Tag: Photography Workshops

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What is Coming up at TBPW

Greetings Photographers!

We hope your summer is off to a great start!

We will be returning to Alaska next week for an assignment with the Mat-Su Visitor’s Bureau (Palmer, Wasilla and Talkeetna). One of our shoots will be photographing stand up paddle boarding on a glacier pool. It sounds exciting. We are also looking forward to the annual Alaskan brewery photo shoot!

Arches and Canyonlands

New Workshops for 2024

Over the last few weeks we have been rounding out our 2024 Schedule with a few new workshop destinations. We keep adding new destinations in order to give you plenty of options, both international and domestic. We have space available on both of these:

Arches and Canyonlands Nov 3-7, 2024

Details: This is one of our favorite national parks. Tom has been leading photo workshops and doing assignments in Moab for the last 20 years. Photograph striking red rock formations on blue skies. Explore myriad arches against an iconic western landscape. Learn More

Orangutans and Volcanos in Indonesia February 13-23, 2024

Details:  Join Tom, Cree and Phillip Bartlett on a 10 day adventure to the exotic islands of Java and Borneo. These islands are  part of the country of Indonesia – we will be photographing wildlife from a riverboat, landscapes and taking travel portraits. Learn More

Orangutans in Indonesia Photo by Phillip Bartlett

Openings for 2022

Our domestic trips are all full for 2022. We have a few new openings for international trips. We have been traveling abroad since last November and are finding it easier to travel now that the testing requirement for covid has been lifted for re-entry into the US. We are happy to talk more about international travel with you if you have questions. Click on the underlined links to learn more.

Norway Lofoten Islands – September 11-18, 2022

Botswana and Zimbabwe – November 11-22, 2022

Greenland and Iceland – August 12-21, 2022,

We always love hearing from you! creetbp@gmail.com or (970) 631-9383  

Enjoy your summer!

Cree and Tom

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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

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Photo of the Month – May 2022

At Tom Bol Photo Workshops, we celebrate great images created on our workshops by selecting a Photo of the Month. For May we chose an image from our Texas Birds Workshop created by Carolyn Johnson. We hope you enjoy Carolyn’s images as much as we do!

Congratulations to May 2022 ‘s featured photographer – Carolyn Johnson

Carolyn and her daughter Marni in Bryce National Park

The Story … 

The bronzed cowbird was on the perch near the cactus and I was focused on him. The green jay came in and I saw him mid air. I kept the focal point on the cowbird and just kept pushing the shutter button.

At 30 frames per second, you can hardly miss!

This photo happened because of the Sony A1. I was on a photo outing with Artie Morris. He explained all the manual settings to me on an outing to photograph pelicans. The camera has an amazing dot that tracks the birds’ eyes. This feature took all of my frustration out of wildlife photography. In the past, images were never as sharp as I wanted them to be.

Now I can’t decide which mages to delete because they are all good.

Having a gimbal on the tripod also helped. It makes all the difference. I can no longer hold the weight of a longer lens like I used to.

May 2022 Photo of the Month

I decided to send the image of the green jay and cowbird to Bay Photo to get a metal print. Tom mentioned that he liked Bay Photo and especially the metal prints. When it arrived, I liked the result so much that I had 9 more metal bird prints made.

They arrived yesterday and I have them all over my kitchen table to figure out a good layout.

EXIF Data:

Sony A1 with a 200-600 mm lens , shot at 571mm

F6.3, 1/4000 sec, ISO 2000

Manual Mode, Spot Focus

Male Cardinal and Male Pyrrhuloxia sharing a perch

About Photographing Birds in South Texas

I liked both ranches. The owners were so careful with details and knew exactly what to do to get the birds there.

My favorite bird was Darth Vader – the bronzed cowbird. I loved when he was doing his mating dance. He has the most fabulous color of blue on his wings.

I had never shot from a blind before. I live on 4 acres in the shrub oak in California. My son in law has a back hoe. I think a blind is in my future.

Black Crested Titmouse

Tips for Bird Photography:

Don’t be afraid of using high ISO settings. In the past higher ISOs would create grainy and pixelated photos. The new technology has made it possible to shoot at high ISO settings and still get great photos. I use Topaz Denoise on all the photos I take with high ISO settings.

