Visionary Wild, LLC • 2200 19th St. NW, Ste 806, Washington, DC 20009

E-mail: info@visionarywild.com    •    Tel: 1-202-558-9596 (9am to 6pm, EST).    •    Justin Black’s iPhone: 1-202-302-9030

We look forward to hearing from you!

 

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Limit 5 spaces | $1,795* Register
Advanced July 12 - 14, 2012 | View other workshops

Olympic – Digital Printing Extension with Pat O'Hara and Justin Black

Note: Participation in the Olympic Advanced Workshop with Pat O'Hara, July 8-12, 2012, is a prerequisite for enrollment in this fine art digital printing extension.

Ansel Adams famously compared the original photograph to the composer's musical score, and the print to the musician's interpretation and performance. Mastering your photographic technique and developing your creative vision leads to the ultimate step of making sure that your prints correctly represent your personal artistic expression. Over the two days following our workshop on the Olympic Peninsula, master photographer and print maker Pat O'Hara will welcome five of the participants from that workshop to his studio for two days of intensive instruction on the art of fine digital printing.  Click the "read more" tab below to continue...

Olympic – Digital Printing Extension
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Using images made during the Olympic workshop (or RAW pre-existing RAW images or scan files) participants will learn Pat's digital printing workflow and creative decision-making process from raw capture to finished gallery prints. Several computer workstations will be available for participant's use and instruction. Visionary Wild's Justin Black, a master printer who has produced exhibits for Galen Rowell and the International League of Conservation Photographers in addition to his own gallery shows, will serve as assistant instructor.

We will review work prints and offer guidance and critique, and participants will be encouraged to join in and share their own thoughts and impressions with one another. Two additional field photography sessions during the printing workshop will get us outside and break up the indoor studio time.

 

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Focus: Advanced Techniques, Fine Digital Printing,

Pat O'Hara

Ultimately my goal is to nurture in others a deep and enduring respect for the inspirational qualities of nature–to encourage active participation and contemplative viewing.

Pat O'Hara's photography has been showcased in seventeen books. Washington Wilderness: The Unfinished Work, with writer Harvey Manning, and Washington's Wild Rivers, with writer/poet Tim McNulty (both published by The Mountaineers Books, Seattle) were important regional contributions early in his career on behalf of wilderness preservation. Pat's work was featured in an award-winning series of Woodlands Press National Parks Books. His extensive publication history encompasses trade books, magazines, calendars, greeting cards, posters, advertisements, and electronic media. Numerous professional awards have recognized Pat's talents over the years, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Nature Photographers' Association.

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Other notable awards include: the Photography Gold Medal presented by the New York Art Directors Club, the Award of Excellence by Communication Arts magazine, numerous editorial salutations and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Central Washington University. Nikon USA selected Pat to be one of the initial photographers featured in its "Legends Behind the Lens" Internet portfolio series. Pat has served as a Board member for the Olympic Park Institute.

Several book concepts featuring Pat's photography are currently under development. Places of Inspiration: a fine art portfolio will be complemented by exhibitions of his fine art prints. Impressionistic images will be featured in another portfolio. Another book, produced in collaboration with Russian photographer Afanassi Makovnev, will honor the natural history, wildlife and subsistence cultures of the Beringian Heritage International Park (a park co-proposed by the U.S. and Russia) along the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea straddling the Arctic Circle.

Pat is a master fine art printer, fluent in digital imaging and workflow. Exhibits of his images have drawn accolades from the professional community. He was the first photographer to exhibit at the National Parks Conservation Association's new gallery and information center in Seattle and enjoyed a successful three-month exhibit at the Mountain Light Gallery in California. His fine art prints reside in public and private collections internationally.

Pat's studio and home base are located on Washington's beautiful Olympic Peninsula.

