Nature In Focus Photography Workshops

Walk this way.

So several years ago Cecil Holmes and I decided to start a workshop company, Nature in Focus Photography Workshops. It has consistently grown over the years, and we have adapted to what our folks want to see and do. One thing was we didn't want to offer simple workshops, we want to offer experiences. We have done pretty well and make changes often to enhance that experience even more. Another thing we did a few years ago was to start a group, NIF Premium Group, which was designed to offer assignments, challenges and have a library of videos for members. A friend made a comment recently about not being able to see all the presentations we do around the country and wish they could see them. It got us thinking that we have a lot of presentations "in the can" ready to go, and we should figure out a way to make them available for our group. A side note, the Group has a cost of $39.99, but you receive $100 off any workshops you attend as well. Tonight is the first of the new monthly series of doing our presentation to our group via Zoom. I will be doing one of my favorites, The Decisive Moment in Wildlife Photography". I update it after every trip, and before each presentation so they are never exactly the same. Our challenges each month have a session where we do critiques and will even show changes we think might improve or offer a different view. Everyone seems to love them! Anyhow, check out our website if you are interested in the group. https://www.natureinfocusworkshops.com/
For this image I used my Tamron 150-500mm lens on a Sony a1, Manual Mode, f8, 1/1000th of a second, 500mm (750mm equivalent using the cropped sensor option of the lens), tripod.

Day 2 of the Unique Photo Expo 2026.

Yesterday went very well at the Expo. I successfully was able to cross the 4 lane road from my hotel to the store. No "Frogger" accidents! The Expo was packed!!! It is so good to see brick and mortar stores where people can put their hands on gear to make sure it is right for them. Today's presentation is "The Decisive Moment in Wildlife Photography", which I do fairly regularly, but is updated every time to show more examples. We had a full classroom yesterday, let's see if we can do it again today! It was great to see some good friends stop by. Thank you Tim, Michelle, and Nora for taking the time to say hello and/or stay for the presentation. I fly back, hopefully, tonight, but Delta has already sent an email saying weather could delay or cancel the flight. Keep your fingers crossed! For this image I used my Tamron 150-500mm Di III VC VXD lens, at 500mm, on a Sony a1, Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, ISO 2500, handheld from a boat.

Tundra the Rough-legged Hawk and the Teton Raptor Center.

I'm headed to NJ this morning for the Expo at Unique Photo in Fairfield, and I was going through images that I was selecting for my presentations when I came across this image of Tundra. Tundra, like a lot of the birds in rehab or that are Ambassadors, was a victim of a vehicle strike. I was looking at the image for the presentation to show how 2 factors weigh into the final image. First getting eye level makes it more personal, then secondly using a long lens and using the separation between the subject and background (a pretty busy roadway) makes it simply blur to a palette of color and isn't a distraction from the subject. Also, I wanted to stress how we can help prevent vehicle strikes on raptors. We think nothing of throwing an apple core, or something we consider biodegradable out the car window, problem is mice, rats and other rodents will go to eat the item we threw out. Guess what eats mice, rats and other rodents? Yep, raptors, and if they take off when the vehicle approaches, they could easily fly in front of the vehicle. It isn't that difficult to simply put the item into bag and wait until you get to a trash bin, or simply put hold on to it and not throw it out along a busy road. We can do so much to help our raptors control pests, but we too often make it more dangerous for them. For this image I used the Tamron 150-500mm Di III E mount lens. My settings for the image were at 500mm on a Sony a1, Manual Mode, f8, shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, ISO 1000, handheld, f-stop Gear GURU AIR backpack.