Bosque del Apache and White Sands Workshop
(Socorro and Alamagordo, New Mexico)
Date & Time: Jan. 10-16, 2015
Fees: $1,295 (Deposit: $400)
Limit: 8 participants
View photographs from this location >> |
 |
Description: Bosque del Apache is one of the most spectacular National Wildlife Refuges in North America. Here, tens of thousands of birds including sandhill cranes, Arctic geese, and many kinds of ducks gather each autumn and stay through the winter. At dawn and dusk snow geese erupt in an explosions of wings, flight after flight of geese and cranes can be witnessed either going to the farm fields to feed or coming in to roost in the marshes.
The repetition of opportunities will give you a chance to improve your avian photography skills with Nikhil’s guidance. Whether you are making a portrait of a bird of photographing action, Nikhil will be ever-present to make sure you are taking advantage of the various situations that present themselves. This will include his thoughts on composition, angle of light, selection of focal length and the right settings on your camera for specific situations. He will help you make consistently sharp images and show you how to slow your shutter speed down and make artistic blurs of the birds as well.
The first evening Nikhil will make a presentation to give you an idea of what to expect at Bosque and share various techniques he uses along with the opportunities for interpretation. There will be field trips every morning and late afternoon. During the middle of the day there will be in-depth feedback sessions on your images and Nikhil will share some post processing tips and tricks as well.
After 3.5 days of photographing birds we will switch to landscape mode and photograph at White Sands National Monument. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert, creating the world’s largest gypsum dunefield. White Sands National Monument preserves a major portion of this unique dune field, along with the plants and animals that live there.
We will photograph this surreal landscape for two days. While the park is very unusual it offers several challenges for a landscape photographer. Using light and shadow, composition and creativity come to the fore when interpreting the dune fields. Nikhil will help you explore the various possibilities (including Black & White photos) and push you to think outside the box. Early and late in the day the white sand reflects the color from the sky which makes for some interesting photos. There is not much plant life but yuccas can add more interest to this otherwise desolate landscape and the mountains make for a great backdrop. Participants should be able to hike about 1 to 1.5 miles (round trip) into the dunes.
Basic Itinerary
Orientation meeting will be held at 7:00 pm on Saturday, January 10. We will have three full days of shooting at Bosque (plus the morning of Jan. 14) before driving to White Sands the afternoon Jan. 14. After taking that evening off we will start early the next morning. The field sessions at White Sands will not be very long as once the sun get higher the light is harsh and there are not many shadows to work with when photographing the dunes. The workshop will end after a late afternoon shoot on Jan. 16. Full packing and gear list will be provided.
Weather: Early morning the temps will be below freezing (in the 20’s) with warmer afternoons (in the 50’s and 60’s)
Itinerary Includes:
- All in-the-field and classroom instruction.
- Private board room provided for daily critiques and image editing as well as classroom instruction at BDA only
- Discounted Lodging has been arranged; confirmations will be provided upon registration and receipt of deposit.
|
Itinerary Does Not Include:
- Cost of lodging or meals
- Transportation throughout; we’ll encourage carpooling to/from the refuge as it is a 30 minute drive from the hotel.
|
|
Registration through Naturescapes - Sold out! |
Please contact Nikhil if you have any questions about any of the workshops listed above.
Back to Workshop page |
