Workshop Details

A little more than a year ago I had an idea. Why not run a free workshop? But as I worked on it I realized it wouldn’t be practical. Then I had a second idea. Run a workshop but the only people who get to attend are the workshop leaders and photographer/attendees who win the right by entering and winning a contest. It was a very odd approach. Usually, people pay ME to come on my workshops. But in this case, I paid them. And instead of our usual 12 persons to two instructors ratio, we went smaller. Four winners and four pros – a one-to-one ratio. This made for a more intimate and personal experience for all.

After I figured out what I wanted to do, the next step was to find sponsors. If I was going to bring four professional photographer/instructors and four amateur photographers to locations all over the western USA, I needed sponsors.

Thanks to Apple, Nik Software, Lensbaby, Drobo, Peachpit Press and ThinkTank Photo, we got the Aperture Nature Photography Workshops off the ground.

We ran four contests, one each quarter – the winners got free seats to the workshop, money for transportation, prizes, and more. They were all talented folks. Here they are, in no particular order…

Rhonda Holcomb, Bill Jeffries, Julie Stainbrook, Jarek Szymanski, Olga Yiparaki, Elyse Weadock, Ara Roselani, Bryan Holliday, Kimberly Haugen, David Orias, Nikki Frantz, John Harrison, Bryan Mahler, Cathy Chung, Richard Rothstein and Rob Trueman.

We went to some of the most beautiful locations in the USA. Mt. Rainier, Yosemite, the Tetons and Yellowstone.

Along the way we made lots of great images thanks in part to the great team of instructor/pros who helped me lead the workshops. Thanks to Rick Sammon, Gary Hamburgh, Steve Simon, Juan Pons, Frederick Van Johnson, Jennifer Wu, Scott Stulberg and Martin Gisborne.

I also want to thank our trip documentarians, Nicole Young, Cathy Chung, Liana Lehua and Lisa Bettany.

This concludes the ANPW series. We’ll keep this blog going for a while so we can continue to link to pictures, etc. We’ll have other wrap up posts and some pics and video from ANPW#4 soon.

Thanks to all who participated.

We all arrived in Packwood, WA for the fourth and final Aperture Nature Photography Workshop. All four winners joined documentarian Nicole Young and trip leaders Juan Pons, Rick Sammon, Gary Hamburgh and me, for a fun trip in Western Washington’s Cascade Mountain Range.

On the first night we ate the best pizza from Packwood Pizza and watched slide shows from the pros. Rick did a very entertaining short presentation and I did a quick introduction to Aperture.

This morning we split up into two groups. Rick and Juan went to Paradise while Gary and I went to Tipsoo Lake. This afternoon we downloaded cards, ate lunch, rested and got ready for an HDR teaching session led by Rick.

As has been the case with the previous workshops in this series, everyone is just great to be with and all are having a grand time. Tonight it’s back to Tipsoo Lake for what will hopefully be a great sunset followed by an all day trip to Northwest Trek tomorrow.

More soon.

All photos linked to this post are by Cathy Chung

We finally got a gallery of staff photos up from the last workshop. Here is the ANPW photo set on Flickr. And if you prefer, here is a web page of the ANPW photos created in Aperture. Enjoy.

The power of photography never ceases to amaze me. Last week I had the privilege of hosting the APNW at Yellowstone with the help of my co-leaders, Gary Hamburgh, Steve Simon, and Frederick Van Johnson. They are some of the best people I know. And that’s an example of the power of our profession. We’re a diverse group from California, New York and Washington. I’m a bird photographer, Frederick is a portrait photographer, Steve is a photo journalist and Gary is a nature photographer.

We all practice and teach photography from different perspectives, yet our common bond is our pure passion for telling stories with our cameras.

I was also impressed by the diversity in our four students. Two from Arizona, one from Oregon and another from New York. The group had a variety of photographic interests and abilities.

Again – all these students took a different approach to the workshop, but all exhibited incredible passion and interest in the information that the teachers offered.

We had pretty good weather for the entire workshop. We had tremendous wildlife opportunities that includes pronghorn, dall sheep, big horn, elk, deer, bison, grizzly bear, fox, coyote and a variety of birds.

We worked on scenics, wildlife, HDR, panoramas and of course Aperture. We even did some portrait and flash demonstrations.

At the end of the workshop, I asked all the students what their favorite thing about the workshop was. Universally, they agreed it was the relationships they built during the event, the inspiration they took from spending time with each other and the instructors and the joy they felt being a part of something special.

Post by Cathy Chung
Photo by Bryan Holliday

There are moments in life that we remember forever. There are dreams in life that we pursue for one year, five years, 20 years or more. When those dreams come true, we are on cloud nine. It is like nothing else in the world.

For Aperture Nature Photography Workshop winner Bryan Holliday, a dream that he had been pursuing for 10 years came true on the first day. Bryan is an avid bird photographer. There was one bird species that he had been trying to photograph for 10 years and had not been able to do so. That species is the American Kestrel. It is a very skittish bird that flies away anytime people come near. But Bryan never gave up hope. He persevered and it paid off.

During the evening shoot of the second day of the workshop, heading to another location Bryan spotted an American Kestrel. He got his camera with his 600 mm lens ready. And this time it happened. The bird just sat on the post and looked right at Bryan. It was as if the bird knew Bryan had waited ten years for this moment. The light was perfect to make the colors of the American Kestrel pop. Bryan took a few shots and was amazed that the Kestrel stayed. He inched closer, the bird stayed. Bryan was able to take over 100 images of the Kestrel. Talk about a dream come true.

