Sierra Nevada Autumn with William Neill
Overview
If Visionary Wild has a “spiritual birthplace,” it must be in the small town of Bishop, California, spectacularly situated in the Owens Valley between the soaring eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, and the White Mountains, home to the ancient bristlecone pines on the western edge of the Great Basin. The Eastern Sierra or “the Eastside” as it is commonly called, is a landscape photographer’s Shangri-La, with easy access to endless opportunities on the area’s wild and expansive public lands. It was here that Visionary Wild founder Justin Black created his first photo workshops program – which would eventually be recognized as one of the finest in the world – as General Manager and Curator of Galen Rowell’s Mountain Light Gallery, following the untimely deaths of Galen and his wife Barbara (read more under “Expectations” below if you are interested).
Majestic snow-capped peaks, beautiful lakes and creeks, dramatic skies, and striking sunrises and sunsets make for amazing photographic opportunities at any time of the year, but it is particularly magical when the aspen groves turn color in autumn. Justin will be joined at this workshop by William Neill, a protegé of Ansel Adams, whose elegant work from Yosemite, the Sierra Nevada, and from Canada to Antarctica has earned him an enviable reputation. He also an insightful and generous teacher. We invite you to join these to master photographers for an exploration of the unique autumn landscape of the Eastern Sierra. The workshop will be based at the newly refurbished Wayfinder Hotel (formerly Creekside Inn) in Bishop, California, located at 4,000-feet elevation in the United States’ deepest valley between the Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains, both topping out over 14,000 feet.
Leveraging their depth of knowledge of the Eastern Sierra landscape, weather, and light, William and Justin will lead a total of eight pre-dawn-to-early morning and afternoon-to-sunset field trips to favorite locations in the Owens Valley, Eastern Sierra Nevada and the White Mountains that they know intimately. Emphasis will be on hands-on instruction, helping participants refine their seeing, improve their landscape compositions and technical skills, and generally empower them to take control of their photography and move to the next level. Lectures and projected constructive group critique sessions emphasize refining your creative vision and developing a strategic image processing workflow utilizing Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
This well-rounded Creative Core workshop is appropriate for any level of outdoor photographer, and we pride ourselves on an ability to cater to everyone from highly experienced repeat clients to keen novices. The pace of our schedule and group mealtimes provide perfect opportunities to casually discuss a wide range of topics of interest to participants. This will be an upbeat learning environment in which we intend to inspire, energize, and engage. Participants will hone their photographic vision, compositions and techniques during quality time in the field and in the classroom with Bill and Justin. Both instructors possess an intimate knowledge of the area and share a vast wealth of knowledge when it comes to getting the most from dynamic, fast-changing landscape scenarios. Join us on the Eastside!
Itinerary
Please note, this schedule may be adapted and modified in response to weather, seasonal conditions, and photo location opportunities during the workshop.
Monday, Oct. 13th
1:00pm Meet for introductory session in our classroom.
3:00pm Leave for afternoon field session
6:30pm Sunset
7:00pm Dinner at one of Bishop’s finer dining establishments
Tuesday, Oct. 14th
5:30am Meet in lobby. Depart for morning field session
6:55am Sunrise
8:30am Breakfast
10:00am Meet in classroom for presentation on composition
1:30pm Light lunch
2:00pm Reconvene in classroom
3:30pm Depart for evening field session
6:30pm Sunset, return to hotel
7:30pm Dinner
Wednesday, Oct. 15th
5:30am Meet in lobby. Depart for sunrise shoot
6:56am Sunrise
8:30am Breakfast in Bishop
9:30am Download and edit images
10:30am Image critique session
1:00pm Lunch
2:00pm Finish critiques
3:00pm Depart for afternoon field session.
6:25pm Sunset, Return to hotel
7:30pm Dinner
Thursday, Oct. 16th
5:00am Meet in lobby to carpool to Mono Lake. Depart for sunrise shoot
6:57am Sunrise
8:30am Breakfast, then return to classroom
10:30am Presentation on image development in Lightroom and Photoshop
1:00pm Lunch
2:00pm Complete image processing presentations
3:00pm Depart for afternoon field session
6:26pm Sunset, Return to hotel
7:30pm Dinner
Friday, Oct. 17th
5:30am Meet in lobby. Depart for sunrise shoot
6:58am Sunrise
8:30am Breakfast
9:30am Check out of hotel
10:00am Begin download and edit of images
11:00am Final image critique session
2:00pm Adjourn
Instructors
William Neill
- William Neill, a resident of the Yosemite ...
