October 10-13, 2015
4 days $775
Enrollment limited to 12 people. Register Here

Co-sponsored by

The Place
Yosemite is a deeply varied place, with so many more nuances than the spectacular valley. We'll take advantage of the still open roads and passes, reduced visitation and wonderfully different environments to explore these five different regions. From the Giant Sequoias of the Tuolumne Grove, to the high country of Tuolumne Meadows, the 1.6 mile walk up to Vernal Falls, and wonderful views from Glacier Point, the breadth of our visit will reveal so much more of Yosemite's wonders than Yosemite Valley's iconic walls, cliffs and dome.

The fall colors of Yosemite offer photographers a wide variety of hue and texture. As the weather cools, the valley begins to change, subtle and beautiful colors start to emerge. People begin to disappear, bright greens turn to browns, yellows, blacks and golds. The valley smells fresher, the air clears and invites the walking we will be doing during this workshop.

Our four days together will likely be cool to cold, but we will no doubt be warmed by the special beauty that fall brings to this grand valley. Although we will drive to basic locations, I hope our basic mode of exploration through the Yosemite will be our feet. There is really no other way to come to know a place.

The Workshop
We will spend four days in fall color, moving unhurried through the valley, vistas and groves, looking down at simple form as much as up at dramatic granite. We will work hard during the day, then review our work through digital projection at night.

We will spend our first quarter day preparing for our outings. Topics covered will be optimal digital camera use (in a variety of formats) file size and printing considerations. Bringing your own laptop is important as it will allow you to open and archive files, review success, and perhaps even do some printing of the photographs made during the day in a temporary lab we'll set up. By constantly going back in the field, this workshop allows you to put into practice lessons learned. Some field power can also be available for critical recharges.

Please be aware that this workshop does involve walking on trails with some elevation gain. No hike is longer than 3 miles round trip. Please assure me that you are physically up to the class.

Teaching Digitally
The advent of the digital age of photography provides unique opportunities for field photography instruction, reviewing work on camera screens as it is made, examining exposure, composition and emotional impact. Group evening reviews will also be conducted using digital projection.

We'll spend four activity packed days in Yosemite, sometimes rising before dawn and often lingering for the last moment of twilight.

The trip is designed to be a complete immersion in landscape photography and its digital evolution. We will discuss technical and aesthetic issues, tapping into your emotional response to this landscape, working toward images that are uniquely your own.

Individual problem solving is a high priority in my workshop program. Classes are kept small to maximize individual attention. Plan to bring some of your work to give me an idea of how you see, what you are happy with, and photographs that indicate problems you are encountering.

To Register
Registration fee must be paid in full to secure a spot in the class. Additional information, including the liability release will be sent upon registration.

Registration online or by phone 650 355-7507. Checks preferred.

Refunds and Cancellation (note changes)

This workshop is financially dependent on adequate class registration. Where minimum enrollment requirements are not met, the class will be canceled, and a full refund given. You will be notified at least one week in advance if a workshop is not going to take place. Student initiated cancellations received prior to one month before the workshop will receive credit for a future workshop of similar value, a 50% credit will be given for notice received at least 2 weeks immediately prior to the workshop (a full credit less a $50 overhead fee will be given if another student is able to fill the spot from a waiting list). No credit will be given if cancelled less than 2 weeks prior to the workshop. Credits need to be redeemed within one year.

Details
Workshop Headquarters and Lodging in El Portal


A full agenda is planned for this workshop, including dawn and dusk sessions. We will be doing a fair amount of walking if weather permits.

Yosemite NPS Website
Yosemite Valley Map (pdf download)

Stephen Johnson

Current projects include With a New Eye, his groundbreaking and historic all digital national parks project, a new book Stephen Johnson On Digital Photography for O'Reilly, ongoing portfolio development and extensive lecturing.

Photo by Erick Leskenin from 2008 Yosemite in Autumn workshop.

He was named to the Photoshop Hall of Fame in 2003. Photographic clients have included the Ansel Adams Publishing Trust, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the Friends of Photography. Johnson's photographs have been widely published and collected internationally.

In 1997, Life Magazine described Stephen Johnson as an artist that "...applies science to nature and creates art." His images create "...an intimacy that brings subject and viewer close in ways conventional photographs cannot." 

The Photographer’s Gallery wrote in 1998: “Stephen Johnson's photography rides on the "bleeding edge" of photography's transition to a digital media. Schooled in the traditions of fine-art western landscape photography, Johnson has taken his understanding of traditional photographic processes and brought those skills to bear on the emerging technologies and aesthetics of digital photography. He has pushed technology companies to rise to the best of what imagemaking can be, and pushed his own vision of how we see and record light in the natural world. This has led him to conclude that the way we have traditionally captured images with silver-based photography has been a poor and distortive view of the real and rich world before our eyes. His photographs look almost "unphotographic" in their clarity and purity of color. He shows us a world we know, but rarely see on paper. His is a truly remarkable vision.”