HOLOLIGHT PHOTO TOURS - A Beginning

My good friend and fellow photographer Tom Crews and I were sitting around talking one day, when I asked him if he would be interested in putting on workshops as a team. Because of our camaraderie and similar styles, I thought we would make a great team. Between the two of us, we have 35+ years of experience in the art of landscape photography, and I felt there would be some aspiring photographers out there who would be interested in learning from a couple of veterans.

Over dinner,  we began to toss about ideas, our different qualifications, what each of us would bring to the table, possible locations, and who would be our target audience. Our shooting styles are quite similar, and both of us have similar processing workflows but with differences.

First off, I'm going to use the word 'client' several times in this post and I really don't care for it myself, but then, I don't like 'customer' either, and 'participant' just seems, well too long.  Anyway . . .

Our number one priority was in deciding who our target audience would be. We felt that intermediate photographers who had a basic working knowledge of camera functions and some experience with Lightroom would benefit the most from our knowledge.

We both use Lightroom as our starting point, and in many instances our only tool, but we both also use a variety of plugins. We use Photoshop, but only when an image needs something that cannot be completed within the other tools. In most cases, both of us can bring an image to its final iteration within 30 minutes. As for our choice of plugins, Tom uses NIK Collection, both Photomatix and Photomatix 32-bit HDR, and the onOne Perfect Effects Suite, while I use Topaz Detail, Black & White Effects 2, Adjust, and DeNoise, but I am now working with onOne as well. We are of the belief that one can do most, if not all, post work without resorting to Photoshop, which has a very steep learning curve. This alone has become one of our primary goals that we will impart to you in each workshop - to help you achieve the simplicity we have come to find works for us and can work for you as well.

For those interested, Tom uses Nikon cameras with Nikon and Tamron Pro lenses, and I use Nikon cameras with primarily Tokina Pro and Nikon lenses.

We talked about some possible locations and decided for the first two workshops, we would stay local in areas that one or both of us had previously explored. That being said, our biggest concern was that we were too late in the season to offer Fall workshops, and for the first one we have scheduled in the Wichita Mountains, that appears to be the case. For the second in the Arbuckle Mountains, we were more optimistic, and to date, we already have two signed up for this workshop, so it is starting to take shape.

As with any new venture, there is a period in the beginning of getting people to invest in two relatively unknown artists. We are both internationally recognized, but only so far as social media and print sales go. This presented a possible problem in getting the word out as well, and so we decided to get our 'fan' base to lend a hand. Therefore, we would appreciate all re-shares of our posts via social media. All of you have many people in your circles, whether it be Google+ or Facebook, that are not within our own. Your sharing would help us reach a wider audience.

For each participant that tells us they saw our post on your page, you the sharer will receive a FREE 13x19 hand signed print of your choice from either of our catalogs!

As for the future, we are now looking at possible workshops in Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas for late winter, Big Bend National Park down in the far south of Texas in early spring, northern New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming for late spring, and many other possibles. Both of us have been to Big Bend, I have been to Guadalupe Mountains several times, and I have also spent a great deal of time in New Mexico in years past. Tom was recently in New Mexico at White Sands National Monument as well. In addition, we are looking at possibly offering Processing Workshops in tandem with some of these, which would take place right after each field workshop.

We are also open to hearing from YOU, our potential client base. Where would you like for us to go? Is there some location that you have never seen offered as a workshop that you would love for us to offer? Let us know your thoughts. At this early stage, we are open to hearing any and all suggestions. Of course, when this takes off, we will eventually offer some more exotic locations such as Iceland, and a place I would love to do, the Isle of Skye in Scotland. But first, we need some experience under our belts and we need you to help us achieve this goal. 

We are trying very hard to keep the costs down for the foreseeable future. Obviously, we are in this to make a living, but at the same time, we want our clients to have an exceptional experience. Keeping costs down helps both of us in the long run - you the client receive a great experience in all phases of landscape photography, and we get the pleasure of sharing our knowledge without thinking we are taking you to the cleaners to get there.

A final note. One of the things that we feel needs being discussed extensively during a workshop is the aspect of 'art' in landscape photography. How does one go about teaching something that in reality is possibly quite intangible to a newcomer? This is just one of the many subjects we will discuss at length. After all, we do not want to go home with just pretty pictures every time we go out, but would ideally like to bring back images that we are truly proud of and that are imbued with an artistic sensibility we can call our own. Style is a part of it, but when our images reveal that little something extra that goes beyond words, we have succeeded in our goal of creating not only lasting work that stands the test of time, but also something with a truly memorable legacy. 

We look forward to hearing your thoughts, either publicly or privately. After all, we are in this together.

Be sure and check out our current offerings for Fall 2015!

Tom Crews: tcrews52@gmail.com or (903) 820-9910

Thomas Welborn: thomaswelborn@holoceneimage.com or

hololighttours@gmail.com

The image I have shared with this post was created many years ago in the late 1990's at Bisti-DeNazin National Monument in northwestern New Mexico using Kodak T-Max 100 film. The gear used was a Nikon F5 and a Nikkor 24/2.8D lens. This place is one of the possible locations for part of our Spring 2016 workshop. One of the few locations I have ever been to where every way you turned there was a composition! Filled with balancing rocks, hoodoos, and multi-colored formations, this would be one place you would not want to miss!

Bisti Badlands, New Mexico