September 2009

Rick Sammon shares some focusing tips for landscape photographers.

Rick gives away the idea here that you can shoot an HDR panoramic – and he briefly tells you how.

Here’s another teaching video from the Aperture Nature Photography Workshops #4

We’re going to post a few video tips we made at the Mt. Rainier ANPW here on the blog and over at Photofocus.com. Enjoy. The first tips is on making sunsets with people in the shot.

Aperture Nature Photography Workshop #4 – Mount Rainier

Images and Post by Nicole Young – Follow Nicole on Twitter

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop near Mount Rainier as the documentarian, and couldn’t have asked for a better group of photographers to spend time with during the trip. It was an honor to watch staff members Scott Bourne, Rick Sammon, Juan Pons and Gary Hamburgh “in-action”, making beautiful images and sharing their knowledge and experience with the workshop attendees.

The four-day workshop started out with the staff and attendees arriving at the lodge in Packwood, Washington. We had a meet-and-greet and watched slideshow presentations of each of the pro’s photography. It was jaw-dropping inspiration to see the kind of work that the staff members had under their belts; I knew then-and-there that this was going to be an amazing experience (not that I had any doubts to begin with!). Scott then led a teaching session on using Aperture.

The next morning we were all up and ready to go at 5:45 am for a sunrise shoot on the mountain. We split up into two groups: the first group went with Scott and and Gary and traveled up to Tipsoo Lake, while the other group went with me, Rick and Juan to Reflection Lake. The name of that place says it all … a crystal-clear mirrored lake reflecting Mount Rainier with beautiful flowers and trees surrounding the whole thing. It was beautiful, majestic, and breath-taking … definitely worth waking up for. As the sun crept up behind us a beautiful pink glow capped the top outline of the mountain and the clouds were set in the sky perfectly. Even as the sun slowly rose higher and higher, the light was incredibly good for photographing this area. We spent most of our morning at the lake, then drove up to a waterfall to get a few more shots before heading back to the hotel.

After a couple of hours rest we all gathered in the conference room where Rick Sammon gave a presentation on HDR (high-dynamic-range) photography. Then as one big group we headed up to Tipsoo Lake for a sunset shoot.

The next morning we had another early start and drove to Northwest Trek in Eatonville, Washington. Half-way there we passed by a field with dozens of tree stumps by a lake, and the entire thing covered in a blanket of fog. So, like any good photographer would do, we all stopped our cars and ran out with cameras in hand. After a few minutes of shooting we jumped back into our cars and continued on our way to our destination.

We arrived at Northwest Trek a few hours before it was open to the public. Scott arranged for our group to board a private tram for our own special photo tour of the Trek’s free-roaming area. This place is amazing. It’s basically a “reverse zoo” – the animals were free to roam about the lands and we were confined to the vehicle we were traveling in. During the trip we saw several bison, moose, and elk. We witnessed bull elk sparring, herding their cows, wallowing in mud … overall it was an amazing and unique experience.

Later that afternoon when we returned to the hotel Scott gave a presentation on “pre-visualization”, where he told the story behind his famous photo “Cranes in the Fire Mist”. I seriously got teary-eyed … it was very inspiring. Then as a group we went out one last time to Reflection Lake to take some photos before the sun set.

I came home from this experience feeling very refreshed. I’m motivated, feel extremely creative, and really gained a new respect for nature and wildlife photographers. At times I felt very “out of my element”, photographically speaking, during the trip since I don’t do very much nature photography, but it definitely didn’t stop me from enjoying myself! It was so much fun to be out there with other creatives and like-minded photographers … in fact, I had such a great time that I have to admit that it was the best group photography experience I have ever had.

Thanks so much to everyone who was a part of the workshop: Staff members Scott Bourne, Rick Sammon, Juan Pons, and Gary Hamburgh; and workshop attendees Jarek Szymanski, Julie Stainbrook, Bill Jeffries and Rhonda Holcomb.

Click here to view more behind-the-scene images from the ANPW trip to Mount Rainier.

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.