Yosemite

I can’t believe it came and went that fast, but the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop at Yosemite is in the bag. The winners, John, Kimberley, Nichole, and David were absolutely lovely people, eager and hungry to learn. Good photographers all, they really applied themselves. I was proud of all of them. I was also very impressed with some of the images that they captured.

Steve Simon took the lead teaching Aperture and the winners all seemed to enjoy the classroom instruction as well as the field work. Several times I heard the students say that they didn’t know Aperture did this or that!

The four winners were also thankful for their prizes. I saw several of the ThinkTank 360 bags in use on the workshop! That was fast.

I have posted a few images I made at Yosemite on my Flickr account. Liana Lehua will edit some video, and we’ll post links to some of the student work next week.

It was a great workshop. Nobody complained about lack of cell service, limited Internet connections or a real lack of food choices out in the middle of nowhere.

Instead, they just all lived, learned and loved photography. What better way to spend a few days? I’m lucky to have met these people and to have been there.

We’re going to open up section three of the contest in a week or so. Be ready. YOU could be taking the trip to the third ANPW in Yellowstone National Park!

In just a few weeks, we’ll kick off the second of four Aperture Nature Photography Workshops. The winners have all been notified and have started receiving their prizes. We’re all making travel plans. I’m personally hoping for lots of snow, since Yosemite and snow make for wonderful photos.

But we’re going to do some classroom stuff too. Steve Simon and I will be sharing our approach to using Aperture. The winners all receive a free copy of Aperture 2.2 as well as Rich Harrington’s great PeachPit Press book that they can use to brush up on Aperture after leaving the workshop.

Liana Lehua will come along to document the trip and share blog posts, as well as videos that will help our audience vicariously enjoy the trip.

Within a few weeks, maybe sooner, we’ll be opening up the third contest. Winners from that contest will get to travel to Yellowstone National Park.

So there are lots of reasons to stay tuned to this blog. More coming soon.

Winter is a great time to make images in and around Yosemite National Park. Our next Aperture Nature Photography Workshop takes place January 14-17, 2009. We’re going to have more here on Yosemite.