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Death Valley and the Alabama Hills - March 7th - 9th, 2012      
Where:
Death Valley National Park and the Alabama Hills... When: Wednesday, March 7th through Friday, March 9th, 2012. (Full Moon rising on Wednesday evening) Lodging: Lodging is included in the cost. Due to demand, this workshop includes single occupancy lodging for two (2) nights! Our first night is in Stovepipe Wells - inside the National Park. Our second night is in Lone Pine... Transportation: Workshop participants are responsible for transportation to Death Valley. We will carpool once there. Four wheel drive vehicles are preferred... Meals: Each participant will be responsible for their own meals. We will stop so that everyone can stock up on sandwiches, drinks, snacks, etc. Price: $625 per person - includes SINGLE occupancy lodging for 2 nights!
Who: We welcome any and all photographers, regardless of experience – Limit 6 participants Workshop Leaders: Bill Langton, owner of Bill Langton’s Fine Art Photography, based in Truckee, California… J.Gunther, owner of J. Gunther Scenic Photography, based out of Vallejo, California… John and Bill are pleased to host an intimate 3-day field photographic workshop in beautiful Death Valley National Park, finishing up with a visit to the Alabama Hills, outside of Lone Pine, California. This is a field workshop. We will be chasing light from well before sunrise until after sunset. We are planning on visiting the Dunes at Stovepipe Wells, Zabriski Point, Badwater, The Racetrack Playa, Movie Road in the Alabama Hills, Mobius Arch and will photograph the Whitney massive at dawn... Gear: Each
participant is required to bring an SLR or Field camera – digital
preferred. As for lenses, we recommend you try to cover a range
from very wide 16-24mm, for landscape images, medium range, 35-100mm
for all-round capabilities and if possible, a telephoto (100-400mm) for
wildlife. It's not uncommon to see wildlife when we are in the field so
it's best to be prepared. We also encourage you to bring other lenses,
like a macro or fish-eye lens if you have them, because there are
always endless creative possibilities to be found in our
workshops.
A sturdy tripod is a must for a field workshop. Gusty winds, odd angles and low light photography will challenge us all to capture the best images. To do this, you need the steady platform a good tripod provides. We recommend you bring a polarizing filter for your lenses. This will help saturate the colors and darken the sky. If you have multi-stop, graduated neutral density filters, we recommend you bring them as well. These will assist you in getting the proper balance of exposure to capture the wide dynamic range which is often present in landscape photography. Be sure to bring extra batteries, your charger and the associated cords, etc. There is nothing like being in the right spot at the right time to capture the perfect, once in a lifetime image only to find you have a dead battery! The same can be said about memory cards – make sure you have plenty of storage capacity. A laptop or other types of off camera storage is a bonus as well because you can offload your images at the end of the day and free up valuable space on your cards for the next day’s shooting. If you have "Family Service Radios" - the small, handheld portable radios, please bring them. We will have a selection on hand for everyone to use. These provide instant communication for the group both while traveling in the cars and also when we get into the field. They are especially useful when we are in the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells... We also recommend each participant bring a LED Headlamp and/or a flashlight. These help with camera setup in low light conditions and for finding our way around before sunrise and after sunset. Each participant should have some type of equipment carrying bag / backpack to carry your gear. As for clothing, we need to think in layers. Death Valley and the Alabama Hills in March can provide a wide range of temperatures and conditions. While usually pleasant during the day, the mornings and evenings can get quite cold. Foul weather and snow is always a possibility. A base layer can provide a good foundation and be comfortable during the day but adding layers can help in the pre-dawn cold or the post sunset drop in temps. Good, sturdy shoes or hiking boots are a must as we will be doing quite a bit of wandering to get just the right shot. Gloves that are warm, water-resistant yet allow for camera control are also recommended. Many photographers use mittens that allow you to extract your fingers to manipulate the controls on your camera. A hat or cap is a bonus, shading your eyes while composing that special image. A waterproof or water-resistant jacket is also highly recommended. Remember, temperatures and conditions can change rapidly so be prepared! Participants should be healthy and mobile enough to walk off pavement for some distance. For example, at the Dunes, we will be on foot in sand as we wander around looking for the best compositions. Meals, Food, Snacks – bring whatever you want to have with you. This is critical as there are not a lot of places to get food. We will provide bottled water as a courtesy for the group. If you are interested in joining us, please click below and submit the contact form. I will get in touch with you personally to work out the payment details and answer any questions you may have, including providing our best idea on a schedule. |
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Bill Langton's
Fine Art Photography - All Rights Reserved
Truckee, California, USA
