Yosemite Valley Digital Photography Workshop

Landscapes of California:
Yosemite Valley in Autumn
A Digital Photography Field Workshop with Stephen Johnson

October 11-14, 2008
4 days $1250
Enrollment limited to 12 people

Co-sponsored by

The Place
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 transportation through the valley 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, looking down at simple form as much as up at dramatic granite. We will work hard during the day, careful to stay as warm and dry as possible, 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 temporay 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.

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. A high resolution printer will be available to put some images to the ultimate test.

Digital exposure and dynamic range, color management, printers, papers and pigments, b&w and color, composition, and amazement-all will be part of our ambitious excursion into the evolving world of digital photography.

We'll spend four activity packed days in the valley, sometimes rising before dawn and 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.

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

A photographer, teacher and designer, Stephen has been teaching and working in photography since 1977. His books include At Mono Lake, the critically acclaimed The Great Central Valley: California's Heartland and Making a Digital Book. He runs his own photography, publishing and design company--scanning and preparing his photographic books using a Macintosh computer and now photographing in the field with digital view cameras.

Current projects include With a New Eye, his groundbreaking and historic all digital national parks project and a new book on digital photography.

Stephen's pioneering work in digital photography, desktop color separations and digital imaging has included software and product development for clients such as Apple, Adobe, Eastman Kodak, Leaf, Ricoh and SuperMac. His work with Adobe includes the creation of the duotone curves shipped with their Photoshop software. 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.

Stephen Johnson Biography

WorkshopTestimonials

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

Click here to register now with a credit card.

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 a full refund, a 50% refund will be given for notice received 2 weeks immediately prior to the workshop (a full refund less a $50 overhead fee will be given if another student is able to fill the spot from a waiting list).

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