Wildlife Photography Workshop at Center for Birds of Prey

This past weekend, I had the honor of leading the second annual Wildlife Photography Workshop at the Center for Birds of Prey: http://www.thecenterforbirdsofprey.org/visit/special_events/instructor-led-photography-workshop/.

We had an AMAZING time photographing these amazing creatures, learning new techniques, acquiring new skills to use in the field, and simply having a BLAST!!!

Many thanks to Kara, Natalie, and the rest of the team for all their hard work and preparation in pulling this event off! And a huge shout out to all the wonderful attendees!!!

If you missed it this year, I hope you’ll join me next fall for #3. 🙂

Getting to Know your Nikon

Although I’m actually quite non-denominational, most folks know I’m a Nikon Afficionado. I love all the other brands, and have taught plenty of workshops where I had to even show Canon folks a thing or two on THEIR cameras. But I’ve been a Nikonian ever since my old film days.
Last weekend I had a wonderful group of folks take my “Getting to Know your Nikon” class, sponsored by the Charleston Center for Photography! We had a great time learning menus and technical junk. But to me, a class is no fun if you can’t have a little “play” time! 🙂
My friends, David & April, have four adorable daughters. Mary Catherine just happens to LOVE being in front of the camera…as she should since she’s an absolute natural model! “Mimi”, as we call her, has modeled for me before and is always amazing to work with. So I invited her to come be our model for a short “shout-out” at the end of the class.
For lighting, I built a hexagonal “beauty box” out of 6 remote Speedlights, all firing through umbrella diffusers. I love the catch-light in Mimi’s eyes from this light! We all had so much fun! And of course the class went way over it’s schedule ending. But we were enjoying our time together too much to stop. After all, this is what learning is all about…creating beautiful images!!!
If you missed the class and are interested in joining the next one, let me know. Maybe the next one should be about flash photography?!?
Many thanks to Robbin Knight for letting us use his studio space, to Mahmood Fazal at the Center for Photography for organizing everything, and to April Price for loaning us her beautiful daughter!

Costa Rica Adventure

While the country has only about 0.1% of the world’s landmass, Costa Rica contains 5% of the world’s biodiversity. Around 25% of the country’s land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentage of protected areas in the world (most of the developed world averages only 8%). Deforestation in this small, peaceful country has successfully been reduced to almost zero.
Over 840 species of birds have been identified in Costa Rica. Some of the country’s most notable avian species include the resplendent quetzal, scarlet macaw, and keel-billed toucan. Not to mention the most colorful frogs, the fastest lizard, and some of the most venomous vipers in the world! It’s no question that Costa Rica is one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet!
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting and photographing in this beautiful country 3 times. Last month was by far my most fulfilling! Teaming up with my good friend, and amazing photographer, Bill Nixon, we found and photographed some of my favorite wildlife images ever! Bill and his family live in Costa Rica, which made all the difference. His knowledge and connections helped us seek out and capture the most unbelievable images, and have the wildest experiences I could imagine!!!
We were so incredibly successful, that we decided we HAD to share these amazing locations with other photographers. These aren’t the usual “tourist traps”. We’re talking about places at the ends of long, bumpy dirt roads…where REAL adventures happen! These are places where locals will share with us some of the most amazing discoveries! We will be co-leading workshops to Costa Rica. And we invite anyone who is looking for an insane adventure, looking to fill their bucket list to the brim, and looking to photograph prize-winning images of some of the most rare and beautiful species on earth, to join us. Visit www.CRPhotoTour.com and sign up for more information…

Light Bending 411 Encore

I’ve been getting such WONDERFUL feedback from the Wireless Lighting Workshops I’ve been teaching.  THANK YOU to everyone that has participated and made it such a success.  I’ll be teaching my “Light Bending 411” course again on November 6th!  I’ve been asked by The Aroostook F-Stops, an extremely active photography club in northern Maine, to come do a full-day program for them.  The club’s fearless leader, Tom, has been so organized and fun to work with.  His wife is a fellow alumni from The American School of Kinshasa (TASOK)…so we’ll have lots of catching up to do!  Since Cami spent several summers in Maine and has many fond memories from this beautiful part of the country, we’ll be going up early and taking some much anticipated R&R.  We’ll fly into Portland and wind our way up to Aroostook, hiking and sightseeing in places like Acadia National Park, and staying in quaint B&B’s along the way.  I’m truly excited and look forward to sharing my enthusiasm with these wonderfully talented photographers in Maine!!!

Light Bending 411

I would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Patty Hallman and the Professional Photographers of South Carolina for inviting me to teach my “Light Bending 411” wireless lighting workshop in Columbia yesterday!  We had about 30 AMAZING photographers there.  I loved working with our three gorgeous models.  Erika is an incredibly elegant creative dancer.  Her young prodigy, Lea, was simply beautiful.  And Megan was such a gorgeous bride.  Last but not least, a special thank you to the crazy group from Charleston that drove up to participate.  It was great to have a few familiar faces in the crowd!!!  More to come soon…