Chincoteague Workshop Report

Last week I lead 4 day workshop at Chincoteague Island. We had had great weather after an overcast evening shoot the first day. Even though it was overcast the group enjoyed getting within touching distance of the Chincoteague ponies. A couple of quick passing showers later we decided to go for a group dinner. After that every field trip we made over the next 3 days was filled with good opportunities. 

Great Egret Landing

This was one of those opportunities. Generally Great Egrets use a stealthy approach to get to their prey. However, this egret really performed for us. It pranced and jumped around for almost 45 minutes. I made sure everyone photographed it for a little while. Some moved to photograph other birds. That's when I pulled out my camera for about 5 minutes and let off a few bursts to capture the action. I was quite pleased to get this image from a 5 minute shoot. Several of the participants came away with gorgeous photos that I saw in the feedback sessions.

Chincoteague Workshop Report

The last workshop of the year was probably the best in terms of the light we had. All 3 days were a treat!

I have mentioned that Chincoteague remains one of my favorite locations to photograph. It's very challenging to switch from photographing the wildlife to a landscape and then a detail shot. Not to mention the ocean which is a lot of fun to photograph. You really need to know your camera gear to maximize the opportunities.

I made the next three photos the morning before the workshop started.

West Virginia Tour Report

Got back from West Virginia on Sunday. Had a great time with the tour participants. It was a small group and this gave me a chance to do my own photography while still giving them plenty of attention. The color was patchy when I got there but came in nicely for the last couple of days. It might not be as spectacular as it was a couple of years ago as the area has been in close to drought conditions. We have to remember that it's not about how good the color is but how you use it. After a quick sunset shoot at Lindy point the first evening I took the participants to a few spots I had scouted, that had great color. We worked on several close up photos but really had fun with canopy shots and making abstracts images using several blur and multiple exposure techniques.

Photo Impressionism - Zoom & Flick

I demonstrated the swipe/blur technique at a workshop this past weekend. This technique is all about coordinating the shutter release and the movement of your camera. Sunflowers make a great subject for this technique. The first time I visited this Sunflower field I made about 250 photographs. Out of those, over 200 were abstract and photo impressionistic.

It's very easy to create photos that are abstract. It's much harder to create a photo impressionistic image, especially in the camera. Being able to understand what the subject is and yet see it rendered in a different fashion is always more intriguing.

Brookside Gardens Workshop Report

I just completed a workshop through VisArts. We spent some time photographing at Brookside Gardens. The Tulips were quite amazing! If you haven’t had a chance to visit Brookside while the Tulips are in bloom, you should.

The group was very enthusiastic and photographed non-stop for 3 hours. I demonstrated various techniques from optimal exposures to creating abstract images. The participants were fairly new to creating blurs and multiple exposures and seem to enjoy the process. Seeing their images in the critique session I was quite impressed how quickly they were able to pick up the technique and create some lovely images.

The blog image was made as the light started to get harsh. A diffuser was used to soften the light. Here are a few abstract/photo impressionistic images I made during the demonstrations and after the participants left. Click on the thumbnails to view the larger image.