Pat O'Hara is an extraordinarily gifted teacher and a wonderful human being whose exceptional and inspiring body of work speaks for itself. He is among the first two or three photographers I initially invited to teach at Mountain Light, and the workshop we led together there was one of the best I've ever experienced. After being busy with other priorities for the last several years, Pat is available to teach again, and I am thrilled that he has agreed to lead a workshop on the Olympic Peninsula with me in July 2012. This is an opportunity not to be missed. –Justin Black

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Justin Black

One of my great joys is witnessing the moment when a workshop participant experiences the "Eureka!" moment – when the veil of obscurity gives way to clear vision and inspiration.

Justin Black has created inspiring educational photographic experiences for over a thousand passionate photographers since 1999.
A professional photographer since 1995, before founding Visionary Wild, he served the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) as Executive Director, and for seven years was General Manager and Curator of Galen Rowell's Mountain Light Photography.
Justin's photographs have been published by magazines such as National Geographic Adventure, Sierra, Sunset, American Photo, Outdoor Photographer, Rock & Ice, and Nature Conservancy.

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The Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Land Trust Alliance, Earth Justice, The Wilderness Society, Conservation International, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the Wild Foundation are among conservation NGOs that have used his photographs in their campaigns, publications, and annual reports.

Justin has also served as an editor and contributor to numerous award-winning photo book projects, including Galen Rowell: A Retrospective; Freshwater: The Essence of Life; The Wealth of Nature: Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity, and Human Well-Being; Our National Parks: America's Natural Heritage; as well as Flying South: A Pilot's Inner Journey by Barbara Rowell. He is represented by the G2 Gallery in Venice, California, and Mountain Light Photography in Bishop, California.

An early career as a travel photographer and image licensing specialist led him to Mountain Light, the company founded by world-renowned National Geographic photographer, author, and mountaineer Galen Rowell and his wife, Barbara, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Beginning in 1999, Justin managed marketing of the Rowell image collection, assisted Galen on assignments and in his workshop program, and taught seminars on nature photography. In April 2002, Galen and Barbara invited Justin to relocate with them as Mountain Light's General Manager at the present location in California's scenic Owens Valley. Justin agreed and eagerly embraced the sublime Eastern Sierra Nevada landscape as his new home.

Four months later, Galen and Barbara perished in the crash of a chartered plane, leaving behind a tremendous creative and visionary vacuum. Justin went to work, building on the impressive Rowell legacy to reinvigorate Mountain Light by establishing a seasonal series of guest photographer exhibitions, expanding the image collection, and relaunching the highly acclaimed photo workshop program through collaboration with Galen's leading professional peers, including Frans Lanting, Pat O'Hara, Jack Dykinga, John Shaw, and David Muench. In May 2008, Justin's successful efforts were recognized by both Sunset and American Photo magazines, as each magazine featured editorial recommendations of his workshop program at Mountain Light.

After ten years at Mountain Light, Justin was recruited for the position of Executive Director of ILCP, a non-profit association of the best photographers worldwide working in the field of nature conservation. At ILCP, Justin oversaw an explosion of productivity in expeditions, publishing, multimedia production, and the achievement of successful conservation outcomes. He contributed his photographic talents to ILCP RAVEs (Rapid Assessment Visual Expeditions), including Flathead (Canada, 2009), Yucatán (Mexico, 2009), and Chesapeake (USA, 2010), as well as a solo Tripods in the Mud project documenting the Dragon Run watershed in Tidewater Virginia. One of Justin's photographs of the Flathead River appeared as a section opener in the Vancouver Sun newspaper – the first time the Flathead watershed conservation issue had any prominent coverage in that regionally critical media outlet – and was selected by the U.S. Senate for display in the U.S. Capitol. Justin left ILCP in late 2010 to establish Visionary Wild, building on his successful leadership of the Mountain Light workshop program and applying expertise gained at ILCP to provide superlative workshops and expeditions for passionate photographers seeking to advance to the next level of creativity, quality, purpose, and meaning in their work. His own work continues to evolve in new directions, driven by the ongoing search for extraordinary qualities in our world's dynamic landscapes.

