Hello fellow Nikonians!

This forum posting is both for those who have signed up for the Nikonians Academy Death Valley workshop as well as for those interested in signing up and wanting more information.

This forum is to share some more information about the workshop and open the floor to some Q&A about what we will see, what we will photograph and where we will go.

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NOTE: The DEADLINE to sign up for this workshop is Oct. 8, 2009. This workshop is only offered once a year and last year's sold out well in advance.

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Michael A. Mariant here... Nikonians Academy instructor for the travel/landscape photography workshops...

Death Valley carries a mystique and awe about it — rightly so just from the name. But once you get off the paved roads that snake through the park, gone are the desolate and barren desert scenes as they transform into breathtaking cliffs inside box canyons, remote ghost town dwellings, salt flats and bizarre formations, the infamous 'Sliding Rocks' of The Racetrack, and towering sand dunes that are constantly evolving, never photographed the same twice.

A a quick summary of locations:
- Badwater (lowest point in the Northern Hemisphere, and a sprawling delicately patterned salt flat where we learn about HDR: High Dynamic Range photography)
- Devil's Golf Course (jagged salt formations framed against the Panamint Range)
- Dante's View (located 5,000-feet above Badwater, providing a sweeping vista of Death Valley and the surrounding mountains, where we work on stitching panoramic scenes)
- Golden Canyon (bizarre rock formations of strong color in a narrow canyon, where we translate the "painter's principle" to our photography)
- Sand Dunes (a large complex of dunes, where we spend two mornings overwhelmed with shooting opportunities while we discuss and apply modified exposure techniques and composition, inspired by the iconic photos of Ansel Adams, Johm Sexton and Edward Weston)
- Rhyolite ghost town (a classic yet undisturbed ghost town where we take part in CLS Speedlight lighting exercises in the town and nearby original cemetery)
- Zabriski Point (a colorful and unusual collection of rocks and geological folding that is a special moment just as the sun rises, where we continue the application of the "painter's principle")
- Star trails (Right in the middle of Death Valley where the inky blackness reveals the Milky Way in all its color and splendor)
- Sliding Rocks at the Race Track (this is the true finale location for many landscape photographers, where we also culminate our entire workshop education into our final location.)
- Additional locations including towering box canyons, marble canyons and studies in macro photography.

Because of the limited lodging choices in Death Valley and resulting difficulty in securing rooms, this workshop INCLUDES ALL LODGING at the historic Stovepipe Wells Village, adjacent to the towering sand dunes complex.

One surprising aspect of these travel/landscape photography workshops for nearly all attendees is the level of education provided. There is a comprehensive photographic curriculum integrated into the workshop, with each location providing an exercise in technique and application. This workshop focuses not only on the 'where' to take the pictures, but also on the 'how' to take pictures, incorporating that photographic education at each location, building on the previous location’s techniques and lessons to culminate in a comprehensive class in composition, modified exposure, light controls, Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS), and High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography to name just a few.

You get more than pretty pictures — you leave with a far more solid understanding of the principles and techniques that will elevate your abilities in landscape photography. It's like a having an intensive, classroom-based four-day workshop in photographic education... but on location in a spectacular location!

Space is limited on these workshops, kept to only 10 attendees to ensure that I can provide one-on-one interaction with each Nikonian, further enhancing the educational experience by focusing on each participant's individual areas of study. You tell me what you what to practice and learn — and we focus on that for the four days in conjunction with the workshop's curriculum.

Hop on over to the Academy site and check out the detailed itinerary and what this workshop can offer: Death Valley

And feel free to post questions here, both for those who have signed up already and for those who are curious about the workshop. As we approach the workshop start date, I will be posting FAQs and additional information for the workshop.

See you in the outdoors!

-Michael