Review the workshops below for content, dates, and locations:
- Bird Photography
- Landscape Photography
- Macro Photography
- Astrophotography
Bosque del Apache, NM Bird Photography
Socorro, NM • December 12-16, 2021 (NEW DATES)
This area has become one of the most spectacular National Wildlife Refuges in North America. Here, tens of thousands of birds–including Sandhill Cranes, Snow and Ross’s geese, and many kinds of ducks–gather each autumn and stay through the winter. Feeding snow geese erupt in explosions of wings and at dusk, flight after flight of geese and cranes return to roost in the marshes. This and the magnificent New Mexico light makes this a bird photographer’s paradise. Combine that with Mule deer, Coyote, Eagles, great landscapes, and more for a most rewarding outdoor photography experience.
This workshop is designed to achieve many high-quality bird images in the water, perched and in flight. Moreover, it is designed to be a hands-on teaching workshop to learn what is needed and how to set up the equipment appropriate for individual and group bird images as well as in-flight shots. In addition to the images just mentioned, an amazing highlight of this workshop is the photography of the famous and spectacular “Lift-offs” of thousands of geese and cranes at once as they move from roosting to feeding areas and back again.
Cost: $ 495.00 per person. Workshop includes Dinner on Sunday, three and a half days of photography and hand-on instruction and guiding to some of the best shooting locations. The fee does not include transportation to/from Bosque del Apache, lodging or meals other than those previously listed.
Reservations: $ 250.00 will hold your spot via PayPal to bkloflin@austin.rr.com. Balance due thirty days prior to the workshop. To assure maximum experience, this workshop is limited to six photographers. More detailed information and instructions supplied with reservations or on request.
Landscapes, Light Painting and Starry Night Sky Workshop – Big Bend, Texas
TBD: Early 2022.
Join me for an unforgettable four day and night photography workshop in the very best photographic location in Texas – Big Bend National Park, one of the country’s best kept secrets, full of history and pristine landscapes. Located in west Texas in the best dark skies of the country, the park has more than 800,000 acres of desert, mountain and river environments and we will make the best use of all the environment.
The workshop will feature landscape photography by day and light painting and starry skies by night from capture to computer. Emphasis will be placed upon planning, locating destinations, and how to prepare for an intensive photography shoot. The group will set up for some of the very best landscapes in Texas for both daytime and nighttime photography. In addition, light painting techniques at the twilight hour in the Terlingua Ghost Town will be a featured highlight.
We will headquarter in Terlingua / Study Butte, just outside of the park boundary where many of our favorite locations for night photography are found. In addition to magnificent landscapes, this workshop is specifically for digital photographers who want to learn night photography techniques all the way from planning, exposure to image processing. Light sources, equipment choices, painting with light, and shooting subjects at night are specifically covered.
Cost: $950.00 per person. To assure maximum personal attention, this workshop is limited to only eight photographers. Transportation, meals, lodging and park entry fees are not
Reservations: $ 425.00 will hold your spot via PayPal to bkloflin@austin.rr.com. Balance due thirty days prior to the workshop. To assure maximum experience, this workshop is limited to eight photographers. More detailed information and instructions supplied with reservations or on request.
South Texas Bird Photography Workshops
New Workshops for 2021-2022
October 28-31, 2021
May 26-29, 2022
Join noted photographer, author and instructor, BrianLoflin for an intense, instructional bird photography workshop in the heart of the South Texas flyway. The workshop features a half-day of hands-on instruction and two and a half days shooting in some of the best South Texas birding habitat available where neotropical South Texas varieties and migrants abound.
The workshop will be held at the Laguna Seca Ranch north of Edinburg, Texas in the heart of the lush Rio Grande Valley. The facilities of the 700-acre ranch are purpose-designed for photography and preserved with all native species. It features four constant-level ponds, each with permanent photography blinds oriented for the best use of light. A fifth blind is set up specifically for raptors. Each location has been hand-crafted to provide the most outstanding bird photography opportunities. With nearly eighty species found on the property, Laguna Seca Ranch clearly offers a uniquely outstanding South Texas bird photography adventure!
At our workshop we bring the birds to you! We set up natural perches considering the best photographic light. Photography of the best scenarios is just 12-15 feet from your lens! Birds have dripping water attractions and are fed year-round so that attraction of the best species is stress-free.
This workshop is designed for serious photographers competent in the use of their camera and equipment, yet may not have experienced the thrill of producing bird photographs of the highest quality. Copious instruction will include hands-on demonstrations in bird photography, understanding best exposures and camera
settings, and the use of flash. Instruction will also include how to set up in a blind and shooting etiquette, setting up perches, best management of light and backgrounds and much, much more.
The equipment of choice is a Digital SLR camera and zoom lenses in the 200 mm or longer focal length with tele-converter and extension tube options. Some photographers enjoy lenses of 400 to 600 mm in focal length. A dedicated flash with Better-Beamer style flash extender is an ideal option. Bring your laptop for image downloads and review.
Accommodations will be at the nearby ECHO Hotel
in Edinburg, Texas. Participants will have mini-suites, a welcome spot to unwind and relax. Dinners will be served in nearby restaurants and group discussions may follow in the evenings. TV and Wi-Fi internet connections are available.
Cost: $1,695.00 per person. Fee covers lodging, ranch fees and meals from Thursday night through breakfast Sunday morning. Transportation to the Rio Grande Valley and alcoholic beverages are not covered. To assure maximum personal attention, this workshop is limited to only six photographers.
Reservations: $ 850.00 will hold your spot via PayPal to bkloflin@austin.rr.com. Balance due thirty days prior to the workshop. To assure maximum experience, this workshop is limited to eight photographers. More detailed information and instructions supplied with reservations or on request.
“Give Brian 5 stars out of five. I participated in a workshop in south Texas and captured many wonderful bird shots due primarily to the excellent staging of props and lures set up by Brian. He placed them close enough to the blinds so that you could easily photograph many bird species with a mid-range telephoto. He was also a knowledgeable
resource for my photo questions about camera settings and provided information on how to best capture the image. All of the lodging and meal arrangements were made in advance. A great experience, highly recommended. “–
— Phil Charlton, Austin, TX
Brian put so much work into this workshop, it was amazing! He took care of absolutely everything that you could imagine, meals, lodging, bird attracting set up, and always making sure that we were comfortable. At times there were so many birds around us, you didn’t know which shot to take first. We all had a great time, and I am ready to go back again! –C C, Austin, TX
It is an honor to comment on the workshops and classes in which I have participated. My experience with Brian goes back about ten years. This began with classes at The University of Texas as didactic lectures and later involved workshops with field experience. I have been to the Big Bend Country and the Rio Grande valley with Brian as well as points between. Future trips are greatly anticipated.
Workshops with Brian are first and foremost fun. Brian is a teacher whose passion for photography is communicated to students with enthusiasm and patience. I addition, the groups he assembles have experienced camaraderie unusual in people of diverse backgrounds and interests. This is true at a 0500 breakfast at Denny’s or sighting a new raptor in the field.
Brian is a fun and enthusiastic teacher whose trips are to be prized.
-Gary Eastes, Georgetown, Texas
The Nature Connection 