PALO DURO CANYON WORKSHOP - May 2-6, 2016

We are pleased to announce the first of our Spring 2016 workshops to Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo Texas. This park is one of the crown jewels in the Texas park system, and at one time it was even considered for National Park status.

Fortress Cliff At Sunset

The park has a long human history that started 12,000 years ago with the Clovis and Folsom peoples hunting mammoth and giant bison, then followed by early Plains Indians using the canyon system for winter shelter and hunting. The cowboys came along, among them Charles Goodnight who built a ranch for raising longhorn cattle and as a staging point for the cattle drives in the latter part of the 1800's. In the early 1900's, the world famous artist Georgia O'Keeffe created many of her early works here while working as an art teacher at nearby West Texas State University. Later in the early 1930's, the Civilian Conservation Corp came in and created the park road and other facilities. The park opened in 1934 and is currently 28,000 acres in size, the second largest in the Texas park system.

Capitol Peak At Dawn

The landscape views are nothing short of spectacular in the canyons. Wildlife is abundant in this park as well with white-tail deer, racoons, and wild turkeys being common sights. There are rattlesnakes here too, usually hiding under the low branches of juniper trees (caution required) and numerous bird species can be seen at all times. There should be wildflowers everywhere this time of year, and if we are lucky some of the yucca flowers that only open every other year or so will bloom for us. This is a big park and one can spend days taking it all in and we plan to show you as much of its diversity as we can. We will be making moderately strenuous hikes to the Lighthouse and Capitol Peak, both prominent features of the park, and creating landscapes from the rim that look down canyon as far as the eye can see, especially at sunrise. 

Days will be spent creating work and educating participants in the art of composition, exposure, using filters, and other aspects of landscape photography. Evenings at camp will be spent discussing all aspects of our art as well as lectures in post work detailing how to get the most from Adobe Lightroom. This is also an ideal place for doing astrophotography as the canyon opens to the south, allowing us an unimpeded view of the coming summer constellations and Milky Way. We will spend one mid-day at the museum in the town of Canyon on the campus of West Texas State University, and then have an early dinner afterwards at a local eatery. This museum is one of the finest in this part of the country and well worth the visit for its geology and paleontology exhibits. This side excursion will be scheduled depending on weather. It does rain this time of year occasionally, so we will take advantage of this possibility when shooting might not be desirable (unless you are a masochist and want to get out in it). 

Tecovas Sandstone Ridge

Caliche Erosional Remnant

Capitol Peak At Sunset

White Tail Deer

WHEN: May 2-6, 2016 (Monday - Friday morning)

COST: $995 per person

DEPOSIT: $350 per person refundable in part ($100 processing fee) up to 30 days prior to workshop date. After April 2, refundable only IF we can fill your spot on the tour.

BALANCE DUE: $645.00 on April 2, 2016

GROUP SIZE: 5

All meals, transportation, and camp fees will be provided for this workshop. We will have our own cook providing hearty meals for us, though they will be nothing fancy. We will provide bottled water as well.

This workshop will be a full camping event, so be prepared. We will provide you with a tent, but you will have to share with one other participant unless you bring your own. You will need to bring your own sleeping bag and ground pad. We recommend a light one for this time of year and there are several makers who offer lightweight inexpensive fleece bags. Ask and we will provide some links for you. 

Once again, we stress that the hikes will be moderately strenuous, so you should be in good physical condition. As with all of our tours, participants will be required to sign a medical waiver prior to participation.

We have a list of personal items you will need to bring with you. Ask for a copy of this list when inquiring about the tour.

Fly in is available in Amarillo where we can pick you up on Sunday, May 1 and return you on Friday afternoon May 6. Please let us know your entire flight schedule before you leave so that we may make plans to pick you up.

Interested participants should contact Thomas Welborn by email or phone at:

tgwholo@gmail.com or

thomaswelborn@holoceneimage.com

(580) 264-5042 or (580) 229-5033 Please leave messages if I do not answer.