I've got some exciting news about my Northwest Territories Aurora/Fall Color/ Wildlife workshop I'm leading with Kevin Pepper.
Kevin just came up with a new itinerary that does a couple of great things. First, it gives us more flexibility and mobility. The original itinerary had us staying at the Blachford Lake Lodge, a really nice place in the middle of nowhere. This meant we would be pretty much limited to the immediate area. Our new base of operations will be in Yellowknife. Here we'll have rental vans and we'll be able to visit and photograph a more varied area. And we'll be able to go find wildlife.
And, since we'll be mobile, we'll be better positioned to find auroras. Not only that, Aurora Village, one of the premier aurora viewing facilities in all of Canada, is in Yellowknife. And we'll be going there as well.
So I'm pretty excited about this new itinerary. You can read all the details on my website.

The second great thing this itinerary does is allow me to cut the price by nearly $2000. The price for this workshop is $3650 (double occupancy) and includes lodging, meals, and all transportation during the workshop.
This trip is already starting to fill and it looks like I have enough people to make it a go. Personally, I'm pretty excited to finally get a chance to photograph the Northern Lights. And it will be nice to see the tundra in all its autumn glory again. The last time for me was in Denali, 20 years ago.

Attached photo is courtesy of Aurora Village.

My buddy Don Mammoser, with whom I'm leading this workshop, tells me we now have only four spaces remaining in this workshop. If you're a serious landscape photographer or you want learn how to become one, this park offers a great opportunity. Landscape photography is all about the foregrounds (like close up photography is all about the backgrounds) and we'll be presented with a host of interesting foregrounds to use, from flowers in their peak bloom to mountains reflected in still waters, to old barns. This is a great chance to learn the skills of landscape photography and get the images to show off those skills.
Remember, only four spaces remaining!

That's Don's picture above. See what you could be photographing too!

Just a couple of weeks after the Tetons workshop, Don and I are also leading a workshop in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. Last year's trip was amazing, the best flowers I've ever seen. We timed that one just right. And we're hoping for the same this year. Because frankly, I need some more spectacular mountain scenic images with foregrounds filled with flowers. The Tetons will provide plenty, but I want some Colorado goodness as well.
This trip features an all day 4x4 Jeep trip up into the high country. It's quite a ride and will literally have you bouncing in your seat. There's a lot to see that day, including an old ghost town and incredible views from really, really high passes. Oh, and all those flowers. And wild onions too! One year I picked some at lunch time to add to my sandwich. Delicious!

This image too is one of Don's. Pretty nice, huh? What did I tell you about last year's trip?

A couple of weeks ago I posted a short update on my blog about Leo, the fellow I met in the woods back in January. You can read about the latest encounter here. And if you've not read the story of my first amazing encounter, you can find that here. It's worth it.

So Bailey has started her own blog. It was actually her doctor's idea. Sort of. You see, Bailey hurt her leg a couple of weeks ago on our walk. She tends to run all out when chasing something and then tries to stop on a dime when she gets to the thing she's chasing. This time she came up limping and since she was limping for a couple of days following that, we took her to the doctor. Bailey's ok, it was just a strain. But the doctor suggested that we keep track on a calendar whenever we see her favoring that leg. Bailey thought that keeping a blog would be an even better idea. That scamp!
So I'm helping Bailey out with her blog. It gives me a chance to start working with the Genesis Framework for WordPress, something I've been learning a lot about lately. Bailey doesn't know this yet but I may be playing around with the settings and layouts of her blog. Don't tell her.

Last November on the last night of my Zion National Park workshop, we went to the Zion Canyon Brew Pub for dinner. It's right next to the hotel I use for my workshops. Anyway, when we got there for dinner there was entertainment. A singer named Christina Osborn. At first I though it was going to be really annoying trying to talk with my group while the music was playing, and it was a bit difficult to hear the others. But, oh my, what a great voice Christina has. I really enjoyed listening to her sing and play that night.
So at the end of the night as we were leaving I chatted with her a bit and signed up for her mailing list. Turns out she was working on a getting a cd out and was financing it through Kickstarter. So I chipped in a few bucks and last week the cd arrived. I'd been looking forward to receiving it just based on the quality of her singing. I'm happy to say I'm not disappointed. If you enjoy folksy/bluesy (bluesy??) music, check out singer/songwriter Christina Osborn.

That's all for now. I've still got space in my Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls and Palouse workshops. And since the Olympic workshop with Don sold out so fast, I've added a second, limited space, workshop. If interested, just email me for more information.

And I may be adding a late fall trip to photograph bald eagles in British Columbia. You may be seeing another email about that soon. Be sure to let me know if this would be of interest.