Photo by Olga Yiparaki
Post by Cathy Chung

Day two here in Gardiner, MT, it is a crisp 30º and snowing on and off. The group broke out into pairs to photograph this morning. Each group went to a different location.

Scott and winner Bryan Holliday went to the Old Yellowstone Road and spotted hundreds of Kestrel, and hundreds of Mountain Blue Birds. They also saw Pronghorn, Western Meadowlark, Clarks’ Nutcracker, Junco, Prairie Falcon, Mule Deer and a herd of Bison being driven from one area to another by the park rangers.

Frederick van Johnson and winner Ara Roselani followed along the Yellowstone River. They concentrated on the river features.

Gary Hamburgh and winner Olga Yiparaki headed east to the valley. Along the way
they spotted Bison, a Bison calf, Elk, Mute Swan, and plenty of beautiful scenery. Olga brought along her Lens Baby and here is the image she made today you see above.

Steve Simon and winner Elyse Weadock headed towards the hot springs. They came along a herd of Bison that was quite close and were able to get some amazing images. They were so close at one point that we were able to smell the Bison.

After a quick lunch it was into the classroom to learn Aperture. The winners asked great questions.

Here are some of the questions:

How do you (the Pros) rate photos?

Steve saves the “5″ as the best of the best. He uses it for the images that would easily represent his career and could easily make a portfolio out of them.

Frederick rates anything that he likes and would go back and edit a “5″.

How do you zoom?

Press the Z key

Stay tuned for more from this evenings shoot!

Post by Cathy Chung – Photo by ANPW #3 winner Bryan Holliday

Hello from Gardiner, Montana and Yellowstone. We are ending day one of the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop. The winners and pros flew from all over the country and arrived eager to photograph and ready to learn Aperture. The group made their way from Bozeman to Gardiner on I-89. Along the way we spotted: Dall Sheep, Big Horn Sheep, Osprey, Kestrels, Magpies and Canada Geese to name a few.

After all the winners and pros arrived in Gardiner, we met for an orientation. Most important were the safety rules for the workshop and what to do if you come in contact with bears, bison or wolves. Scott assured everyone that nothing has ever happened to anyone and that he was only telling us all of this as a precaution.

The group was given their subscription to lynda.com, a copy of Aperture 2 and the Nik Software Complete Collection of plug-ins for Aperture at the orientation. They were also surprised with a copy of Scott Bourne’s books “88 Secrets to Wildlife Photography” and “88 Secrets to Selling & Publishing Your Photography.” They already received their Drobo’s, Think Tank Rotation 360 bags and their Peachpit Press books prior to arriving at the workshop. (The Lensbabys are coming later.)

The group went around the room and talked about what they want to learn and how long they have been taking photographs.

Olga has been shooting for 1 1/2 years and wants to learn about light from the pros. She normally does wide angle work but wants to expand on that this trip, so she rented a long lens.

Elyse has been shooting for … years and wants to observe the pros in action. She would like to have her work critiqued.

Ara has been shooting for 2 1/2 years. At which time she started out with a point and shoot. It was when she learned about the cameras manual mode that her interest really piqued! She is interested in some real feedback about her photos and would also like to learn how to sell her photos.

Bryan has been shooting for 10 years and has aspirations to be a pro photographer. He would like to learn more about landscape photography, as well as the business side of photography. He would also like to learn how to market himself as a photographer.

This was the winners chance to learn more about the pros on the trip and see an example of the work they do.

Scott Bourne showed two collections; his recent bird trip to Southwest Florida and his Wolfscapes.

Gary Hamburgh, who has been shooting for six years, showed his collection on the Palouse. He spoke about how he was able to start selling his work to galleries.

Steve Simon showed the first photograph he made. He also showed two of his collections;America At the Edge and his work in Africa about AIDS. He spoke about really documenting a subject in depth.

We will be getting up early tomorrow morning to shoot various locations depending on the weather. The group is very excited to get out and shoot. The workshop gets into full speed mode after lunch where we’ll delve deeper into the power of Aperture for editing and organizing photos.

Stay tuned, more to come…

ANPW Workshop #3 begins tomorrow. Some of us have already begun arriving to scout. There are tons of elk, deer and bison up on the Jardine Road. That’s one of the places we’ll be photographing as a group. We’ll run the workshop out of Gardiner, MT where we have a nice conference room set up with a projector and screen. Apple T3-Certified Aperture instructor Steve Simon will join me in teaching the workshop participants how to get the most out of Aperture. It’s going to be fun.

I’ve established a Flickr set with some of my personal photos from the trip. Keep checking it this week as it gets updated.

We’re proud to announce the dates for our fourth and final (in this series) Aperture Nature Photography Workshop. On September 9-12, four lucky winners will join four pros for the ANPW Mt. Rainier.

We’re also proud to announce that one of the pros joining our teaching faculty this year will be Rick Sammon. Rick is a proflific photographer, author and teacher. His latest book, Rick Sammon’s Digital Photography Secrets is brilliant and he’ll be a real asset to our team of pros.

We’re going to open up the fourth contest for this workshop soon so keep your browser pointed right here for more details.