Tom and Cree just returned from their Ouray Fall Colors Workshop in Colorado and are sharing the highlights with you. Tom says there was more fall color on Red Mountain Pass this year then he has ever seen. Highlights of the workshop were the abundance of color in the groves including so many orange and red aspens this year.
To see photos from our Ouray Fall Colors, check out the trip report by clicking here
What’s Next: Tom and Cree will be heading Greece to photograph the fall harvest with 10 lucky photographers. We’ll check out the shipwreck at Zakynthos and watch fishermen bring in their daily catch. After that we are off to Botswana for our annual Africa Workshop. If we are lucky we will photograph Mr. Special – our favorite resident male cheetah at Splash Camp.
Tom just returned from Disko Bay in Greenland after leading two photography workshops and we are sharing the highlights with you. Tom says there was more ice in the water surrounding the town of Ilulissat then he has ever seen. Highlights of the workshop were the abundance of massive icebergs and the variety of moody skies for backgrounds.
To see photos from our Greenland Photography Workshop, check out the trip report by clicking here
What’s Next: Tom and Cree will be heading to the Rocky Mountain High Country to photograph yellow aspen trees with a workshop group at the end of September. For the next few weeks Tom and Cree will be exploring the Alaskan wilderness by canoe. Chances are they will be off grid for awhile.
Our Iditarod Workshop for 2026 is starting to fill up. Photograph Northern Lights and the Last Great Race during the best month for winter photography in Alaska. Rental packets available for warm clothing and boots Read more
Our new workshop Alaska Kenai Explorer has space available: July 7-12, 2026 Calving glaciers, whales, snow capped mountains, eagles and more. This is a workshop with easy walking. Read details
Tom just returned from the Iceland: Puffins and Waterfalls and we are sharing the highlights with you. Tom led a group of photographers to the coast and the Highlands of Iceland to capture both wildlife and landscape images. Highlights of the workshop were the abundance of puffin on Grimsey Island and the variety of waterfalls all over Iceland.
To see photos from our Iceland: Puffins and Waterfalls Workshop, check out the trip report by clicking here
What’s Next: Tom will be heading to Greenland with two groups of photographers to photograph dramatic icebergs and Humpback Whales in the middle of August. Cree will be back home working on the schedule for 2028. Where would you like to go in 2028? Let us know
Our Iditarod Workshop for 2026 is starting to fill up. Photograph Northern Lights and the Last Great Race during the best month for winter photography in Alaska. Rental packets available for warm clothing and boots Read more
Our new workshop Alaska Kenai Explorer has space available: July 7-12, 2026 Calving glaciers, whales, snow capped mountains, eagles and more. This is a workshop with easy walking. Read details
Tom and Cree just returned from their Redwoods and Rocky Coastlines Workshop and are sharing the highlights with you. Ten photographers joined us in Redwoods National Park in California to photograph the largest trees on Earth. Highlights of the workshop were photographing beams of light coming through the foggy canopy and sea stars on the coast.
To see photos from our Redwoods & Rocky Coastlines Workshop, check out the trip report by clicking here
What’s Next: Tom is currently in Iceland with a group photographing puffin and some of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world. He says the puffin are everywhere! Cree is back in Alaska planning photo workshops for 2028. Where would you like to go in 2028? Let us know
Our new workshop Alaska Kenai Explorer has space available: July 7-12, 2026 Calving glaciers, whales, snow capped mountains, eagles and more. Read details
Our Iditarod Workshop for 2026 is starting to fill up. Photograph Northern Lights and the Last Great Race during the best month for winter photography in Alaska. Read more
Tom and Cree just returned from their Bears of Lake Clark Workshop and are sharing the highlights with you. Nine photographers joined us in Lake Clark National Park in Alaska to photograph Brown Bears in their natural habitat. Highlights of the workshop were photographing bears courting in the meadows and clamming on the tidal flats
To see photos from our Bears of Lake ClarkWorkshop, check out the trip report by clicking here
What’s Next: Cree and Tom are traveling with a workshop group to Redwoods National Park in California to photograph their favorite forest in the world. They just returned from the “Top of the World” Utqiavik (or Barrow) where they photographed eiders and other arctic birds in the midnight sun.
