One week from today, we will be out at our first locations in the Eastern Sierra.

A couple of updates:


WEATHER:
All the roads are open over the Sierra Nevada range, including Tioga Pass. All those who are interested in visiting the "Secret Spot" post-workshop can include that in their plans. Forecast for the next 10 days calls for sun with high temperatures in the high 70s and lows in the high 30s. Not too bad. Of course, this is a long-range forecast and the weather can change, and the weather in the Sierra Nevada can change dramatically, from warm temps to snow the next day. I strongly recommend everyone check the weather forecast for Bishop, CA on Tuesday or Wednesday.


TRAVEL:
Thank you to everyone for providing me with your travel details.

As for carpooling to/from Bishop, there are five of you coming from the Bay Area, and a few of you have expressed interest in sharing a vehicle. Here is everyone coming from the Bay Area

Roger W. (relishguy) - San Francisco
Pete G. (PeteG - San Rafael
Bob W. (boblin) - Sacramento (I know, not the Bay Area)
John R. (jricca) - Martinez
Enrico M. (Enny) - San Leandro

I'm hoping that between the five of you, we can reduce the vehicle count down to a smaller number.

There are five people coming in from Vegas (four flying, one driving):
Aram M. (aram535) - flying
Donald D. (Penobdon) - flying
Eric B. (ebophoto) - flying
Alf M (ebophoto) - flying
Ken M. (kenm99) - driving

Eric and Alf have rented a car (they say it's a tiny one), but perhaps all of you can somehow coordinate to drop the vehicle count (and rental car costs) down as well.

David H. (haysys) and his wife are driving in long-distance from the Pacific Northwest.

Finally, there is the East Coast contingent that is flying into LAX and out of SFO as a group:
Todd J. (tojack1776)
Scott A. (sabbey51)
Ralph B. (rbaskin)
Noah B. (ncbaskin)

So I am really hoping the Bay Area group and the Las Vegas group can arrange carpools. For the Bay Area group, I believe most of the group planned to head over Tioga Pass to the secret spot. That might play in the carpool discussions.


PRE-WORKSHOP MEET-&-DINE
The discussion just began in the forum here about meeting up in advance of the workshop on Wednesday evening. Aram, Bob, Don and John look like they are planning on the get together.

Not to say this is how it needs to be done ... in the past, the location has traditionally been at the Whiskey Creek restaurant right where all of our hotels are located (north end of town), as they have a large, covered outdoor patio with large tables.

The good meeting time has typically been 6:00pm, allowing for late-comers to town to join post-meal, if so desired. In the past, the group has simply asked the hostess to direct anyone coming asking for "the photography group" to be sent to the table.

If you are interested in going to the meet-&-dine, please post a reply here. Understand that not everyone can make it as some will be arriving later in the evening (myself included), so there will be no workshop prep done that evening. I will try and stop by later in the evening if everyone is still there.

If someone can be point person on this to take charge, I would appreciate it.


WRAP-UP:
So that does it. Please be sure to read this forum post in its entirety from top to bottom - as well as the workshop description and any emails I have sent - to make sure you didn't miss anything in regards to prep, photo gear needs, non-photo gear requirements, etc. If you have any questions, let me know.

See everyone in one week!

Cheers,
Michael

____________________________
Michael A. Mariant
Nikonians Academy Faculty
Master Your Vision Workshops