On Carolyn’s Horizon

Eagles in Chilkat, Alaska

Roseate Spoonbills in Florida

Galapagos Islands

Carolyn in the orchards at Capitol Reef

We are headed to Nome Alaska next with a small group to photograph musk oxen and arctic birds. After that we are headed to the South Dakota Badlands and Glacier National Park.

We have 2 spaces available on our Bears and Glaciers Workshop. It will be prime time for Spring cubs July 11-16 click here to learn more.

Welcome to summer and thanks for reading our posts!

Tom and Cree

www.tombolphotoworkshops.com

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Photograph of the Month May 2021

Tom and Cree celebrate the great images being created by our community of photographers each month by selecting a Photograph of the Month. For May we selected an image of a black bear created by Bruce Moore on our Yellowstone in Spring Workshop. We hope you enjoy Bruce’s images as much as we do!

Congratulations to May 2021 ‘s featured photographer – Bruce Moore

Bruce and his Imperial Satellite 127 camera

The Story … 

I have been taking photos since I was ten years old. My first camera was an Imperial Satellite 127. I sold flower seeds door to door to earn points. When I had enough points I picked the Satellite camera.

I love cameras. They are like art pieces to me. I have about 50 lenses and 30 cameras in my home. I learned more about my camera on this workshop than any other I have taken. Learning to adjust exposure compensation and ISO quickly on the top of my camera helped immensely.

I also learned to try and get as low as possible when taking wildlife images. It looks like I am eye level with the black bear (photo above) even though I am 20 ft above him. The bear helped a lot. He looked right at me. That really made the picture.



May 2021 Photograph of the Month

I heard Tom clicking away next to me – his camera sounded like a Gatling gun. So I took about 18 photos of the bear and I have three that I really like.

Each camera only has so many pictures in their life. I take every click seriously. Besides, I don’t have the patience to look through 5000 photos.

EXIF Data: Nikon D800 with a 150-600mm Sigma lens

Aperture Priority mode f11, 1/640 sec, ISO 4500 Exposure Compensation -.03



Bruce’s tips for shooting wildlife photography:

Make sure you have the right lens on for the subject matter. When we were photographing the wolf on the bison kill, I noticed that several people in the crowd had the wrong lens. One person was using a 100 mm lens and they would have to crop too much to be able to see the animal.

I had just bought a 150-600 Sigma lens for the trip. It was worth it for the wolf shot alone. When I returned home, I went right out and got the teleconverter to go with it.

On the Madison River in Yellowstone



About Yellowstone National Park

I signed up for Tom and Cree’s Yellowstone in Spring Workshop because I had never been to Yellowstone before. I learned it is very spread out.

It is an amazing place. You can be an amateur and take really phenomenal photographs in Yellowstone with just a little bit of knowledge…..and the help of really good guides who know where to put you.



Bison calving season is in May in YNP

On Bruce’s Horizon

Grand Teton National Park in September – in search of grizzly bears and moose



Bruce on the boardwalks with one of his cameras

Tom and Cree are headed to Madera Canyon in Arizona for new hummingbird workshops in July – 1 space left: click here.

For a full listing of upcoming workshops, including our Easter Island Workshop in January 2022: Click Here

www.tombolphotoworkshops.com

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Photographer of the Month – April 2021

Tom and Cree celebrate the great images being created by our community of photographers each month by selecting a Photograph of the Month. For April we selected an image created by Brian Kennedy on our Utah Landscapes Workshop. We hope you enjoy Brian’s images as much as we do!

Congratulations to April 2021 ‘s featured photographer – Brian Kennedy

The Story … 

We were at Sunset Point and Tom was ahead of everyone. Tom pointed out how the light was hitting different formations.

The sun was peaking in and out of the clouds. A shaft of light came through and hit the formation we were looking at.

I was shooting at f11 because I knew that was a good setting for my lens. I used focus peaking to focus. I was looking at the image in the viewfinder and the histogram was perfect. The entire image was red because of focus peaking.

To edit the image I just set the white point and the black point and it looked great.

April 2021 Photograph of the month

EXIF Data: Canon mirrorless R5 with a 100-400mm lens

Aperture Priority mode f11, 1/80 sec, ISO 160 with focus peaking

About Bryce and Capitol Reef

Bryce Canyon was on my bucket list. I’ve seen pictures of it. I love sunsets and sunrises. With the red rock, how can you not want to photograph there?

