 Bull Elk, Yellowstone |
 Stoneman Brige, Merced River, Yosemite |
 Tree
Frog on Jacket Hood, Central California Coastal Mountains
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Image Quest offers inexpensive photography tours and workshops with deluxe features, in California and beyond. Photographers with digital, 35mm and medium format cameras are welcome. Each trip offers the opportunity to join with people interested in travel and nature photography. The current calendar offers a variety of locations and themes, and each trip is conducted by Dave Wyman, who has conducted photography workshops since 1982.
Several Image Quest Photo trips include meals, some
prepared by trip leaders. Van transportation is offered
on trips outside of California, while most trips in the Golden State
involve carpooling. Call, write or e-mail for more information. Or,
click on those workshops with underlined trip titles for more
information.
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- Cultural
Mirages: Route 66 and the Mojave Desert - Friday-Sunday, January 30 -
February 1, 2009 - Friday through Sunday, February
6-8,
2009 Explore the cultural icons left behind by those who had a love affair with desert highways. Field sessions, centered along old Route 66, east of Barstow, will include the detritus of failed human incursions in the harsh desert environment. Cost: $385, includes field sessions, a picnic lunch, and a group dinner our first night., and accommodations for two nights in a comfortable motel. Field sessions begin Friday afternoon, in Barstow; our base of operations will move to remote Amboy, east of Barstow, to photograph the famous Roy's Cafe and Motel, a classic roadhouse straight out of the middle of the last century and undergoing a leisurely restoration. Click here for images from a prior trip. Guest instructor: Ken Rockwell will join us for the fourth year in a row. Astronomer and night sky photographer Richard Nolthenius will, weather permitting, teach our group the methods for photographing the night sky with normal camera equipment and Ken and Dave will take the group out for neon photography. |
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Yosemite
in Winter and Gold Country - Thursday
through Sunday,
February 19-22, 2009 Our group will stay in El Portal, just outside the park, giving us easy access to Yosemite Valley, the historic barns at Foresta, and the snow-covered meadows and forests at Crane Flat. Will we need snow shoes or skis? No. For this workshop will rely on private autos for transportation and our forays out of the car will be easy-paced strolls; just bring your camera gear and clothing for cold to mild conditions, plus a comfortable pair of walking shoes or boots. We may find ourselves in the middle of a soft Sierra Nevada snowfall at the base of El Capitan, or in full sunlight at ice-rimmed Bridalveil Fall. Whatever the weather, the low-angled light and winter conditions will reveal shapes, shadows and textures otherwise unseen during other seasons. Note: If conditions are good, we will photograph a waterfall which turns to fire at the end of each day during the last two weeks of February. This trip includes, on our way home, a farewell brunch in the Gold Country town of Mariposa. We will also explore some of Gold Country's old highways and the little town of Hornitos, before the trip officially ends on Sunday afternoon. Cost: $400. |
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- Death Valley - Thursday through Sunday, April 2-5, 2009 Death Valley is famous for laying bare a wildly rugged and colorful geology. Yet there is much more to see and photgraph, including the imprint of human occupation on the land. Co-sponsored by the Death Valley Natural History Association and the San Diego Natural History Museum, our workshop will explore Death Valley's premier locations - the giant sand dunes, the oasis at Salt Creek, Badwater, Scotty's Castle, Zabriskie Point - as well as less known yet equally interesting places. We'll stay in comfortable rooms at the Stovepipe Wells Motel, near the giant sand dunes. Cost: $450. |
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- Land of Fire
and Ice - Mt. Shasta, Lassen Peak and Burney Falls (NEW) -
Friday through Wednesday, April 17-22, 2009 |
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Explore Yosemite Valley, where the waterfalls will be full with spring snow melt; we will view the raging Merced River, and the famous granite cliffs and domes. We will also visit the Foresta barns, and historic Wawona, with its Covered Bridge and exciting Suspension Bridge. Cost: $400. The trip includes field sessions, slides shows, accommodations in El Portal, adjacent to the park, and a farewell brunch. Photographs from prior trips are here. |
Steinbeck Country - Friday through Sunday, June 12-14, 2009 An array of varied subject matter, from Cannery Row, the Aquarium, and historic downtown Monterey, to the agricultural landscape of nearby Salinas Valley, wildflowers and oak groves, and portions of the Big Sur Coast will occupy our time as we travel through the central regions of Califonria made famous by the stories of John Steinbeck. Our journey will incude a visit to Salinas, the town that hosts the National Steinbeck Center museum, Steinbeck's boyhood home, and the interesting cemetery where the author lies at eternal rest. Cost: $325, includes entry fees, guided field session, and a couple of meals. Co-instructor: Ken Rockwell. "I hate cameras. They are so much more sure than I am about everything." "A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it." - John Steinbeck |
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Point
Reyes/Marin County - Co-instructor: Ken Rockwell
Coming in Early September (email to be added to the notification list
for more information). - Autumn in Yellowstone and the Tetons - Monday through Sunday, October 5-11, 2009 As it has been for Image Quest each year for 17 years, our autumn subjects in Yellowstone country will include geysers, wildlife, and the rugged Wyoming landscape. We'll also photograph the historic Mormon barns and tour the Jackson Hole area, travel beautiful backroads in Utah and Idaho, and explore the Tetons. Cost: $1,500. The tour includes accommodations in Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Montana and Utah, van transportation, a group picnic, and an amazing array of field locations. Our visit should coincide with the colors autumn; mountain peaks might even be topped with a mantle of snow. Expect to photograph bison and elk and moose, with chances to see and photograph bears, beaver, and a variety of birds. We'll also look for wolves (although they are usually not easy to photograph, the one pictured here was happy to pose for us). View photographs from the 2008 outing here. |
- Autumn
in Yosemite -
Thursday
through Sunday, October 18-22,
2009
Photograph Yosemite when the colors of autumn will be on
display,
and people in the park will be few. We'll photograph classic and
novel locations in the Valley. Dave Wyman is teaching this
course for the Yosemite
Association. Click here
for images from 2008. Co-instructor: Ken Rockwell. Cost: TBA.
The
Image Quest Director - Dave
Wyman: Dave created Image Quest in 1982, while serving as the
wilderness resource coordinator at the University of Southern
California. He has conducted photography programs for natural history
associations in Yosemite and Death Valley, and periodically conducts
workshops and classes for UCLA. Dave also conducts trips and
workshops for the Los Angeles Zoo. His book, Backroads
of Northern California,
was
published in 2000. A companion volume, for southern California, was
published in 2005. Dave's photographs and articles have appeared
in Backpacker, Outdoor Photographer, Cross-Country Ski,
Outside, and several other magazines. His work has also
appeared
in
the Sierra Club Guidebook to National Parks of
California, the California State Parks Guidebook,
in
various places in cyberspace, and in private, public and corporate
collections. He is also the author of Yosemite
in Photographs.
Questions or comments and/or requests for information about specific trips? E-mail to Dave Wyman
Dave
Wyman's Bicycle and Photography Blog
Follow Dave on Twitter: davewyman
