Anticipation

About 4 years ago I started getting somewhat serious about this photography thing. I had just completed my first workshop, and I came away with a much greater understanding of my camera and my own vision. I had created some good work, but I was still having to do a lot of things after I pressed the shutter in order to turn what I thought I had captured into what I had actually seen.

Over the next couple of years I took a few more photography centric trips on my own to see what I could learn and what I could generate. More surprises occurred, and most of them were very positive. I knew that I would want to continue my education with professionals who were going to not only open my eyes behind the shutter, but also who would show me how to take a wonderful capture from "wow" to "Oh My Gawd!" by finessing my post processing skills.

So I did what I usually do...I researched. I love the internet...you can cast out as large a net as you want to on a given topic and then slowly whittle it down until you have found the right solution to the problem you are trying to solve. About three years ago I began looking for that next workshop that I could take that was going to give me the opportunity to take my photography to the next level. I came across a group run by Moose Peterson called the Digital Landscape Workshop Series.

DLWS offers me several things that other workshop opportunities do not. First, these guys are Nikon centric - which is handy given  that I own Nikon gear. They bring a ton of gear and sponsors to this workshop that match a lot of the gear in my bag. They have no less than 4 world renowned pro shooters , along with their equally capable assistants to act as instructors for the 30 or  so students in the workshop. They take this show on the road six times a year to locations that, by and large, my camera and I want to travel to. And they offer extensive post processing and workflow instruction during the middle of the day when the light is not at optimum levels. On paper , this is the ideal solution for me at this stage of my photographic evolution.

When they posted that the second DLWS event this year would coincide with my 50th birthday and that it would be in one of my favorite cities in the country (Santa Fe, NM) I knew that I had to sign up. I think I got in just under the wire  - before the "No Vacancy" sign was hung out. So here I am , 6 months after signing up, full of anticipation and looking forward to a tremendous opportunity to grow...

Sometimes the anticipation is the start of something really magical. That is my hope for the next 4 days. I will post updates from each day to give you an idea of what we have learned.

Keep the faith.