Sunrise at Inspiration Point

In Capitol Reef, I was learning new features of the new mirrorless Canon R5. I was practicing focus peaking. I love focus peaking. After that section of the trip, I was a focus peaking fool.

Like the histogram, focus peaking is a tool. I have been dissapointed in the past when I get home from a landscape shoot and parts of the image were out of focus. With focus peaking I know what will be in focus and what will not.

The iconic barn at Capitol Reef National Park

Michael Iles and I approached the barn at Capitol Reef and we noticed there was no lock on the gate. We walked into the pen and got a better angle and were able to get a bit closer to the barn. I used the 24-70 (lens) with the R5.

Brian’s tips for shooting landscapes:

Tip #1: Get to the spots early.

Tip #2: Know your equipment. I did better in Bryce then in Capitol Reef because I understood my equipment better.

Petroglyphs at Capitol Reef

On Brian’s Horizon

Death Valley National Park

Acadia National Park – 4th trip there

Bucket List: Costa Rica, Alaska Brown Bears, Yellowstone in Winter, Canadian Rockies

Brian photographing on the Scenic Drive in Capitol Reef National Park

Tom and Cree are headed to Yellowstone National Park next for two May wildlife workshops. For a full listing of upcoming workshops, including our new trip to France: Click Here

www.tombolphotoworkshops.com

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Utah Landscapes: Trip Report

We just returned from a spectacular landscape workshop in Utah and wanted to share the highlights with you in our trip report. Click here to see the details and experience spring in Capitol Reef and Bryce National Parks.

Our next Utah Landscapes Workshop is April 19-23, 2023 and there are 3 spaces available. Read more

Next, we are headed to Yellowstone for 2 workshops to photograph spring wildlife and landscapes. A single space just opened up on our May 16-20 Yellowstone in Spring Workshops. Click here to learn more.

Enjoy your spring!

Tom and Cree

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Photographer of the Month – March 2021

Tom and I celebrate the great images being created by our community of photographers each month by selecting a Photographer of the Month. For March we selected a travel story created by Melissa Stanton using Adobe Spark. We hope you enjoy Melissa’s images as much as we do!

Congratulations to March 2021 ‘s featured photographer – Melissa Stanton

Melissa photographing Red-crowned Cranes in Hokkaido, Japan

The Story … about Adobe Spark

I always love reading the trip reports and seeing all the images that were created. I decided to look at the software and found it was so simple to use:

Plop the images in there, write a few words and it works like magic!

I learned to code in high school and created web pages. It was nothing like Adobe Spark. It took me longer to figure out what images I wanted to use, then it took me to design the pages.

To view Melissa’s Spark on the Japan in Winter Workshop: Click here

About Japan

I loved the Japan trip. It was my first time to Asia. There were so many things we saw and did.

I really liked the look on Tom’s face every time they brought out another course of food. My favorite page from the Spark Story is the Octopus page. I can just imagine Tom’s face looking at it. We all want our photographs to evoke emotion. The emotion can be disgust. Photos can’t all be pretty flowers!

The local fish market in the town of Kushiru, Japan

On this page I loved her gold shoes. They thought I was taking a full body image and were happily waving at me. I just wanted her shoes.

The Geisha district in Kyoto. Japan

The Cat Cafe in Tokyo was intriguing. You go in and play with the cats. I have visited a Cat Cafe closer to home in Cleveland. You make an appointment, get yourself a cup of coffee and play with the cats with an eye towards adoption.

I think a wine bar would be better….a few glasses of wine and the cat is looking pretty cute.

The Cat Cafe in Tokyo caught Melissa’s eye

A Tip for using PhotoShop:

Start your Spark by adding all of the photos. I hate writing. To be able to create this and just throw in a few sentences here and there was perfect. I would rather just have the photos tell the story.

Give me a blank page and I’m just going to stare at it. When you already have photos with great backgrounds added, it is easy to write a description.

On Melissa’s Horizon

Brown in Alaska at Silver Salmon – I cannot wait!

Lofoten, Norway with those crazy Bols

Dubai with a friend to see the World Expo

Melissa in her element – Fairbanks, Alaska

If you would like to learn how to use Adobe Spark , we have a one session class this Thursday, April 1 at 5 pm for just $59. Click Here

We are excited to be headed into the field this April and May for workshops in Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Yellowstone National Parks. For a full listing of upcoming workshops: Click Here

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