This Saturday June 7th I will be conducting a free photo workshop for Scenic Hudson at their annual River Champion reception which celebrates their $250+ donors. It will take place from 4-6pm at the Foundry Dock Park in Cold Spring, NY, a beautiful waterfront park where I frequently launch my kayak into the Hudson River. The event will also promote their 2008 Photo Contest, hence the idea for the workshops which should bring out lots of people interested in photography and the Hudson Valley. Joseph Squillante, a local photographer, will also be conducting a workshop that evening.

I’m not sure of the exact format, but I suspect it will be very informal and I’ll have to improvise depending on who shows up and what they want to learn. I’m planning on a short presentation of some of my work, then some Q&A time. After that it’s anyone’s guess, but I’m sure it will be fun. Ray Fusco will also be there leading some Kayak tours, so I’m hoping to get some good images of kayakers on the Hudson during sunset. If you’re local to the area, please come out and support Scenic Hudson and all of the great work they do in the Valley.

I’ll be the guest speaker at the next DRPP meeting tomorrow night, and the topic will be digital workflow. This is one of the biggest problem areas of digital photography, and one that I am regularly asked about from veteran and beginning photographers alike. Though digital photography has allowed us to shoot images at will without concern for developing and other traditional costs, managing and processing all of these images, particularly when shooting RAW, can become a daunting and seemingly endless task for many, including myself.

Based on my own experiences using Photoshop and more recently Lightroom, I’ll demonstrate how I tackle this problem, and make it a necessary but enjoyable part of digital photography. I’ve tried many different approaches and software titles over the years, including Capture One, iView Media Pro, Aperture, and Canon’s Digital Photo Professional, but now my entire RAW workflow is handled by Lightroom and Photoshop. I spend less time at my computer, and more time on the trails…the way it should be!

I had a great time at my first Dutchess Regional Professional Photographers (DRPP) meeting last weekend where I was invited to give a 2 hour seminar to their 50+ members on the basics of Adobe Lighrtroom. Held at the Holiday Inn in Fishkill NY, I was quite surprised and impressed with how well run it was and that there was not only a cocktail hour, but a full course meal with very nice seating as well. This certainly helped me feel more comfortable, and I had good conversation about what else - photography, with 5 other members at my table which I met for the first time.

We then proceeded to a conference room where I already had set up my Epson projector and MacBook Pro, and a very nice 8ft screen. I used Apple’s Keynote to give a short introduction to the basic concepts of Lightroom, how it differs from Photoshop and Bridge, best ways to use them all together in a productive workflow, as well as advantages of RAW files and how Lightroom stores and manages your images.

The second part was basically demonstrating the Lighrtroom UI (user interface), and giving everyone some insight into how I use Lightroom to manage my photographic workflow. I displayed many of my landscape images from my recent trip to Maine, where the recovery slider was put to good use with all of the snow in the scenes. Before I knew it, I was 2 1/2 hours into the seminar, and the fun was over. I received many great questions and positive compliments, and hope to be back again soon. (UPDATE: I’ve been asked to return for another seminar, so I’m considering different topics, but so far “Digital Workflow from Camera to Print” is the likely candidate).

Of course, this seminar only really scratched the surface of Lightroom and post processing in general, but my one-day workshops cover all of the features and their practical use, as well as allowing for more interaction with students and their own photography.

Shades of Paper, a paper and printer dealer based in New Jersey, is now an official sponsor of my workshops and seminars. They will be supplying me with different types of papers from different manufacturers, so that I can have a good sampling of what is currently available in todays market. This will be a great benefit to students taking my printing workshops, and help them make better choices for their own photographic printing.

I have purchased all of my paper from ‘Shades’ for a few years now, and have always received great service and customer support, not to mention the best prices I could find. A big thanks to their owner Jim Doyle, who has always been helpful and available to answer questions or offer his opinions on the products they carry. And a special thanks to Sarah Newman for making this happen!

The best images from my latest trip to Maine are on the website in the “Latest Images” gallery. I’m quite pleased with the results, and really enjoyed the winter environment. Shooting in the field is just one part of making a final print. Once I have final selects edited and processed from a trip, the final and most rewarding stage for me is printing. I decide which images I want to include in upcoming shows and exhibitions, and begin the process of creating the final “print master” file.I will cover this process in depth in an upcoming entry, as well as in my March Lightroom workshop.

On Feb 21st, I will be presenting a Lightroom seminar to the Dutchess Regional Professional Photographers, a non-profit organization dedicated to the educational needs of professional photographers in Dutchess County, New York. I’ll be covering all of the basics of managing and processing images with Lightroom, and will answer questions fro the attendees. More information can be found at the DRPP website for those who want to attend.

In the meantime, enjoy the images, and as always, I welcome your comments and questions.

I’m pleased to announce the first workshop of 2008 - “Digital Photography with Adobe Lightroom” and it will be held March 29th at the Beacon Studios, Beacon NY. Aimed at serious amateur to professional photographers, it will cover all of the basics of getting up to speed with Lightroom, with an emphasis on digital workflow including processing and printing. I have been using Lightroom for close to two years now, and in my opinion it is the best all in one solution for digital photography on the market today. It combines a powerful library and management module, arguably the best RAW processor, and by far the best printing environment I have used to date. With the latest version 1.3, the need to export your images to Photoshop for further editing has been greatly reduced, and future upgrades promise more power and flexibility. The complete itinerary as well as registration info can be found here.

I gave my first seminar two weekends ago, “The Art and Craft of Landscape Photography”, and it was a great learning experience in terms of giving presentations and learning how to speak in front of an audience. It was also very well received, and I had close to 20 attendees ranging from intermediate to professional photographers, so it was very satisfying to know my hard work and preparation paid off. The topics I spoke about included my approach and philosophy to my work, the basic ingredients of an expressive landscape photograph, and even some digital concepts and printing information. My emphasis was really on the aesthetics of images, why some work and some don’t, and how to improve your ability to “see” photographically, areas I feel are sorely lacking in todays technology driven discussions.
As I’ve mentioned here before, I love technology and have no hesitation adopting it in my work, as long as it remains a tool to reach my goal, and not a hindrance or obstacle in that effort. Nothing will stifle creativity faster than gear that gets in the way, not to mention how precious time is in the field, or back at at the studio.
I created the presentation with Apple’s Keynote software, and together with my MacBook Pro and a Canon SX600 projector, I couldn’t have been happier with the results. All new subscribers to newsletter get a high quality PDF version of the slideshow, so if you haven’t already, sign up!