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[H2] Come Join Us: Thursday~Sunday, 22~25 October 2026: Autumn Light in the Eastern Sierra
We just finalized the dates, and you can sign-up now for this usually sold-out tour:
[IMG: Arboreal Cathedral of Aspens, Lower Rush Creek Loop, June Lake, California]
Cathedral of Aspens, June Lake, California, Friday, 24 October 2025.
Join us on our annual (and usually sold-out) photo tour to the east side of the massive Sierra Nevada Mountains. We'll turn our creative eyes on Bodie, the greatest ghost town in the West, with over 500 structures still standing. We'll look for - and even learn how to create - autumn color in the mountains. We will also visit spectacular and eerie Mono Lake, with its strange salt towers rising out of the water.
During this spectacular time of year we can expect to find our various locations with relatively few other people. The sun, low in the autumnal Heavens, will allow us hours of good light each day, in a part of California that is among the most beautiful places on earth.
[H4] Photos from last year's tour.

[H4] More Details About These Tours.

[H4] Join us on this year's tour.

[IMG: Roy]
Roy's Neon Sign at Dusk, Route 66, California (2025). Dye-destruction print on polyester, 51 × 72″

[IMG: Half Dome in Last Light, Cook]
Half Dome in Last Light, Cook's Meadow, Yosemite National Park, California (2022). Dye-destruction print on polyester, 82 × 96″

[IMG: Dawn over Lee Vining and Mono Lake as seen from Conway Summit, California]
Dawn Over Mono Lake, California (2023). Dye-destruction print on polyester, 62 × 62″

[IMG: Proud Stone, South Tufa]
Proud Stone, Mono Lake, California (2022). Silver-gelatine print on fibre base, 62 × 62″

[IMG: Under the Cayucos Pier, Cayucos California]
Cayucos, California (2021). Dye-destruction print on polyester, 48 × 48″
Join us on next year's Central Coast tour, May 2026

[IMG: Barstow, California, 2016]
Barstow, California (2016 Route 66 Tour). Dye-destruction print on polyester, 48 × 48″

[IMG: Lightning over resort at dusk]
Tropical Summer Storm, Bahamas (2015). Dye-destruction print on polyester, 41 × 48″

[IMG: Ruin, San Diego]
San Diego County, California (1996). Dye-destruction print on polyester, 36 × 45½″

[IMG: Dawn at South Tufa, October 2015]
Mono Lake, California (2015). Dye-destruction print on polyester, 48 × 48″

[IMG: Mono Lake under Pinatubian Light]
Mono Lake under Pinatubian Light (1993). Color chromogenic print, 36 × 47⅔″

[IMG: Ken Rockwell]

© 1973-2026 Ken Rockwell. Ken Rockwell® is a registered trademark. Photo of me by Karl Grobl.  old index pages.

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[H1] Yosemite & California's Eastern Sierra

[H2] 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23 October 2022

[H3] Join us on this year's tour 17-20 October 2024: Fall Color in the Eastern Sierra

[H3] How I Created These Pictures

[H3] Introduction
I made these photos on two back-to-back trips I led with Dave Wyman to California's Eastern Sierra, and another trip we led as a fund-raiser for The Yosemite Conservancy in Yosemite National Park.
The Eastern Sierra section was the first time we've run this particular trip since our extraordinary October 2019 Eastern Sierra trip, which was our very last before COVID.
These were real photo trips where we were outside from well before dawn until long after dark, shooting all day, every single day. These weren't nerd-a-thons locked in motel rooms fiddling on computers; we were outside hiking around the whole time.

[H3] Viewing       top
Everyone's screens, from iPhones held vertically to computers with squinty 16:9 monitors, have different shapes. I can't make my differently-shaped shots fill everyone's screen at the same time.
On iPhone and iPad, everything changes size when you rotate between vertical and horizontal.
Click or tap any image to make it fit your screen. On Mac Safari, command ⌘ and + or - will change the size of the page or image, and command ⌘ and 0 brings it back to normal.
Turn up your screen brightness for best results.
These are 1,920 pixel-wide images; the originals are much higher resolution. These images will fill your screen horizontally, up to 1,920 pixels wide (3,840 pixels wide on Mac Retina displays). The vertical size will vary with each image.
Enjoy!

