Day 7

Up early today to to shoot the sunrise over Coeur d'Alene lake.  Wasn't as spectacular as we had hoped so we pulled out our flashes and started experimenting in the woods.  The Nikon Creative Lighting System is way cool and provides lots of options.  Here we used two SB800 flashes off camera set in the woods with orange filters on them.  The power of the flashes can be dialed up and down from the camera to create different lighting ratios.  Stacey's shot of me by the lake became much more dramatic by simply dialing up the flash that was down low and about 45 degrees to the right of the camera.  Coffee pic was natural light.

Caught a nice sunset shot on the way to the Columbia River Gorge.  Shot it at two different white balances, cloudy and incandescent for different color effects

Day 6

We made it to Coeur d'Alene Lake in northern Idaho today.  There were many beautiful scenes along the way but we made few stops due to the poor light quality.  A few miles from the lake we decided to take a detour up the 4th of July Pass, a long dirt road with many switchbacks up the side of a mountain.  We were rewarded with a spectacular sunset and beautiful vistas.  Sunrise pics planned for tomorrow and then on to Spokane to visit a friend from Biogen.

Day 5

The workshop is over and we finally got a chance to sleep in.  We left Bozeman around noon and headed west but made little progress because we kept stopping to take pictures.  Stacey and I agreed our spouses would have had little patience for our many diversions, like reversing direction on I90, driving 20 miles out of the way, and shooting pictures of horses grazing in spectacular light.  Or pulling into a bowling alley parking lot in Butte and setting up this picture with off camera flash shot through a diffuser (practicing some of Joe McNally's techniques).  Since it was only 30 degrees,  wind blowing 30 mph, and the shot took an hour, we're still thawing out.  If we can stay focused tomorrow, we're on to Coeur d'Alene Lake in North Idaho.

Day 4

And now for something a little different.  What do you get when to take a an abandoned cowboy town, a junkyard of historic automobiles, a couple models, some colored gels, dramatic skies, some off camera flashes, and a few assistants?  Cool pics.

Day 3:

Well it is after midnight and we've been going since 5am.  We witnessed an amazing sunrise over the Bridger Mountains, went to a working cattle ranch and watched them "cutting" the herd, which means separating the calves from the cows.  We had lectures on Powerpoint, flash photography, NIK filters, etc. and then travelled to a ghost town from the late 1800's.  To finish the day we had critiques of our work.  Here are some of my favorites from the day. (click the pics for larger versions)

Day 2

Last night was the kickoff of the workshop, with lots of spectacular images from the pros.  Joe McNally was the highlight for me, sharing 30 years worth of amazing pictures from his assignments with National Geographic, Life, Sports Illustrated, etc.  Although the workshop lasted till 11pm and we were awakened by a false fire alarm at 4am, we were still up before dawn hoping to catch great morning light in the canyon.  Unfortunately, we got overcast, cold and rain instead.  Still had fun.  Here are a few of my pics for the day.  Click on them for a bigger view.  More Photoshop lessons tonight and then off to a cowboy ranch at 6am tomorrow!

Photographic Expedition

We've arrived in Bozeman, MT and are anxious to get shooting at 6am tomorrow morning.  This photographic expedition is a dream come true for both Stacey and me.  Here we are at the airport (including a sunrise shot at RDU).