Waterfalls Galore!

API staff instructors Mark Bowie and Joe LeFevre led an enthusiastic group of photographers to the beautiful waterfalls of Ricketts Glen State Park in north-central Pennsylvania, their second workshop to this enchanting place.  Ricketts is one of the finest places to photograph waterfalls in the East.  There are twenty-two named falls, from 10 to 100 feet high, along a three-mile stretch of Kitchen Creek.  Between them, slabs of rock are strewn haphazardly in the shallow creekbed.  An infinite number of riffles flow over and around them.  The surrounding beech forest is electric lime green in spring and makes a lovely backdrop to the falls.

The group was met, however, with challenging shooting conditions — bright sunny skies with a few passing clouds.  Mark and Joe favor shooting forest-lined waterfalls under bright overcast conditions, but the group learned that even in contrasty light, there are abundant photographic possibilities.  Shafts of sunlight lit underwater rocks, so that they appeared to be glowing in the creekbed.  Zeroing in on the reflections of sunlit foliage created multi-colored bands of flowing water.  Long exposures produced abstract blends of color and texture.  The persistence of the students paid off with exceptional images not even possible in overcast conditions.

 

The instructors also led indoor instructional sessions with strategies, tips and techniques specific to shooting waterfalls.  They emphasized the importance of careful composition and demonstrated the need for shooting multiple exposures.  Layer Masks, HDR's, panoramas and image optimization in Lightroom and Photoshop were presented in detail.

Ricketts is truly a spectacular place, with one mesmerizing waterfall after another.  Around every bend lies new discoveries, and Mark and Joe plan to go back next year.  Interested in taking your waterfall imagery to new levels?  Consider joining our experts for a workshop to the waterfalls of the Finger Lakes region in central New York from October 17-20.  For details, including the program description and pricing, click here.

Fall Retreat Added

We've added another retreat program to our schedule. This program will be led by Mark Bowie and John Radigan, and take place September 22-27 at the Woods Inn in Inlet, NY. There should be some fall color making an appearance making this retreat even more fun!

For details click here.

API Alumni Well Represented Among Adirondack Life Photo Contest Winners



It's official!  This years photo contest winners for the Adirondack Life Magazine photo contest have been announced and we are proud to call so many of them alumni!

Congratulations to grand prize winner and API alumni Howard Arndt! 

What an amazing photo, Howard, and a gorgeous front cover!

Other winning photos in the magazine from API Alumni include:

First Place Landscape "Misty Morning Sunrise" by Karl Fisher
Third Place Wildlife "Buck in Fog" by Nicholas Palmieri
First Place Macro "Forest Floor at Fly Pond" by Timothy Wilson
Second Place Macro "Frosty Fern Pattern" by Lee Drake
Second Place B&W "Pristine" by Rick Tyrseck
Second Place Recreation "Passage on First Pond" by Philip Ashwood

In addition, several more were named honorable mentions!  Visit the website to see these beauties:

Timothy Wilson "Morning at Raquette Lake
Michelle Drackett "Forest Fireworks"
Barb Drake "Solo Landing"
Philip Ashwood "Foggy Dawn near Harrietstown"
Susan Kiesel "Curious Otters near Old Forge"

Please visit Adirondack Life Magazine online to view all of the beautiful photos!  Better yet, pick up a copy of the print magazine to see them in all their glory!

Fun in the Lake Placid Snow

For API's annual winter event, staff instructor Mark Bowie led a sold-out workshop to the Lake Placid Olympic region.  Winter in the North Country continues to provide incredible scenery and image-making opportunities.  Bowie guided participants to a variety of locations; they photographed the steep cliffs over the Cascade Lakes, snow-capped High Peaks, and intricate ice formations along the Ausable River.  He also led several night photography sessions — Bowie's specialty — and  the group was treated to a moon halo, Orion, and Jupiter over the High Peaks.  In the indoor sessions, Bowie covered the unique winter weather and lighting conditions that make winter shooting so special, and innovative field and processing techniques to optimize them.  The group was an enthusiastic one. They freely exchanged creative ideas in the field and in the critiquing sessions.  Mark came away inspired by their work.

Winter in the North Country always amazes us.  We plan on being back in the Olympic region again next year, so if you'd like to share the experience with us, watch the schedule for our next winter workshop.  And sign up quickly; they're always popular!

Gift Certificates Now Available Online

We now have gift certificates available online. They are $250 and usable toward the deposit on any API program in 2013. A great gift for that photographically-inclined special someone!

To purchase click here.

Winter Workshop and Upgraded Discounts

We’ve just announced the winter workshop for next year. Once again, the festivities will take place in the Olympic village at Northwoods Inn. There is a new, lower price for this event, so don’t miss out!

Also, our discount program has been streamlined, with larger discounts being offered for 2013. See the details here.

Schroon Lake Autumn Photo Workshop Highlights

Our Schroon Lake Region Fall Color Workshop on October 12-14 was a great success with 8 participants!  I just wanted to reflect on the highlights of the trip, as I'm writing in from a fish and chips shop in Tasmania, Australia, where I'm doing some trekking and location scouting for other photo tours I lead. The autumn color was very vibrant this year, with ideal conditions for leaves to turn vibrantl, with there being cold nights and plenty of moisture. Our group was based out of the cozy Silver Spruce Bed and Breakfast, which is very historic and charming - parts of the house date from the late 1700's!

On friday evening we arrived to Schroon Lake village, then hurried over to the town of Adirondack to photograph the shoreline of Schroon Lake at sunset. On Saturday, we witnessed an incredible sunrise over Schroon Lake, then had a bountiful home-made breakfast at the B&B, including home-baked muffins, coffee cake, omelettes, pancakes, and more. Since the peak foliage was a week or so earlier than usual this season, we drove on a large loop day tour around the Port Henry and Ticonderoga regions, where there was still very bright autumn color.  One of my new favorite views is from Belfry Mt Firetower, after an easy .3 mile walk, where we photographed snow-dusted Adirondack High Peaks mountains beyond the yellow autumn color of the forests below. More highlights this day included macro photography of frost on flowers, Mt. Defiance's view over Lake Champlain and Fort Ticonderoga,  farmscapes around Ticonderoga, and leaf covered country roads near Lake George.

  Sunday the weather was rainy, but that was ideal for us as I gave a brief indoor session on photo post processing, then spent the rest of the day at some enchanting mossy forest streams in the nearby Pharaoah Lakes Wilderness area.  My favorite photo from this day was certainly the long exposure (30 seconds) images of swirling foam patterns in idyllic mossy cascades along Crane Pond Rd.  So, we had a diversity of photographic subjects and styles, which we learned through an enjoyable weekend in the Adirondack Park's outdoors!  Everyone came away with some great images, and some new photographic skills and refreshed creative vision!

I look forward to next year's trips - come join us on one, and learn photography the best way, through one-on-one situational instruction in the field with a professional Adirondack photographer!

p.s. - Here's a link to the Flickr photo album my group decided to form, featuring photos from the weekend to show and share with each other!