins) at Stove Pipe Wells to make sure everyone is ready for our early morning shoot on the 29th.

• Price: $899

We will stay at Stove Pipe Wells, and students will make their own lodging and travel arrangements. There is a camp ground just a few steps away for those who choose to camp. Students will pay for their own transportation, food, and lodging - these are NOT included in the price of the trip. Reservations for lodging in Death Valley are hard to come by so if you are interested in attending the workshop, we highly recommend that you make reservations at Stovepipe wells as soon as possible.

Hotel: http://www.stovepipewells.com/accommodations-1238.html
Campground: http://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/camping.htm

Here are some images from Death Valley:

iHDR Webinar

All right, folks. Your wish is our command. We have received a whole lot of inquiries about online iHDR classes over the past few months. So many, in fact, that we've put together a series of webinars for all those who can't attend an on-the-ground seminar. You can get all the information you need by clicking here: iHDR webinar

Here are the dates and times - notice that we've broken up the lessons into four separate sessions. Two on Saturday, September 26th - and two more on the 27th.

Session 1: Sept 26, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM (EST)
Fundamentals of Nature Photography

Session 2: Sept 26, 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM (EST)
Histograms & Raw Processing

Session 3: Sept 27, 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM (EST)
Layers & Masks in Photoshop

Session 4: Sept 27, 2:00 PM - 4:30 AM (EST)
iHDR Workflow

We HIGHLY recommend completing sessions 2 & 3 before attending session 4. We won't have time to go back and cover the concepts covered in sessions 2 & 3.

We're not sure how fast these sessions are going to fill up - and we're not sure when we'll be offering another series - so if you want a spot, you'll need to sign up right away.

I hope these dates will work for all those who were unable to attend our seminars.

And for those who are wondering what the heck I'm talking about, click here for a short video explaining iHDR.

Upcoming Photo Tour

Our next photo tour is coming up in November. All the necessary information can be found at the Nature Photo Tours website. We'll be leading a workshop in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks in Utah. We're excited about this upcoming class. Jay and I always have a lot of fun teaching and getting to know our students. If you are interested, you can make reservations from the NPT website.

We are also preparing for a workshop in Death Valley in February 2009. I hope some of you will join us on one or both of these trips.