Our new workshop Alaska Kenai Explorer has space available: July 7-12, 2026 Calving glaciers, whales, snow capped mountains, eagles and more. Read details
Our Iditarod Workshop for 2026 is starting to fill up. Photograph Northern Lights and the Last Great Race during the best month for winter photography in Alaska. Read more
Tom and Cree just returned from their Tetons Photo Workshop and are sharing the highlights with you. Nine photographers joined us in Grand Teton National Park to photograph rugged, snow capped peaks and surrounding fields of flowers. Highlights of the workshop were photographing a mother moose and her calf and going to the Jackson Rodeo.
To see photos from our Tetons PhotoWorkshop, check out the trip report by clicking here
What’s Next: Cree and Tom are traveling to Lake Clark National Park to photograph lBrown Bears in Alaska. This continues to be one of our most popular workshops. We hope to find spring cubs this year and watch a rematch of ping pong between Tom and David the lodge owner!
Our new workshop Alaska Kenai Explorer has space available! July 7-12, 2026 Calving glaciers, whales, snow capped mountains, eagles and more. Read details
Our Iditarod Workshop for 2026 is starting to fill up. Photograph Northern Lights and the Last Great Race during the best month for winter photography in Alaska. Read more
Tom and Cree just returned from their Monument Valley Photo Workshop and are sharing the highlights with you. Ten photographers joined us in heart of the Navajo Nation to photograph sweeping desert vistas with colorful buttes and spires. Highlights of the workshop were photographing from Hunt’s Mesa and exploring Mystery Valley.
To see photos from our Monument Valley PhotoWorkshop, check out the trip report by clicking here
What’s Next: Cree and Tom are traveling to Grand Teton National Park to photograph landscapes, wildlife and the Jackson Rodeo. They will finish the month of June with their very popular Lake Clark Bears Workshop.
Tom and I celebrate great photos from workshop participants by selecting a Photo of the Month. For April we chose an image taken on our Texas Birds Workshop. The image was taken by Ed Miron at the Laguna Seca Ranch in Texas. Ed is a wildlife and landscape photographer from Fort Collins, Colorado.
Congratulations to April 2025 ‘s featured photographer – Ed Miron
Ed in the bird blinds at Laguna Seca Ranch
The Story…
Well, the story was you told us we might see a Scissor tailed Flycatcher. I looked on the map and saw the very limited range where you could see these things. So I knew it was pretty special.
I was concentrating on photographing a cardinal that was out to the left. Cree pointed out a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on the right. It was just on a branch as I recall. I just wasn’t quick enough and then it flew away. But then it, it did a loop and came back and I had a second chance. And this time I was more prepared and I got the shot.
Prepared for me was changing the camera to pro capture mode. I also had to switch on the tele-converter. I increased the shutter speed to 1/4000th of a second. Someone who’s very skilled could do it very quickly but it probably took me a little longer.
The flycatcher looped around and came back a third time and that’s when I really nailed the shot. So I had a wonderful lens and I had a very cooperative flycatcher.
When I got the camera, I saw a YouTube video on the Pro-capture feature and it was interesting. I played with it just a little with our bird feeder like a year ago in our yard at home. After that, I never had a reason to use it. I knew before this trip I would use it. And I revisited and I saw that the Olympus has three different Pro captures, a dizzying array of settings. And then at the Texas Birds Workshop it was pro capture Boot Camp.
We spent half a day devoted to capturing birds in flight. I was so fortunate that the flycatcher came in the day after we had so much practice with Pro-capture. I felt like I was up to speed.
Pro-capture is a game changer for birds in flight.
April 2025 Photo of the Month by Ed Miron
EXIF Data:
Camera: OM System 1 Mark ii
Lens: 180-300mm with 1.2 built in teleconverter
Aperture: f5.6
Shutter: 1/4000
ISO: 4000
Manual Priority with Auto ISO
About Photographing from the Bird Blinds in Texas
The bird blinds were just unbelievable. I mean, the birds come to you and they come in a flurry. And it’s so well thought out. The placement of the bird blinds. The fact that you have some blinds just for morning use because the sun’s behind you. Then other bird blinds you just go to in the afternoon. The blinds are really thought out with photographers in mind.
