Overview

Please note that the instructors for this workshop have been changed from Jack Dykinga and John Shaw to Justin Black and Jerry Dodrill. The content and structure will remain the same.

Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula offers an astonishing array of landscapes and micro-climates in a relatively compact area. From its dramatic coast, sea stacks, and tidal pools, to old-growth temperate rainforest, to alpine meadows, glaciated peaks, and vast wilderness, it seems to have it all. Marine fog pours through mountain passes, filling inland valleys while ridge tops bask in the sun. Roosevelt elk bugle in the lush forest, home to some of the world’s largest trees. The snowcapped splendor of the Olympic Mountains provides a sublime backdrop.

This will be our outdoor classroom for this Vision series workshop, a special program of advanced instruction designed and presented by Justin Black and Jerry Dodrill.

The creation of a great finished photograph is part of a process from initial concept and vision through execution in the field to digital workflow and creation of a high-quality, final master file ready for printing or publication. Vision workshops, originally developed by world-renowned photographers John Shaw and Jack Dykinga, address the two greatest challenges faced by photographers as they advance. The first of these is the tendency for original creative vision to reach a plateau in development, and the second is a digital workflow in need of streamlining and refinement to make the most of your images.

Justin and Jerry will provide hands-on instruction and guidance in the field, as we visit their favorite locations to photograph during magic-hour light each morning and evening, and in the rainforest in diffuse overcast conditions. Between field sessions, we will reconvene at our lodge for projected lectures by Justin and Jerry to help you develop your skills of visualization, composition, and using different qualities of light; as well as an overview of professional digital workflow and processing techniques. The highlight of the classroom activities, however, will be the two group image critiques, during which Justin and Jerry will provide generous, honest, constructive feedback on a subset of each participants photographs produced during the workshop. Group meals will provide additional opportunities to discuss photography, ask questions, and raise subjects that haven’t otherwise come up in the field or the classroom.

This workshop will emphasize advanced seeing and ways to unlock creativity in situations that require conceptual and compositional ingenuity on the part of the photographer. In other words, he’ll answer the questions, “How do I make a great photograph when the subject matter and composition don’t suggest themselves to me, and how do I avoid photographic clichés when the situation offers up a beautiful composition that is almost too obvious?”

The workshop will also focus on teaching a logical, effective workflow that ensures the highest quality for your work, as well an image archive that is stable, consistent, and retrievable over the long term, and that ultimately liberates rather than burdens.  He will cover step by step the process from shooting RAW files in the field to optimizing the final image in Photoshop.

Workflow topics to be covered include:

• File formats for shooting and for archiving
• Exposing for digital
• Processing the raw file
• Using the tools in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom’s Develop Module
• Color spaces for the best results in different media
• The many faces of Bridge
• Creating panoramic images
• Color adjustment strategies
• Using Photoshop to finalize the image: dodging and burning, adjustment layers and layer masking, controlling luminosity and contrast, sharpening for output
• Creating a PDF electronic book
• Color-managed workflow from input to output
•  File naming strategy
• Cataloging of images: Lightroom or other software
• Keywording and captioning of images
• The many uses of metadata

The workshop includes eight field sessions, classroom lectures and ample hands-on instruction, critiques, and, as always, both instructors will be present to teach and assist students throughout the workshop.

The class size is limited to a small group of ten to ensure that everyone gets the time and attention they need, both in the field and the classroom.

We supply materials in advance of the session to get newcomers up to speed with basics having to do with digital camera set-up and techniques, essential equipment recommendations, and other guidelines to ensure that everyone is ready to make the most of the experience.

Note: Visionary Wild, LLC operates this workshop under a Commercial Use Authorization issued by the National Park Service at Olympic National Park.