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Point Reyes

with Jerry Dodrill, Todd Pickering
January 22 - 26, 2024 Creative Core
Limited to 10 Participants. From $3,055  
Register Now
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  • Overview
  • Itinerary
  • Instructors
  • Gallery
  • Pricing
  • Highlights
  • Accommodations
  • Travel

Overview

Point Reyes National Seashore and the Marin Coast are truly a photographer’s playground, rich with diverse subject matter – landscape, seascape, flora and fauna –  with ever-changing light and the beautiful interplay of sun and marine fog. It’s the perfect setting for a workshop focused on developing creativity and honing skills. The talented local team Todd Pickering and Jerry Dodrill, will teach you to take control of the finer points of composition, exposure and tonal control, and specialized techniques for approaching this sublime coastal landscape.

The benefits of visiting in late January are many-fold. First, northern elephant seals gather on the beaches to breed and have their pups, with big males aggressively defending their harems. It’s also the prime season for whales to cruise by just offshore. Tourist traffic is reduced compared to spring and summer. Weather tends to be clearer as well. We will spend our morning and evening field time at locations along the Marin County coast as far north as Tomales Point and as far south as Marin Headlands. Old-growth redwood forest, the blooming flanks of Mt. Tamalpais overlooking the Pacific, seastacks and cliffs, wild beaches, headlands, tule elk, seals, sea birds, and more make this place very special indeed.

My good friend and colleague, Jerry Dodrill, and I started our photographic exploration of this astonishing landscape when we worked with the late Galen Rowell, leading workshop groups to the Marin coast from Galen’s gallery in Emeryville. Jerry has chosen to spend the last two decades here, chasing storms and photographing along edges of land and sea, earth and sky, fog and light. As Galen pointed out in his book Bay Area Wild, this piece of coastline is a spectacular natural treasure, despite being within easy day-trip range of a major metropolitan area. Those who live nearby just might begin to take its wonders for granted, but it is amazing what you can find here when you approach it with eyes wide open. –Justin Black

This five-day, four-night Creative Core workshop deals heavily with composition, working with changing light, exposure control, essential gear and creative tools, fundamentals of digital workflow, digital exposure blending, stitching, and focus-stacking, and an intense schedule of photography in the field followed by constructive group critiques. Creative Core workshops are generalist outdoor photography workshops and the emphasis of any individual participant’s work is up to them, whether they wish to focus on landscape, macro, wildlife (as the opportunity presents itself), abstraction, color, black and white, HDR, panoramics, multiple exposures, or all of the above. Any enthusiastic photographer will feel right at home in this workshop. In our experience, most participants will be solid intermediates with a couple relative beginners and a handful of advanced photographers. Jerry and Todd each have over two decades of experience successfully accommodating a range of experience levels at workshops.

Very often, we are amazed by the way in which the beginners teach the advanced students a thing or two about unrestrained creative openness and serendipity, while the expertise of the advanced students can be a welcome resource for the rest of the class. 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.

Lodging, all meals, and beverages are included in the package.

Itinerary

The workshop begins at 1pm on Monday, January 22nd, and ends by 3pm on Friday, Jan 26, 2024.

Field sessions begin the evening of the first day. Each morning and evening, we’ll be out to photograph first light before breakfast, and we’ll generally have dinner before for photographing through sunset. During mid-day hours in our classroom at the hotel, Todd and Jerry will make presentations on seeing, composition and creativity, using light to best effect, digital workflow, and maximizing image potential. Critique sessions will be held each of the last three days before returning to the field for photography in afternoon and evening light. Friday morning will be the final field session, followed by critique until we adjourn at 3:00 pm.

Instructors

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    • Jerry Dodrill

    • Jerry Dodrill has been an award-winning professional photographer and highly regarded photography teacher for more than two decades. A protégé of the late legendary adventure photographer Galen Rowell ...
    • Todd Pickering

    • Todd Pickering received his degree in Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute, where he concentrated on landscape photography and sculpture. Travels have taken him from above the ...

Gallery

Pricing

Single Occupancy $3,995

Deposit $1,997.50
Full $3,995
Register

Double Occupancy $3,535

Deposit $1,767.50
Full $3,535
Register

No Lodging $3,055

Deposit $1,527.50
Full $3,055
Register

PRICING AND OCCUPANCY

All prices are per person.

Package includes the workshop itself, four nights’ lodging (check-in Jan 22, check-out Jan 26), all meals from dinner on May 22 through brunch on May 26, 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 September 21, 2023

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 elephant seals on the beaches and whales just off shore.
  • Eight field photography sessions, morning and evening
  • Composition
  • 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
  • Two 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

The Cottages at Point Reyes, near Inverness, California, will provide our very comfortable accommodations and classroom.

Travel

airplane icon
Those flying into the area can choose from either Santa Rosa (STS), San Francisco (SFO), or Oakland (OAK) airports.
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Participants are responsible for transportation to the workshop. Car rental is available at area airports. We will carpool to field locations, with drive times ranging from a few minutes to an hour.
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Locations will be accessed on foot via easy walks ranging from a few feet to a 1/2-mile on good trails.
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Highs around 58ºF and lows around 45ºF are common this time of year, as are a mix of sun, light rain, and fog, with winds around 15 to 25 mph.

Point Reyes

with Jerry Dodrill, Todd Pickering
January 22 - 26, 2024 Creative Core
Limited to 10 Participants. From $3,055  
Register Now
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