[H2] 17 October 2022, Monday       top
17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23 October 2022
How I Created These Pictures
I awoke at 4:14 AM, left my house at 5:15 AM and headed to my friend Dave's house in Los Angeles. Sunrise was at 6:55 AM and I arrived at 7:40 AM.
We packed up and headed out at 9 AM. We drove north all day, passing through Olancha about Noon. We passed Lone Pine at 12:20 PM and stopped in Bishop at 1:22 PM. We had lunch at Carl's Jr., took on fuel and headed out of Bishop at 1:55 PM.
We had great clouds. Here's a snap through my car's windshield:
[IMG: Rt 395 East of June Lake]
Clouds over June Lake, California as Seen from a Moving Car on US Route 395, California, 2:56 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 1× (6.9mm actual or 24mm eq.) camera, f/1.8 at 1/4,762 at Auto ISO 80 (LV14.2). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I used Skylum Luminar Neo to amp-up the general "wow" factor (Enhance and Color Saturation sliders), and also used Neo's state-of-the-art "Erase" junk removal tool to remove my dashboard reflections.
A great thing always about iPhone is that it shoots wide-open even in daylight. It has and needs no lens diaphragm. Its short 6.9mm actual (24mm equivalent) focal length 1× standard camera has plenty of depth of field at f/1.8, and shooting at f/1.8 in daylight means that the 1/4,762 shutter speed stopped all the motion. The foreground would have been horribly motion-blurred if I had tried to jam my EOS R6 up to the windshield, and good luck to me trying to see the EOS R6's tiny dim LCD at arm's length while we were driving.
We arrived at our base, Bridgeport's Redwood Motel, at 3:33 PM. So many fond memories! First we met Lukas, our greeter, in the lobby:
[IMG: Lukas]
Lukas, Redwood Motel, Bridgeport, California, 3:51 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 1× (6.9mm actual or 24mm eq.) camera, f/1.8 at 1/60 at Auto ISO 125 (LV 7¼). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I burned and dodged in Photoshop CS6 (from 2012) and used Perfectly Clear to brighten it a bit.
Among the many things that impress me about the iPhone is how I can completely remain in the moment and reach down with one hand and capture whatever's going on. Unlike big cameras with tiny LCDs and finicky autofocus systems, the iPhone has a huge screen I can see from a few feet away and a LIDAR LASER-guided autofocus system. The iPhone's AF system is superior to larger cameras in that it magically figures out - even in pitch black - that it's a dog and focuses directly on his eyes, not his nose, letting me capture totally crazy action like an excited dog jumping all over me after he hasn't seen me for three years. Lukas still missed some other friends from the last trip who weren't here this year.
It's so sharp in the original file that you can see Lukas' own view of me towering over him reflected in his eye. Check your monitor now; the image here should have every hair very clearly delineated around his eye. You may or may not see this depending on your monitor and its size; windows PCs still seem to use obsolete 106 DPI displays compared to ultrafine iPhone, iPad and Mac Retina displays that run around 225-475 DPI.
We checked in, met our group, and headed up to an abandoned mine:
[IMG: Water Tank]
Detritus on the Side of a Water Tank, Abandoned Mine near Walker Lake, Bridgeport, California, 4:45 P.M. Canon EOS R6, EF 100-400mm L IS II USM on EF to RF adapter at 100mm, f/ 7.1 at 1/250 at Auto ISO 100, -2/3 stops exposure compensation (LV 13.6), split-toned print. More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I used Perfectly Clear to bring up the shadows.

[IMG: Mine Highlight]
Highlight inside an Abandoned Mine near Walker Lake, Bridgeport, California, 5:14 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max camera system at its 2× setting (which magically crops from the 1× camera's 48 MP sensor and 6.9mm lens to a full-frame equivalent of 48mm), f/1.8 at 1/64 at Auto ISO 80 (LV 8.0). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I used Skylum Luminar Neo to add vignetting, and then I split-toned the print. God made the light shining through a hole.

