Last month, I was back in New Mexico! More specifically, I was back at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, this time for more than a tour.
January 8th through the 11th, thanks to Michael Hanauer of the Friends of the Bosque, we held the first Photography Intensive at the Bosque del Apache. The idea behind the event was to offer a full 3 days of nothing but photography and photography activities on the refuge, from beginners to professionals, and it was a hit!
Thursday was the day of arrival for the long weekend on the refuge, Friday through Sunday, and we started off with a meet and greet orientation dinner, seated family style at one large table at Bodega Burger Co. located right in the area. If you ever end up going to Bosque del Apache this restaurant is a a must – the BEST in Socorro, New Mexico for sure! My weapon of choice for the night was the BBQ Ranch Burger and it was everything I could ever ask for, and more!
Friday morning started as we would start every morning during the intensive, with something special and beautiful: the morning blast off of the cranes of Bosque del Apache!
This beautiful image was taken of Crane at Bosque del Apache by my friend Hazel Meredith who joined us in the weekend.
Most of the hands-on instruction and field workshops was led by my good friend Roman Kurywczak, the keynote for the weekend. Roman is an expert in wildlife photography and I would absolutely recommend you check out his workshops if you’re interesting in wildlife, nature, macro, and night photography.
Before heading into the field for some real shooting, we had to get everyone warmed up with some inspiration. Doug Brown, an incredible wildlife photographer, led the seminar, inspired some technique, addressed questions, and we were off to the field!
Here’s Roman, right in the middle, witih Doug on his immediate left, during one of the field shoots.
The weekend was full of shooting in the fields of Bosque del Apache, and there was no shortage of opportunity for great images. One thing I learned throughout the weekend, was for truly great wildlife photography you have to start with great light. This became more apparent than ever in all my years of watching photographers at work, as Bosque del Apache has no shortage of perfect scenes being created with late day sun, wow! We certainly do not experience anything similar on the east coast.
Attendees of the weekend were obsessed, and rightfully so!
The shooting was getting so intense later in the weekend, many shooters in the field were running out of memory cards, and during the best light we had throughout the weekend!
Me being me, I ran back to the hotel, stuffed my pockets with memory cards, and bolted back to where everyone was shooting.
Delkin memory cards at your service. Nothing to see here, officer!
Other than memory cards, hot products throughout the weekend were consistently Induro tripods, and the Induro GHBA gimball head, which converts your standard ballhead into a very practical gimball setup for medium sized long lenses.
Also very popular, Sigma lenses! Sigma sponsored this event and brought with them many long lenses available to use, free of charge! A huge benefit for those shooting at Bosque del Apache who may have never shot with a 500mm lens before. The Sigma 150-500mm, 12-24mm, and 15mm fisheye lens were constantly being loaned out throughout the weekend.
After a long week of shooting and instruction, including an amazing night photography class with Roman, we went to the hotel for a final seminar with Keith Bauer on Lightroom/Photoshop tips and tricks. There is nothing more important to the final image quality than your ability to process your images! Keith proved this over the course of 2-3 hours, showing you how to take what’s in your head and have the image reflect that.
From what I have heard throughout the weekend from attendees, the experience for all was positive with and the weekend was a success, with rave reviews! I was so happy to have been involved with this event, and I would like to thank Michael Hanauer for making this all possible. Thanks Michael!
With such a great turnout and the overall reviews being so positive, I can’t wait to be a part of the second annual photography intensive, next year! Hope to see you all there too.