I will be giving a couple of free webinars with X-Rite and Nik Software next week on processing and working with images shot with snow and ice. There are two sessions available on Wednesday April 10th at 6pm EDT and 8pm EDT. You can register online at X-Rite for either the First or Second session and places are limited.
In part two of the new Gura Gear Bataflae series of videos we have a look at just what I pack in my camera bag for both international travel and local landscape photography. Depending on where I am travelling and what I am shooting I occasionally swap lenses in and out of this collection. As you will see, you can fit quite a bit of gear in a Bataflae 32L! I actually discovered another tele-converter in the bag on top of all the other equipment when I was repacking the bag after we finished filming. Just click on the image to watch the video via You Tube. I hope you enjoy. You can order the Gura Gear Bataflae cameras bags directly from Gura Gear.
The good folks at X-Rite have posted a short five minute audio interview on their blog I did with them a few weeks ago as part of their Coloratti program.
Coloratti Josh Holko is our newest member of the Coloratti program from Melbourne, Australia. Josh is an accomplished nature photographer and workshop leader. He received word this month that his photographs of Antarctica have made set him as a finalist in 2012 Outdoor Photographer of the Year. Already an award winning photographer Josh’s blog says, “I feel I have been very fortunate this year as I was also a finalist and highly commended with 3rd place in the Travel Photographer of the Year ‘Single Shot Water Category’ and was a finalist in the ‘Fine Art Photographer of the Year’ competition in Paris a few months ago.”
We caught up with Josh a few weeks ago to talk about his photography and yes, I admit it, to enjoy his lovely Aussie accent! You have to hear about his thoughts on “luxury shooting” in his workshops.
Visit the X-Rite blog for the complete interview.
I would like to thank all the readers and followers of my blog, those who have purchased prints and workshop participants for your continued support throughout 2012. I wish all of you a very happy and safe New Year and all the very best for 2013. 2013 is going to be another busy year with more new features in the pipeline for my website and blog, and even more new and exciting photographic travels. If you are travelling with me in 2013 on one or more of my workshops or expeditions I look forward to shooting together in some of the world’s most beautiful and remote locations. I have some really exciting announcements I hope to be able to make early in the new year, not the least of which includes a new partnership and surprise guest on the expedition I am leading with Daniel Bergmann to Antarctica in November. More to come on this very shortly suffice to say for now that there is going to be over a quarter of a million dollars worth of high-end digital camera gear on board for everyone to freely use and try out throughout the expedition.
2013 also marks the first time a dedicated film production crew will be accompanying me to film an expedition. Abraham Joffe and his team from ‘Untitled Film Works’ will travel with me on the 2nd Jewels of the Arctic expedition I am co-leading with Peter Eastway and have been secured with the task of producing a short video of the trip. This is going to be a great experience and I am looking forward very much to sharing the video on our return. There are actually still a few places remaining on both of these Arctic expeditions for anyone who would like to join us. We are looking forward to Polar Bears, grazing Reindeer, Walrus, Icebergs, precipitous granite spires, mountains and more.
I am working feverishly on finalising the 2014 Iceland workshops and hope to have these ready for bookings before leaving for Iceland with Andy Biggs for our Winter Workshops in March. Interest for the 2014 trips has already been very high so please drop me an email if you are interested and I will notify you with details before I officially open the bookings.
To those of you who have expressed an interest in the 2014 Namibia trip with Andy Biggs we are getting close to finalising details and likewise hope to have everything in place before we head for our winter workshops in Iceland next March.
Whatever you’re doing today, enjoy yourselves and thank you for your support over the last year. Roll on 2013!
As has become somewhat traditional on my blog I like to do a post toward the end of each year that looks forward to whats in store for the coming year. Its a good opportunity for me to ready myself mentally for the year ahead and to also close off the previous year. 2013 is shaping up to be very busy with a significant number of workshops and expeditions that I am very much looking forward to. Although I very much choose to specialise in the Polar and sub-Polar regions (which remain my focus) I do have a new exploratory trip planned for 2013 into China. More on this below.
In March I will be co-leading two back-to-back Winter Aurora workshops to Iceland with my good friends Andy Biggs and Daniel Bergmann. These workshops are going to focus on the coastal regions of Iceland including the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, the mighty sea stacks at Vik and the spectacular Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. We are looking forward to frozen waterfalls, glaciers, icebergs and with a little luck the Aurora (Northern Lights). We are going to be in Iceland at the peak of the eleven year solar cycle which should mean some intense solar activity. Fingers crossed for clear skies and blazing Aurora!
In May I will be headed to the remote Xinjiang province in China with my good friend and fellow photographer Antony Watson on an exploratory expedition to the Gobi Desert, Tian Shan mountain range, Kanas Lake and Kanasi. This investigative trip is the culmination of over a year of logistical arrangements and I hope will open up some incredibly beautiful and remote wilderness for a future expedition workshop to this region.
In July I will be headed back to Iceland to lead a summer workshop with Daniel Bergmann into the Highland Regions. We will be travelling into Landmannalaugar; which is one of my favourite locations in Iceland as well as visiting the mighty Dettifoss and Selfoss waterfalls and the iconic Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon. Normally inaccessible in Winter, the Highlands of Iceland are a very special place and simply incredible for photography.
In August I will fly from Iceland to Oslo and Longyearbyen for a personal expedition to Svalbard to photograph Polar Bears and Walrus before I return to Longyearbyen to lead two back to back expeditions to Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland – The Jewels of the Arctic. The first of these expeditions will be co-led with Daniel Bergmann and the second co-led with Australian Grand Master of Photography Peter Eastway. Abraham Joffe’s award winning film and production company ‘Untitled Film Works‘ has been secured to join us on the second expedition and will be producing a video of the trip which I hope to share freely here on my blog late next year.In November I am travelling to Ushuaia in South America and will lead an expedition to Antarctica and the Falkland Islands with Daniel Bergmann. This 15 day / 14 night expedition was more than eight months in the planning and is something I am very much looking forward to. We have been able to arrange access into areas normally off limits that are dedicated to Science which is going to provide us with some really unique opportunities. We are travelling early in the season which should give us the best possible opportunities for spectacular icebergs, dramatic weather and great light.In late November I will travel to Patagonia with my friend Martyn Lucas on a personal trip to photograph the spectacular Torres Del Pine and surrounding landscape. Patagonia boasts some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth with precipitous mountains, jagged granite spires and enormous glaciers. During our time in this area we plan to hike up to the Torres and bivouac to give ourselves the best opportunity for great light. This will be my first visit to Patagonia and will fulfil a life-long ambition to photograph in this spectacular area.
I will then return home to spend Christmas my family. All up, I will be away from my studio for around 4-5 months in total next year which means I am not going to be offering much in the way of printing workshops or Lightroom instruction in 2013. If you are already booked in for one-on-one Lightroom and Fine Art Printing then those dates stand as I will be in Australia during these times.
To those of you who are travelling with me on one (or more) of these trips I am very much looking forward to spending time shooting together. It is going to be a very exciting year for photography. Roll on 2013!
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