Justin Black
- JUSTIN BLACK is a photographer (www.justinblackphoto.com), writer, editor, expedition leader, photo workshops instructor, a Fellow ...
Gallery
Pricing
PRICING AND OCCUPANCY
All prices are per person.
Package includes the workshop itself, four nights’ lodging (check-in Oct 13, check-out Oct 17, 2025), all meals from dinner on Oct 13 through brunch on Oct 17, and beverages (including beer and wine with dinner). Prorated fees are available for participants who have arranged to share a room, and those who do not require lodging. We are not currently pairing individuals not traveling together in the same room. If you are an individual traveler, please book at the single occupancy rate.
PAYMENT SCHEDULE
- 50% deposit due to confirm registration
- 50% final payment due June 9, 2025
Click here for payment, cancellation and refund policies; and other terms and conditions of participation.
Please review our terms and conditions even if you have participated in previous Visionary Wild trips so that you are aware of current policies.
Highlights
- Prime time for autumn color in the aspens
- Eight field photography sessions, morning and evening, at your instructors’ favorite locations, scouted out over decades of photography in the Eastern Sierra.
- Refine your composition skills
- Working the scene to capture its essence
- Using various qualities of light to best effect
- Exposure and tonal control
- Essentials of digital workflow
- Optimizing images in post-processing
- Three constructive group critique sessions
- Group size limited to ten, for an intimate workshop experience with lots of one-on-one time with instructors.
- Packaged with single-occupancy lodging, all meals and beverages
Accommodations
Our “basecamp” for this workshop will be in Deluxe rooms in Bishop’s best hotel. For those who opt for a packaged including accommodations, your room will be booked from 3pm on Oct 13 to 11am on Oct 17, 2025.
Travel
Expectations
In May of 1999 at the age of twenty-five, Visionary Wild founder Justin Black moved to Berkeley, California, from Washington, DC, to go to work for his photographic idol – world-renowned adventure and landscape photographer Galen Rowell – as Mountain Light Photography’s Image Collection Manager and as Galen’s assistant instructor in his highly regarded photo workshop program. Three years later, when Galen and his wife Barbara closed their Emeryville gallery and consolidated their business in a large bank building on Main Street in the small Owen’s Valley town of Bishop, California, where they had opened a second gallery in 2001, Justin relocated there to take on a new role as General Manager.
That August, just a few days before Galen was to turn 62 years old, Galen and Barbara died tragically in the crash of a chartered airplane, along with the pilot and his girlfriend. Justin took on the challenge to get Mountain Light back on track and revitalized, in collaboration with Galen’s and Barbara’s heirs and his amazing team of colleagues. Over the next seven years, Justin built on the foundation that Galen had established with his own photo workshops to create what would become recognized as one of the world’s finest workshop programs (in 2008, the editors of both American Photo and Sunset magazines recommended Mountain Light workshops as among the best in the world), featuring master photographers such as Jack Dykinga, Frans Lanting, John Shaw, Nevada Wier, Pat O’Hara, Elizabeth Carmel, Jeff Foott, David Muench, and more. He also took on the additional role as Gallery Curator, organizing exhibitions of fine prints by these same luminaries, as well as the most highly regarded Sierra photographers including William Neill, Charlie Cramer, Jerry Dodrill, Vern Clevenger, Jim Stimson, Londie Padelsky, and John Dittli. In 2003, Justin was honored when Mountain Light’s board of directors chose to represent his own limited-edition prints in the gallery as well.
During his seven years in Bishop, Justin explored the peaks, canyons, trails, lakes, and aspen forests of the eastern Sierra Nevada extensively, along with the Owens Valley itself and the adjacent White Mountains, home to the ancient bristlecone pines. His knowledge of the region is detailed and intimate – boarding on encyclopedic – and he knows the seasonal conditions of light, weather, foliage, and the associated photographic opportunities as well as anyone. Likewise, William Neill has explored and photographed the region extensively since the 1970s. The Eastern Sierra is like a second home to these two, and they look forward to sharing it with you.
This workshop operates under a permit on the Inyo National Forest.
In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, and reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)
Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible State or local Agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information is also available in languages other than English.
To file a complaint alleging discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html, or at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provided in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (a) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (b) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (c) email: program.intake@usda.gov.
