BCPA Workshop Favorites – Final Eight

We have now come to the last segment of the year, our BCPA workshop favorites for the last part of the year. The theme of Same Workshop, Different View rather than the usual Same Place, Different View, continues …

It was time to return home after close to 12,000 miles on the road. Our house sitters, as usual, left everything spotless, organized, and welcoming for our homecoming. And our house plants were happy and blooming! We are so lucky! A few days later, we were on the road again, bound for Charlotte, NC, to give a seminar on Reinventing Yourself for a Retreat of ASMP/North Carolina and /South Carolina members. I have been actively involved with the American Society of Media Photographers since the early 80s and always like to give back to the Society. The talk that Arnie and I gave was well received and that, in turn, led to another speaking engagement for ASMP/South Carolina in Charleston a month later and that led to yet another plus a mini-workshop on Kiawah Island a couple of days later.

But back to October. We drove out to the coast for our annual Lighthouses of the Outer Banks. We have been running this workshop for quite a number of years now and never tire of the area. A number of us were charmed by a couple enjoying the sea air, a fishing rod casually leaning against the rail. Arnie selected this as his favorite, and we included it on our holiday card. Many people thought it was of Arnie and me, but how often has anyone seen Arnie in a hat, let alone one of those trucker mesh types, or me in sneakers (it has been decades since my feet have seen the inside of sneakers)? My selection was yet another rendition of my favorite scene on the Outer Banks. This evening, the light was magical, dancing across the water in ways we had never before seen.

We know some of the folks in the Carolinas’ Nature Photographers Association, and they asked us to do a special, weekend workshop for them. Our regular workshop ended on Thursday, and Friday saw us meeting a whole new group of people.

I was showing some of the group how important it is to separate elements in a photograph. Not being one to accept the normal vantage points, I clambered over a railing to put myself in position for what turned out to be my selection. I knew I wanted to separate the gazebo and pilings from the shore beyond. About the same time, Arnie was at a clump of grasses we always love to photograph and managed to isolate one of the clumps for his favorite image of the workshop.

Remember that mini-workshop on Kiawah Island? We did two shoots with them, one a pre-dawn walk out onto one of the local beaches. We are not sure most of the folks had gotten up that early for photography, but to a “T”, laughingly grumbling along the way, they all enthusiastically agreed it was well worth the early hour. As we were heading back to the cars to get breakfast before imaging and submissions that Arnie and I would later critique, the sun rose and cast wonderful light across the textured sand. This was Arnie’s favorite from the weekend. Several hours before, when we first got there, I showed the group how they could actually get a compelling photograph when it was still essentially dark out. With some suggested starter settings, they were amazed and made their own images. That first one I did was my favorite for this workshop. Sometimes, you just get lucky on your settings!

Our last workshop of the year was BCPA Does Vegas. Those who joined us had never considered Las Vegas a travel destination, but they soon learned that there was amazing photographic fodder everywhere we took them. The new Strip is pretty cleaned up and very family friendly, but there are still the lights, architecture, fountains, performers, and interiors. Our hotel had a skating rink, and many nights saw most of the group practicing motion shots there. This was my favorite image from the week, and I had a lot of fun doing it, directing the young skater to do her spins where she was somewhat separated from the madding crowd. We also took the group down to the old Strip where life is a lot rawer and performers rent their four-foot circle and earn money from tourists for their talents. Arnie was drawn to these two ladies who balanced perfectly on one leg, the other leg straight up in the air. Usually, they had some happy man between them.

Another year has nearly gone by with barely a week before we usher in 2016. As I wrote earlier in this series, it is always fun to review our favorites for the year from each workshop. It will be fun to see what we find in the coming 12 months,

Leaving Las Vegas, it was good to be home for the holidays, catching up with friends (our families are scattered to the four winds), and having a chance to do work delayed by our crazy schedule.

So, a great year of photography by some really wonderful people, both old friends who returned yet again to be with us and new folks whom we welcomed into the BCPA family. Arnie and I were even lucky enough to get in a few shots of our own!

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Next: The New Year

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