Photo of the Month Dec 2022

At Tom Bol Photo Workshops, we celebrate great images created on our workshops by selecting a Photo of the Month. For December we chose an image from our Patagonia Photo Workshop created by Greg Ness. Greg has photographed wildlife in Patagonia several times and was delighted with his condor encounter on this trip. We hope you enjoy Greg’s images as much as we do!

Congratulations to December 2022 ‘s featured photographer – Greg Ness

Greg, dressed for the weather, at the Mirador del Condores (Condor Viewpoint)

The Story… 

It was humorous. When we arrived on scene we looked like a cautious infantry unit. Everyone took 5 steps forward. Then everyone took 5 more steps. The condor was eye balling us the whole time. It must have been thinking, “What are they doing?”

I was using the Sony A1 because I was hoping for a flight shot. I figured if he did fly it would be a very quick shot. I got a couple of decent flight shots but they were kind of at an angle that did not show off his wings.

I loved the bird just sitting there. What an interesting face. You have to ask yourself, what is it about that bird? A face that could stop a truck. Why is it designed like that. I am sure bird experts have some interesting theories on that. I wanted to show the interesting features.

December 2022 Photo of the Month

The light was just right. We had intermittent sunshine. It illuminated the grass right in front of the bird. This made for a nice counterpoint to the dark body of the bird.

I would like to know why it sat there as long as it did. It must have been eating something.

After I got home I did some research. The condor is the biggest flying bird in the world if you combine wingspan (up to 10 ft) and weight (up to 30 pounds). We saw them all over the place. With the Patagonian winds they barely have to flap their wings to take off.

EXIF Data:

Sony AI Sony 200-600 mm f5-6.3 lens at 600 mm

ISO 500 1/2000 sec f6.3

Aperture Priority Mode

Exposure compensation -.03


The view of Mt Fitzroy when heading into Chalten

About Photographing in Patagonia

One of the things that intrigued me about Patagonia is its ties to our past. Anyone who lives in Colorado asks themselves, wouldn’t it be fun to transport yourself back to the Old West. Some one described Patagonia as being like the Old West – large plains, mountain ranges, dramatic weather.

It’s big and wild there. It’s also hard to get to a lot of the places. It keeps the majority of the tourists out. You have to work for photographs in Patagonia. Even if you get to the locations, you can spend days trying to get a picture of Fitzroy or El Chalten and never see it.

This means you have to have patience. The last day we were in Torres del Paine. The calm waters were incredible. How many people have seen that before?

Calm waters at Hosteria Pehoe, our hotel for 3 days

Greg’s Tips for Photographing in Patagonia

Tip 1: I took two rented lenses. This was not a great idea. Know your lenses and know your camera equipment really well. If Marcos is sprinting across the pond on his horse, you may only get one shot of it.

Zoom lenses are really valuable to have. A condor is sitting on the ground, but it could fly at any minute. My suggestions are: 100-500mm and 70-200 and 24-70mm. Take two bodies: anything could happen.

Tip 2: The weather was like last time. It would almost knock you over one day and the next day, no wind. Shoot a lot on the good days. Consider black and white for the cloudy days.

Tip 3: I liked using black and white for the gaucho photos. It fits with the idea of a hard to get to place that is almost lost in time. It has not changed that much in the last 9 years. But it will slowly change.

Patagonian Grey Fox at ground level

On Greg’s Horizon:

Wanaka in New Zealand

Lofoten in Norway – want to return for hiking

Arizona for a month – both hiking and photography

Polar regions -Greenland, Iceland

Cruise to Northern Greenland

Faroe Islands

Madeira in Spain

Greg photographing a Porcelan Orchid

Workshop News

Few spots left: Masking Made Easy: Online Editing Class. Brush up on your editing skills and learn how to use new masking features in either PhotoShop or Lightroom as well as older features like luminosity masks. Click here to learn more.

