I just wrapped up my two back-to-back 2015 New Zealand South Island Masterclass Workshops (trip report coming soon) and was planning to officially announce and open up bookings for the 2016 workshop on my return to Australia in a few days time. However, due to initial expressions of interest and bookings the 2016 Masterclass workshop is already completely sold out and over subscribed. If you are interested in travelling to New Zealand and photographing in the spectacular South Island you can still register your interest to be put onto the wait list or to be amongst the first to be notified when the 2017 dates are announced. Like the 2015 workshop, the 2016 Masterclass workshop also includes extensive use of helicopters for accessing some of the most remote and spectacular country as well as aerial photography of the spectacular Southern Alps and glaciers. 2016 also includes a new optional extension (also sold out) to the rugged  northern coastline of the South Island.

Time has snuck up on me and in less than a week I will be flying to the South Island of New Zealand for my 2015 Masterclass workshop. Quite honestly, it feels like only yesterday I walked in my front door after two months on the road in Yellowstone, Iceland and Svalbard and it is quite a surreal feeling to be heading overseas again so soon. It has been a whirlwind time at home split between my family and the office and I feel like I have really only just started to catch up on my backlog of office work. I have no regrets about pushing the office paperwork to one side, but I had hoped to get a few more images processed from my recent travels before I ran out of time.

I am however, really excited about this new Masterclass workshop to the South Island of New Zealand. We have extensive use of helicopters during this workshop for accessing very remote areas and they should provide us some really unique and fantastic opportunities for photography. Early May is my favourite time of the year to visit New Zealand. The Autumn colour will be in full swing and the weather is often ideal with cold, crisp mornings and beautiful sunrises.

I have run out of time for a dedicated packing list post for this trip, but our emphasis is on landscape and as such I will be leaving my longer lenses at home this time. I plan to take my two Canon EOS 1DX cameras along with the 16-35mm F4L IS, 24mm F3.5L TSE MKII, 24-70mm F2.8L MKII and 70-200mm F2.8L IS MKII lenses. I also plan to take a 1.4 TC with me just in case I need a little more reach. I had hoped the new Canon 5DSR would be available by now but unfortunately a thorough and rigorous test of the new high resolution 50 mega pixel camera will have to wait until my Iceland Highlands Expedition in August this year. I am also packing my graduated neutral density filters and my tripod.

Before I leave for New Zealand I will be attending the Epson Victorian Professional Photography Awards that kick off this coming Tuesday the 28th of April and run for two full days at 1140 Studio in Malvern. I was fortunate to win both the Creative Photographer of the Year and Science Nature and Environment Photographer of the Year categories as well the Highest Scoring Print Award and overall grand prize and title of Epson Victorian Professional Photographer of the Year last year; which was a pretty comprehensive sweep and an incredible thrill and honour. I have put aside any expectations on my entries this year and entered solely for the sheer joy and pleasure of the print making process. The craft of fine art printing is really at the core of why I enter both the VPPY Awards and the APPA Awards and its a wonderful experience to watch prints being judged and to be able to view the prints in person. If you are outside Melbourne the VPPY awards this year are being live-streamed and can be watched online:

Room 1 – http://livestream.com/professionalphotography/2015-AIPP-VIC-Epson-Awards-Room1
Room 2 – http://livestream.com/professionalphotography/2015-AIPP-VIC-Epson-Awards-Room2However, if you are in Melbourne I encourage to come down to the judging in person so that you can view all of the award winning prints as they are judged and displayed. Entry is free and there is an espresso machine on site if that adds any motivation!

There is an awards cocktail party being held on the Thursday evening and I will then be leaving for New Zealand first thing on Friday morning. As always, I hope to post an update or two from our workshop as we travel through the South Island.

At the conclusion of the Masterclass workshop I will be staying on in New Zealand for an additional couple of weeks of personal photography with my good friend Martyn before I return home.

If you are interested in travelling to the South Island of New Zealand and photographing in this spectacular country I will soon be announcing my 2016 schedule. Please email me to express your interest. There is no obligation at this point. Please just be aware that some places are already spoken for and I do recommend registering interest early to avoid disappointment.

In May 2015 I will be co-leading a new landscape Masterclass workshop to the South Island of New Zealand with good friend and Pro Landscape Photographer Phillip Bartlett. Our workshop will take us on a photographic journey into ‘Middle Earth’ – The spectacular South Island of New Zealand. We will be photographing in the style of professional landscape photographers, setting ourselves up with three main ‘base camps’. This means we will have extended stays in areas which offer exceptional photography in all directions, allowing us to select our shoot locations based on the prevailing weather. This approach will give us the best possible chance to capture the highest quality imagery. This 2015 Landscape Masterclass is the follow-up to the very successful 2014 Introduction to New Zealand Workshop I led in February this year (You can read the Trip Report Here). To get an idea of what we will see and experience on this masterclass workshop just click on the image below to play the short preview movie.

Our South Island born guide, Phillip Bartlett, is a seasoned New Zealand landscape photographer. Our itinerary has been carefully put together and includes many of his favourite locations, which by definition are a world apart from the usual tourist areas. To access these remote wilderness areas we need to travel by 4-wheel drive vehicles and helicopters, to where few others, both visitors and New Zealanders alike, have been. Our shoots will be concentrated in the regions of the MacKenzie country, Fiordland and the West Coast, with a side trip to the East Coast!The South Island of New Zealand is home to some of the most spectacular scenery and landscapes in the world. It is no co-incidence that Peter Jackson chose the South Island of New Zealand to film the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings movies. Perhaps nowhere else in the world can one see and photograph precipitous alpine mountains plunging into temperate rain forest and wild ocean beaches in so short a space. New Zealand is home to an incredibly diverse range of subject matter in a small island. Glaciers, waterfalls, spectacular valleys, imposing mountain ranges and black pebble beaches. It is an island of ever changing weather and spectacular light conditions. It is a country made for photography.This masterclass workshop is strictly limited to just six photographers. We welcome all level of photographers; however it is best suited to those who have a good understanding of their camera and photographic technique. Due to prior expressions of interest and bookings there are only three places remaining before this workshop will be sold out.  You can download a PDF with information including an itinerary at my main website at www.jholko.com. Please contact me if you have any questions or would like to register your interest for this masterclass workshop.