Zion National PArk

Springdale, Utah - January 25-30, 2009

Winter in Zion National Park can be fascinating with snows coming in overnight, leaving the canyon walls washed in a blanket of new snow. Zion National Park was Utah’s first park in the National Park system, having been brought into the system in 1909 as Mukuntuweap National Monument. Then it was extremely difficult to get to, but today you can fly into Las Vegas and be in the park a few hours later. We will explore this fascinating park in January, when visitors are low and we will have plenty of room to move around its natural features. While days can climb into the 60’s or even 70’s, night are usually below freezing, which means we may be lucky enough to capture snow on the cliffs and canyon walls.

The park lies along the edges of the Colorado Plateau and is part of the geological area known as The Grand Staircase, a series of brightly colored canyons between Bryce National Park and the Grand Canyon.

We will explore the areas along the canyon created by Virgin River, hike up part of the river bed to where the slot canyons begin and travel to the eastern side of the park where completely different rock formations can be found. Short hikes lead to waterfalls, canyons and arches.

Our Workshop will focus on getting you the very best images of the park. Our schedule, while setup initially will change day to day based on weather and light. We will spend enough time in the classroom to give you a better understanding of Photoshop techniques and workflows to enable you to make the best fine art prints. We will also cover basic ways of “seeing” images before you click the shutter and how to take that pre-visualized view and turn it into reality in your photograph.

Evenings will be spent talking about photography and whatever else the conversation wanders into. We try and shoot a sunrise shot on one day and sunset on another in order to keep our days reasonable while giving us the best light in which to shoot. Days will be spent within the park along rivers, ridgelines, or in the coves. Opportunities abound. 

Itinerary: (subject to change based on weather conditions)

Sunday
We’ll start of at 7pm in the hotel conference room for our first meeting and get to know each other. There will be an opening lecture on “seeing” your vision in the digital world.

Monday 
Morning along the Virgin River and the Three Sister’s Peaks. Sunrise comes later in the canyon area as the sun must climb over the canyon walls. We will shoot in the park along the Virgin River, returning in the late afternoon in time for everyone to get dinner. A lecture on Photoshop and workflow methods in the evening.

Tuesday
We’ll head off to the trails which lead up the canyon to a series of waterfalls. After sunset we will stop in Tremont for dinner before returning to our hotel.

Wednesday
We will head to the eastern side of the park and explore the many rock formations and canyon areas. After dinner in town we’ll gather for a review of work from the day and talk about workflow methods.

Thursday
Sunrise along the ridges. This morning we’ll take a quick jaunt up a small hillside to view the sunrise as it hit the cliff walls and streams up the canyon. We’ll return for a late breakfast and a quick get together to review work. We will then head up the back road and get a look at the park from a different perspective of being on the plateau and looking into the canyon, retuning in time for dinner.

Friday
This morning we will address anyone’s wishes for where to go, see an area we missed because of weather or pickup some new locations   We’ll return for one final lunch and get together before our session ends in the early afternoon.

Maximum Class Size: 12

Cost: TBA for double occupancy (shared room)    TBA for single occupancy.
A $400.00 deposit will be required to reserve your spot.
If a shared room is not available we can wait list this option, but you will be charged for single occupancy if not available. Should you require single occupancy (private room) a supplemental fee (varies with facility) will be added. This option applies to those bringing a non-workshop member along. We do not cover any meals for non-members.

Price Includes:
Lodging: Hotel To Be Determined.

Meals: To keep costs down we will provide the meals, snacks and drinks for times we are in the field. The rest of the time we will eat in town at one of the many restaurants. We find most people tend to eat together – at least at dinner. If you have any food allergies please let us know and we will try to accommodate them to the best of our ability, but you are also responsible for making sure you have the proper foods with you.

Travel: You are responsible to get to the base location hotel by the start time of the workshop. Once we are together we will discuss carpooling options. If you would like to be included in car pooling possibilities from any airport locations please indicate that on the registration form.

Workshop Notes: Sunday night we will discuss the experience and desires of the group and possibly alter our schedule based on participant’s wishes and what they would like to shoot the most. We will also discuss carpooling options for the week. Please be advised cell phones do not work inside the park. There are plenty of interesting things to do around the area for any non-workshop members from hiking to shopping, artist studios and other attractions.

Experience: Basic understanding of your camera operation (bring your manual – I always have mine!).

Suggested Equipment: Any Digital SLR with lens or lenses that range from wide angle (24mm or less) to telephoto, tripod. A film SLR is fine, but film processing is not available, if you are going to shoot film we suggest you bring some prints or slides if you would like to participate in any critiques. Another option would be to shoot some digital as well. Cameras larger than 35mm are also acceptable, although 4x5 might be too cumbersome to work with on this workshop. If you would like to shoot 4x5 please contact us first and discuss the options. 

Optional Equipment: Laptop for image editing, flash drive to share images, macro lens or close-up diopter, polarizing filter, long telephoto for wildlife (300+mm) or 2x convertor, split field neutral density filters

Clothing: Appropriate outdoor clothing, including hiking boots and foul weather gear.

Workshop Schedule

Starved Rock State Park, Illinois
September 28-29, 2008

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Tennessee & North Carolina
October 19-23, 2008

Zion National Park, Utah
January 25-30, 2009

Bryce National Park, Utah
February 1-5, 2009

Saguaro National Park, Arizona
February 23-27, 2009

Yosemite National Park, California
March 22-27, 2009

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Spring Wildflowers
April 19-23, 2009

More Coming Soon - including Alaska trips!

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