Summer is near, and I’m feeling it in Seattle! Coming off a fantastic weekend workshop that began last Friday evening with a meet and greet at my home, I came away feeling invigorated after working with everyone who joined.
We added some smaller-group workshops to our events page – and they immediately sold out. If this is something that interests you, we will work with you to figure something out when my schedule allows. The up-side of these smaller trips are more one-on-one time as well as having accommodations and transportation resolved for you.
For the spontaneous adventurer who can get themselves here at the end of the week, one spot remains to join us on the Olympic peninsula. Who is us? Myself, my long-time shooting partner Gavriel Jecan, and office superstar Libby Pfeiffer who assembles these fantastic opportunities.
The Columbia river gorge is one of the most iconic locations on the west coast, and there are a few spots left to join Gav and myself here in early June. While we will have plenty of opportunities to capture the vistas, waterfalls and temperate rainforest of the area our goal here is to use this naturally beautiful location to dial into the abstract. This is something I’ve taught myself to do over decades, and there’s nothing I enjoy more than teaching it to you.
Before the summer wraps up, I’ll be returning to Katmai, Alaska – home to the bear that adorns the cover of my upcoming book, Wild Lives. We’ve been working with the same folks on the ground (and in the air!) for a long time now, and I always look forward to the two weeks we spend teaching workshops here. We are fast approaching the time of year when the last few spots for these opportunities fill up – so don’t miss out and sign up today!
Teaching what I love to do is my passion and the breakthroughs that happen on our workshops are, simply put – awesome. Being able to pass on a lifetime of learning is why I do this!
This past weekend we had a great workshop in California’s Joshua Tree National Park. As expected after the state’s record rainfall this winter, the wildflowers were out in force and the cacti were blooming which made for some unexpected hummingbird photography. However, it’s Joshua Tree’s eponymous yuccas and ancient granite formations that I love to explore.
Happy Cinco De Mayo! Raise a toast to long-time friend and prolific ecologist Gregory A. Green. Greg has received much-deserved recognition with a lifetime achievement award for Leadership in Conservation by the Washington Chapter of The Wildlife Society.
While devoting nearly five decades of his life to conservation biology, Greg is a prolific photographer in his own right. We have been frequent travel companions, and Greg has been the perfect fit as the written voice accompanying the many photos in my latest project, Wild Lives—due out this October with pre-orders available soon. Sign up for my mailing list to be informed as soon as it’s available. Learn more about Greg and check out his photography on his website, greggreenphoto.com.
It’s going to be a busy spring and summer, and I’m looking forward to the marathon. Despite the new and useful ways we’ve learned to connect over the past few years, it’s been nice to get back out on the road, in the field, and among fellow photography lovers.
There are a few upcoming workshops who’s early-bird discount pricing is ending soon. Now is the time to sign up and save yourself a little bit of cash! Signing up during these early bird phases is a huge boon that my staff appreciates when it comes to arranging the best possible workshop experience.
Earth Day arrives tomorrow, April 22nd and you can celebrate by visiting your local national parks for a fee-free day. With over 400 national parks and one in each state, there’s likely at least one near you. . . get your camera gear ready and head out for some photos and fresh air!
Don’t know which one to visit? The National Parks Service has created a handy interactive quiz that will help you narrow down your interests to a location that meets your needs based on distance, activities and more.
Share your photos online tagged with the #yourparkstory / #myparkstory hashtags and interact with others celebrating Earth Day at our protected natural places! Some of my best work, including photos from my upcoming magnum opus on international wildlife has been capture in our national parks. Enjoy the image gallery. Better yet, get out there and create your own!
National parks are powerful places that have many meanings and connections to those who visit them – our shared history, our sense of discovery, and our dreams of the future. They teach us about ourselves and the world around us, and invite us to continue to learn, grow, and explore. National Park Week is a time to reflect on what parks mean to us, enjoy what they provide to their visitors and communities, and commit to protecting these places we cherish.