Few Spots Left: Old Car City Workshop from March 30-April 2, 2023. Photograph classic cars in the Georgia hardwoods. Learn about speed lights for creative effect. Click here to read more.

Where are Tom and Cree?

We are just back from a personal trip to Jackson, Wyoming. We photographed Great Gray Owls, Moose and Coyotes and had a splendid ski in front of the Tetons on New Years Day.

We hope you have a wonderful 2023 and find plenty of time to take photos. Thanks for reading our posts!

Tom and Cree

www.tombolphotoworkshops.com

Botswana & Zimbabwe Trip Report

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are ready for the holiday season. We will be hosting our Annual Bol Holiday Gift Guide tomorrow at 5 pm on Zoom – that’s Saturday, November 26 MDT Denver time. Send us a quick note here to get the link for this free event

To learn about our recent trip to Botswana and Zimbabwe , click here

We are headed to Patagonia next week and look forward to starting off in Buenos Aires by photographing the world champion tango dancers. Always a terrific trip and Marcelo Martinez will be right by our side as we travel through Argentina and Chile.

Thanks for reading our posts. We hope to photograph with you soon!

Tom and Cree

Trip Report Galapagos 2022

We had a wonderful time on our recent workshop to the Galapagos in Ecuador. Daily snorkeling, sailing on a three-masted ship and walking right up to incredibly rare birds were just a few of the highlights. Take a look at our trip report to see the photos and find out more.

To see the report, click here

If you are interested in traveling to the Galapagos on the Mary Anne with us for a future workshop, send us a note via our contact page, link here Ask to be on the Interest List.

We will be trading in our bathing suits for parkas as our next workshop starts soon in Iceland and Greenland with Strabo Tours. We want to be able to answer all of your questions as soon as possible and will check messages whenever we have coverage. After the workshop, we will be readily available and in the office from August 25-30 if you need anything.

Thanks for reading our posts. We hope to photograph with you soon!

Tom and Cree

Farewell from the Galapagos

Trip Report – Brown Bears and Glaciers

We just returned from our Lake Clark Bear Workshop and are already longing to go back next year. The spring cubs were just wonderful. Take a look at our trip report to see the photos and catch up on what Crimp’s Cub looks like this year.

To see the report, click here

Tom has been busy working on articles for Nikon in his spare time. Check out his new piece on the Pre-release Feature of the Nikon Z9. If you are an Olympus user you probably already know about it. If you are a Nikon user, this allows you to record images before you push the button and capture a burst of activity. Great read! Click here. Most of the images for the article were taken on our Texas Birds Workshops in May

Tom and I will be out of the office for several weeks in August with workshops in both the Galapagos and Greenland. We want to be able to answer all of your questions as soon as possible and will check messages whenever we have coverage.

We will be readily available and in the office from August 8-12. We are also around for the next several days (end of July) if you need anything.

Thanks for reading our posts. We hope to photograph with you soon!

Tom and Cree

Can you tell we love Alaska?

Trip Report: Nome Arctic Birds & Musk Oxen

Five days of sunshine and endless hours of golden light. We could not believe the weather we had in Nome, Alaska for our Arctic Birds and Musk Oxen Workshop. This was the first time we offered this workshop and we are already planning to head back in 2024 for Summer Solstice.

Click on this link to see the trip report images and read about our adventures in Nome.

Interested in joining us in 2024, June 17-22 for our next Nome Workshop? Only one space left. Read more

Thanks for reading our posts. Hope you are having a good summer!

Tom and Cree

Texas Birds Trip Report

We just returned from South Texas after two successful bird photography workshops. We photographed songbirds and raptors from two of the best bird blind ranches in the country.

Click on this link to see the trip report images and read about our adventures in Texas.

Interested in joining this summer for one of our favorite bear photography workshops? Two spaces are available on Brown Bears and Glaciers on July 11-16, 2022. Read more

We also have space on our photo tour to the Lofoten islands in Norway, September 11-18, 2022. Read more

Thanks for reading our posts!

Tom and Cree

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