Nature's Image Photography Workshop
~ Tangier Island, VA ~
May 2007
This Nature's Image workshop was a big change of scenery for us. Previous workshops were centered around mountains and waterfalls but this time around we were looking at a coastal settings.... boats, water fowl, marshes, and fishing. We attended two Lane workshops last year and knew the Lanes process when it comes to workshops….. On the move all day resulting in 90%+ in the field taking pictures. This workshop was no different.
This session was attended by the max number of 15-18 that the Lanes allow. All manor of skill levels were present. Beginners who dusted off a camera they haven’t used for awhile to obviously well experienced individuals toting some really awesome cameras and lenses. All, however, shared one thing in common; learn some technique while faced with some new photo op situations. This was our first workshop sporting brand new DSLRs. A Nikon D40 for Kathy and a Nikon D80 for me. The "point & shoot" cameras we used to use were in our bags as backup cameras.
Each day started at 4:45-5:00AM with coffee and some of Linda's cookies before heading out, caravan style, via golf cart to await the sunrise. We were out shooting ALL day except for short meal stops and a couple hours in a classroom setting. We finally hit the sack after catching the sunset each day. At each stop Bill would gather the group to fill us in on what to expect and to offer composition and exposure suggestions. Bill and Linda would roam among us to answer questions and assist with “technical” problems.
We traveled by ferry boat from Reedville VA on Friday morning and returned on Sunday afternoon. Shooting commenced on Friday afternoon, covered all day Saturday, and ended around noon on Sunday. A very enjoyable side trip was made, by boat, to Smith Island for a crab cake dinner. Considered to be one of the Chesapeake Bay's best.
As always we come away from a workshop having learned something. This time around it was extensive use of a DSLR which involved changing lenses. For both of us it was getting used to NOT having a live view LCD screen to work from. Both of us were feeling the strain of squinting through the viewfinder all weekend but we survived. We did bring our backup P&S cameras out for some candid pictures of the participants and realized how slow our "old" cameras were at powering up and writing data to the memory card. Our DSLRs were impressively quick by comparison.
We took a couple hundred images each and boiled the pile down to these…..
Click on any of the pictures for a larger view....
Kathy's picks......
Some notes on the above pictures. All of the pictures were taken with a Nikon D40 DSLR digital camera. Most were taken using spot metering and manual as per Bill Lane's instruction. The most done to any of the pictures was some brightness and contrast adjustment. A few were cropped but most were what came out of the camera. White balance was usually set to "cloudy". Joe's picks...... Some notes on the above pictures. All of the pictures were taken with a Nikon D80 DSLR digital camera. All were taken using matrix metering and using ev shift as needed. The most done to any of the pictures was some brightness and contrast adjustment. A few were cropped but most were what came out of the camera. White balance was usually set to "cloudy".
In closing, these workshops are terrific experiences. Everyone interested in improving their skill should attend one.
joe 8-)
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