I just finished scouting for a fall workshop next year in Colorado. First let me just state it's a photography paradise. This time of year, there are so many images and opportunities to find new ways of portraying subjects, you are only limited by your imagination. For example, this scene is very accessible near Keystone CO. You can easily capture people in your images, since every stream has fly fishermen. Personally, I prefer people in my landscape images, and I managed to get a little fishing in myself.
There are lots of old buildings protected by avid preservation. Old homesteads are preserved and are scattered everywhere. This barn is part of an active place, with a resident. But many much older are around with no residents. Lots of ghost towns are around, which may or may not be inhabited.
And if you are just in for plain old beautiful. You could shoot a hundered gigs of that.
There is also a good bit of wildlife activity since the fall is rutting season for the elk and moose.
I ran into a small herd of 50 females led by a big male. He was bugling constantly to attract more females(made me wonder how many females one male needs), and other competitive males were in the area bugling to attract females including his. He was always on the lookout and when a female started to stray off, he would bully her back. Here is the male bugling for more females.
Here is a portrait image of the male and female. Odd thing to say for a human male, but the male elk has a nice rack.
And, there is a lot of interaction, to put it politely. Here is the male showing a little tenderness.
You are likley wondering what lens to use to capture these images. During rutting season these animals have few things other than mating on the mind so you can get safely close. I used a 70-200mm/2.8 lens with a 2X teleconverter. It's important you use a good teleconverter, and I used the latest one from Nikon which is excellent as I discovered in Africa.
So these are some examples of the animal potential. I would point out again, I was scouting not looking for any particular image, these opportunities are plentiful if you know where to look. There are plenty of opportunites for different types of images.
You could create an entire portfolio of reflections given the colors and time of year.
So, what gear do you need? I basically used two lenses; 24-70mm/2.8 and 70-200mm/2.8. I carried a 2X teleconverter, variable ND filter, circular 3 stop ND filter, polarizer, and a cable release. I used a tripod when possible and carried the gear in a small Think Tank backpack. The temperatures are tricky, 20's in the morning but rising to the 70's during the day.
I will be returning next year with a workshop, limited to approximately 10-12 people. I'm working with hotels for group rates, and will be doing all the driving in 2-3 vehicles. The current plan is to have a one day orientation at the Hold the Eye Images Studio at which time we will talk gear, camera settings, weather, clothing and anything else important for the trip. The trip will likely have 3 days of shooting, then another day at the studio upon return for post processing techniques using Lightroom, Photoshop 6 and Nik.
To stay abreast of this workshop, follow Hold the Eye Images Meetup, the workshop signup and details will be posted in this forum.
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