Justin lives in Washington, DC, with his brilliant wife, Lena (Visionary Wild's Director of Operations), and their son Philippe.

Justin Black's online portfolio

Justin's Outdoor Photographer Profile

Bringing focus and meaning to your photography

The Top 40 Nature Photos Project

Justin’s Camera Bag

After using an array of 35mm, medium format, and 4x5 film cameras for most of his career, Justin has switched fully to Nikon digital SLRs and Nikkor lenses. His current gear includes:

Camera Bodies (all Nikon)
D3X
D3S
D700
D7000

Lenses (all Nikkor)
14-24mm f/2.8 G AF-S ED
24-70mm f/2.8 G AF-S ED
70-200mm f/2.8 G AF-S ED VRII
20mm f/2.8 AI-S
24mm f/3.5 PC-E tilt-shift
35mm f/2.0 AF-D
35mm f/2.8 PC shift
45mm f/2.8 PC-E tilt-shift
50mm f/1.8 AF-D
85mm f/2.8 PC-E tilt-shift
85mm f/1.8 AF-D
135mm f/2.8 AI-S
200mm f/4 AF-D Micro-Nikkor
TC-14EII teleconverter
TC-20EII teleconverter

Flash
Nikon SB-900 x2
Assorted Nikon TTL flash cables
Lumiquest soft boxes
Rosco gels

Filters
Singh-Ray LB Circular Polarizer
Singh-Ray Vari-ND
Singh-Ray Galen Rowell graduated neutral density (1 to 4 stops, hard and soft)
Hoya 7-stop ND

Tripods
Gitzo 1348CF with Really Right Stuff BH-55 ballhead
Really Right Stuff TVC-24L with RRS BH-40LR ballhead
Gitzo 1028 with RRS BH-25 ballhead

Photo Packs (all by Think Tank Photo)
Airport Addicted V2.0
Airport Acceleration
Airport Antidote V2.0
Urban Disguise 50 V2.0
Speed Racer V2.0

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Highlights

Topics to be covered include: 
  • Digital workflow and color management with Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop
  • Profiling cameras, monitors and printers for optimum consistency and predictable results
  • Evaluating print aesthetics and applying creative judgment to make the best print possible, reflecting your wishes as an artist
  • Mastering output to Epson printers on fine art paper, aluminum and other substrates

Accommodations & Travel

Package includes single-occupancy lodging, all meals, and adult beverages with dinner. Prorated fees are available for double occupancy and for those who do not require lodging.

Lodging will be at the waterfront Red Lion Hotel in Port Angeles, Washington, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. With views of the water from each participant's room, the hotel offers a perfect location close to restaurants and shops, and a short drive from Pat O'Hara's studio. This workshop is packaged inclusive of single-occupancy accommodation, with prorated options for double-occupancy or without lodging if you live nearby or prefer to make your own arrangements. Catering will be provided by better area restaurants, with fine dining at dinner.

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Major airlines fly into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA-TAC). Kenmore Air flies out of Seattle Boeing Field (accessible via shuttle from SEA-TAC) into Port Angeles, though their 9-seat Cessna Grand Caravans have baggage weight restrictions so check with them before booking. There is a twice daily bus shuttle between SEA-TAC and Port Angeles (http://www.olympicbuslines.com/). Ground transportation during the workshop itself will be provided using two group vans. From Seattle, the Olympic Peninsula is accessible by regular ferry service (http://www.wsdot.com/ferries/schedule/). We will make short walks during the two field session included in this extension. Hiking will be fairly easy, with a two-mile maximum round trip on moderate terrain. Some trails could be muddy with slippery roots. Highest altitude location will be around 6000'. Summer weather on the Olympic Peninsula is variable, with highs between the 50s and 70s depending on elevation, and it's far drier than in winter. Expect a mix of sun, cloud, rain, and fog – perfect for atmospheric photography on the edges of light!