Over the weekend, we officially entered into Dark-Sky Week! I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the folks over at the International Dark-Sky Association for a while now and along the way I’ve learned much regarding the benefits of curbing light pollution. I’ve long known about it’s impact on night photography – but the issues that arise from an abundance of artificial light are much more complex than you might believe. To that end, IDA has created International Dark Sky week to bring awareness to many of those issues – from disrupting the patterns and habits of wildlife to artificially manipulating the moods and routines of human beings.
It may seem harmless, but light pollution has far-reaching consequences that are harmful to all living things. Effective outdoor lighting reduces light pollution, leading to a better quality of life for all. The dark sky movement is working to bring better lighting to communities around the world so that all life can thrive.
-International Dark-Sky Association
For more information and to find out what you can do to raise awareness within your community photographic or otherwise, visit DARKSKY.ORG.
To commemorate the increasingly popular topic of light pollution and efforts by the IDA to bring awareness to it’s benefits, I am currently running a 25% discount on my most recently (as of this post!) published book project, Night On Earth as well as my entire print collection – good this week only, until the end of Dark Sky Week on April 22nd.
I’ve picked out some of my favorite night-related prints, found below if you need a starting point. It’s always nice to be able to spark a dialogue with the photographs and artwork you choose to hang on your wall. With the accessible information in Night On Earth and the efforts of the IDA, these make for an excellent conversation piece.
AURORASTARTRAILS OVER DEADVLEINIGHT FISHERMENSTAR TRAILS OVER CEREUS CACTUSCOMET NEOWISE & MT. RAINIERTUAREG TRIBESMENINLE FISHERMENMILKY WAY OVER THE DEVIL’S MARBLESKOKERBOOMWAITING FOR NIGHTEVENING AT THE PUSHKAR FAIRCELESTIAL MOAI
In a win for wildlife, the latest tiger census in India has seen an increase of 200 tigers from just four years ago! Launched in the early 1970s, Project Tiger relocated entire villages to open up habitat corridors for the big cats, thus minimizing conflict with humans, and giving the wildlife room to rewild the lush sal and bamboo forests and grassy meadows.
Join me in November to experience the best India has to offer: we will travel to two national parks to photograph the elusive big cats as well as barasinghas, rhinos and the massive wild water buffalos. We might even see sloth bears and leopards!
November is a time of celebration too. Diwali, the festival of lights, is celebrated all over the country with spectacular light displays, gift-giving, a delicious sweets. It is a time of spiritual uplift, a celebration of good over evil, and the end of the harvest season.
Red alert for fans & collectors of wildlife books! There are a couple titles that I am involved in that I want to highlight that are either being funded or published this week. While they are different in their subject matter and approach, they both deserve your consideration and support.
Remembering Wildlife is now funding Remembering Leopards, their eighth in the Remembering series which has raised over $1.3 million for wildlife conservation. My photo of a leopard is a featured print in the limited edition book, of which there will be fifty copies. The aim of the creators is to make the most beautiful book ever seen on the featured species and to use that to not only raise awareness of conservation issues but also, more importantly, to raise funds for organizations working for its protection. The Kickstarter for this book is now live. You can pre-order the book (as well as grab many other rewards) to give the producers the cashflow to make it happen!
Being published this week is author/photographer Graeme Green’s The New Big 5: A Global Photography Project for Endangered Wildlife. Over five years ago he contacted us about an idea he had about creating a new Big Five of wildlife photography. The Big Five was a term coined by game hunters and includes the African lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo. Graeme took this phrase and has turned it on its head. In his book being published on April 4th, he has brought together 165 wildlife photographers (including me) and conservationists to raise awareness of the crucial issues facing the world’s wildlife. Order your copy today!
I’m happy to have a full slate of upcoming workshops on the calendar for your perusal – from the great Smoky Mountains to here in the Northwest, abstract workshops and nature retreats abound! Sign up today, save a few hundred bucks, and I’ll see you there!
Grand Teton Photography Retreat
Southern Sierra Photography Workshop
Great Smoky Mountains Photography Retreat – Save $300!
Joshua Tree Workshop – Save $200!
Hidden Northwest Lake Quinault Photography Retreat – Save $300!