I loved the fact that they have this wide area of a hundred yards of a cleared field behind the perches. You could get great bokeh. I think it took more skill designing the bird blinds and setting them up then to take good photos in them . I mean in a way, it’s a little bit like cheating because it just seems too easy.
Before the workshop I spent a morning photographing a Marsh Wren in Fort Collins. They’re hard to photograph. They like to stay hidden in bushes . They’re very skittish when they come out. It took a lot of time and I got one great photo. In the bird blinds you really get a lot of good photos quickly.
So I think a birder would be in heaven there. Somebody who’s not a birder would also really like the trip because they would get a lot of fantastic photos of birds that would emotionally resonate with anybody, even if you know nothing about birds.
I walked away knowing a lot more about birds.
Green Jay on a perch with Blue Plumbago
Ed’ s Tips for Photographing Birds
Tip 1
You really want to have the best longest lens you can get, even if you have to rent a lens. It was much more important to have a longer lens for birds then it was for bears.
Tip 2
Patience. Sometimes the blinds were insanely busy and some times they were slower. You don’t control the birds so flexibility and patience is important.
Northern Cardinal courtship behavior
Tip 3
Having a knowledgeable birder with you will help you get better photographs. Having you and Tom call out the names of birds when they entered the area kept us alert. We learned what behavior to look for like the mockingbirds attacking the raptors. And then, the cardinal behavior between the male and female giving it food. Also the puffing up of the Bronzed Cowbird.
Tip 4
When you are in a bird bling you are alert, you’re in the moment. You have to pay attention. It is exciting. You may just have seconds. Your adrenaline is really up. It is incredibly fun!
On Ed’s Horizon:
Ohio Warblers
Greenland
Nome, Alaska
Lofoten Islands in Norway
Where are Tom and Cree? We will be traveling to several locations for workshops in May: Louisiana, Ohio and Monument Valley. We will do our best to return your messages as soon as possible!
Workshop Openings?
Join us for the 2026 Iditarod! We have space available. Photograph the Last Great Race and fly into the remote Iditarod Checkpoint of Rainy Pass. We’ll photograph aurora at night if it is out! Read more
We have two last minute openings for our popular Ouray Fall Color Workshop Sept 28-Oct 2, 2025. Photograph dazzling yellow aspen leaves in the Colorado High Country. Read more
Tom and Cree just returned from their Tucson & Saguaro National Park Workshop and are sharing the highlights with you. Ten photographers joined them in the Sonoran Desert to photograph landscapes, cactus, birds and blossoms. Highlights of the workshop were photographing backlit cactus at dawn and seeing so many desert birds at our blind.
To see photos from our Tucson & Saguaro National Park Workshop, check out our trip report by clicking here
What’s Next: Cree and Tom are off to Texas next week for their Texas Birds in Spring Workshop. They will be joining 8 photographers to photograph rare south Texas birds like Green Jays, Pyrhuloxia and Bobwhite Quail.
Any upcoming openings?
Just one space left on our Louisiana Bayous Workshop May 7-11, 2025. Explore the cypress swamps by boat looking for herons, egrets, spoonbills and alligators. Photograph nesting Great Egrets chicks at a private rookery. This trip is already full in 2026.
Ouray Fall Colors : September 28-August 2, 2025 1 Space Available. The best of Colorado’s aspen forests just in time for brilliant yellow foliage.
Tom and Cree just returned from their Costa Rica Workshop and are sharing the highlights with you. Ten photographers joined them in the rainforest of Southern Costa Rica to photograph spectacular mammals, birds and reptiles. Highlights of the workshop were photographing the Fiery-billed Aracari and seeing a Northern Tamadua Anteater.
What’s Next: Cree and Tom are off to Tucson next week for their Tucson and Saguaro National Park Workshop. They will be joining 10 photographers to photograph the Sonoran Desert and it’s magnificent backlit cacti at sunset.
Any upcoming openings?
Just one space left on our Louisiana Bayous Workshop May 7-11, 2025. Explore the cypress swamps by boat looking for herons, egrets, spoonbills and alligators. Photograph nesting Great Egrets chicks at a private rookery. This trip is already full in 2026.
Ouray Fall Colors : September 28-August 2, 2025 1 Space Available. The best of Colorado’s aspen forests just in time for brilliant yellow foliage.
