Bosque del Apache & White Sands - Nov 23 to 29, 2012

The Bosque del Apache and White Sands Workshop and Photo Tour planning is done and we are ready for enrollment.  Workshops fill up fast so book early.

Bosque del Apache which translates to Woods of the Apache is a most spectacular congregation of birds.  The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is a 57,331-acre wildlife oasis of upland desert and floodplain that was established in 1939. The refuge is located in south-central New Mexico about one hour from Albuquerque.  The Rio Grande flows through the area providing  water to the refuge. Close to 15,000 Sandhill Cranes and over 30,000 Snow and Ross’s Geese migrate here for the winter.The refuge is an ideal location to capture large flocks of snow geese, particularly when they are flushed by the presence of a predator.  At dusk numerous flights of geese and cranes return to the refuge to roost, making for great evening “birdscapes.” At dawn, the “Fly Out” is another phenomenal  experience.  In addition to these magnificent birds, opportunities to photograph wild turkeys, pheasants, roadrunners, owls, golden eagles and bald eagles abound.  Mammals like the coyote and black tailed deer are also presentThe late November tour serves up the opportunity for autumn colors and potential for some light snow cover.We will spend the majority of our time at the refuge but will head out to photograph White Sands National Monument. The gypsum sand dunes stretch for miles and we will spend a day to capture the dunes in the early morning and evening light with the full moon as a bonus.CLICK HERE for a PDF document with full details and the itinerary.

SW Florida Workshop Day 3

 Venice, Florida was the venue on today's agenda.  First stop the Venice Rookery.  Despite the decimation of the Brazilian Pepper bushes there is still plenty to photograph on the island.       All the images above were captured with a Canon 7D and a 500 mm F4 lens mounted using a Sidekick.As the light got harsh we left for the Venice Dump - yes the dump.  The dump has an abundance of vultures and eagles but we were found Sandhill Crane pairs - eight of them.  The two Sandhill images above were photographed with a Canon 7D and a 500mm F4 lens.Lunch and then on to the fishing pier:   Both the Tern, Ruddy Turnstone and the two Gull images were shot with a 7D and a 70 - 200 mm F2.8 lens.We waited for sunset - dinner and back to Fort Myers Beach. This last image was shot using a Canon 7D, 16 - 35 mm F2.8 lens and a Singh Ray VariND filter.All images in my florida posts with the exception of the Venice Pier were processed using Lightroom 4 only and no plugins.  The Venice pier was processed in Photoshop CS5 with Nik Viveza and Nik Color Efex Pro plugins.