Thursday, January 22, 2009

Back from Yosemite and the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop Contest!!

I made it back finally on Monday night from the Aperture Nature Photography Contest. 4 days, 4 pros, 4 amateurs including me! I stayed around for a few extra days to shoot in Yosemite.

How was it?!! It was a fantastic experience. Great people, Great place, Great instruction, Fun times!! Was it all good!?! The food wasn't the best - but that didn't matter one bit! The blue lackluster skies just meant hunting for incredible photo ops elsewhere. That makes shooting even that much more challenging! I came away with some good images - but I will let you be the judge of that. I can't wait to finish some images and then start firing up that Epson 9800 and making some big canvas prints! (If you would like to place a pre-order for Canvas Gallery Wrap images, please drop me a note!)

It was really a great experience to shoot with Steve Simon, Jennifer Wu, Scott Bourne and Gary Hamburgh. Each really brought a different element and gave me different ideas to explore. Steve helped bring ideas around telling a story and focusing on a theme. Jennifer really has a fantastic eye and way that she is able to convey and teach ideas worked very well for me. "Fill the Frame!" "Work a spot" If you see something just keep moving around until it comes together. I also learned how to use that Nikon 24mm PC-E Tilt Shift from Jennifer - even though she is one of those 'Canon People' she was able to figure it out :-)

More details later as I am back to my day job working tons at Symantec. Lots of interesting stuff around Drive-by downloads and over scary web threats going on.

If you have any questions in the meantime, drop me a note. I can't wait to get back to Yosemite!
John

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