[IMG: Abandoned Mine near Walker Lake, Bridgeport, California]
Abandoned Mine near Walker Lake, Bridgeport, California, 5:16 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 0.5× (2.2mm actual or 13mm eq.) camera at f/2.2 at 1/155 at Auto ISO 40 (LV 10.9). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I first worked this in the free Snapseed app on my iPhone while on location, and later used Skylum Luminar Neo to take it further.
I love how my iPhone makes it trivial to jam it into any weird position and still be super-easy to compose on its huge, bright screen, especially with its ultra-ultra wide 0.5× (2.2mm actual or 13mm eq.) camera with which every millimeter of position changes the picture's composition.
Also because of its super-short (2.2mm actual focal length) lens the iPhone's ultra-ultra wide 0.5× camera has almost limitless depth of field.
Likewise its autofocus always nails it. My Canon EOS R6 is awesome, but I can't see its tiny screen from arms length and it's always dim unless I brightened it manually, lacking the iPhone's automatic brightness control.

[IMG: Sunset, Walker Lake California]
Sunset, East of Walker Lake, Bridgeport, California, 5:59 P.M. Canon EOS R6, RF 15-30mm IS STM at 17mm, f/6.3 at 1/100 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 12.0). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I used Skylum Luminar Neo to amp this up from my as-shot image. Neo added detail to the dark foregrounds and the bright parts of the sky and exploded the fall color on the left. Bravo! Here's what came out of my R6, and this is with its saturation cranked to +4:
[IMG: Sunset, Walker Lake]
As shot. bigger.
A minute later I shot this on my iPhone:
[IMG: Sunset near Walker Lake, California]
Sunset, East of Walker Lake, Bridgeport, California, 6:01 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 0.5× (2.2mm actual or 13mm eq.) camera, f/2.2 at 1/369 at Auto ISO 40 (LV 12⅛). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I did most of the jacking of this image with the free Snapseed app on my iPhone at the scene, and then worked it some more in Skylum Luminar Neo.
It's obvious that in general I get the same images from iPhone as I do with bigger cameras. This is because the image comes from my imagination, not the camera, and I work each until it looks as I previsualized it, which is the same for both images.
I'm intrigued at how similar they look, especially since I edited each about a month apart. Also intriguing is how they each use very different everything, but the exposures reported by each camera are within one-eighth of a stop of each other!
They look very close here. The differences become more apparent viewed on a very large monitor at full resolution, which I'm not sharing here. My desktop monitor is a 55" 4K TV seen from an arm's length away. Seen on a huge screen, images from my EOS R6 have more resolution, finer details and less noise than from the iPhone, but honestly people love the images from my iPhone at least as much as from my fancier cameras. The iPhone is a brilliant camera, and it's flexibility and portability means I use it a lot for everything and catch things I'd otherwise miss with my larger camera. At normal print sizes, they look the same to normal people who actually look at my pictures rather than just count pixels.
We returned to Bridgeport, touched base at the Redwood Motel, and then drove to dinner south of town:
[IMG: Virginia Creek Settlement at Night]
Virginia Creek Settlement Restaurant, Bridgeport, California, 7:19 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 0.5× (2.2mm actual or 13mm eq.) camera, f/2.2 at 1/40 at Auto ISO 1,250 (LV 4.0). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I fiddled with this with the free Snapseed app on my iPhone at the location and then more back in my studio in Skylum Luminar Neo.
After dinner, bedtime. Tomorrow's call is 6:30 AM:
[IMG: 5:30 AM alarm]
5:45 AM alarm. Screen grab from Apple Watch ULTRA.

[H2] 18 October 2022, Tuesday       top
17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23 October 2022
How I Created These Pictures
Up at 5:30 AM, out at 6:30 AM to catch a 7:09 AM sunrise atop Conway Summit:
[IMG: Sunrise over Mono Lake as Seen from Conway Summit]
Sunrise over Mono Lake as Seen from Conway Summit, 6:49 A.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 3× (9mm actual or 77mm eq.) camera, f/2.8 at 1/99 at Auto ISO 125 (LV 9.3). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I amped this one in Skylum Luminar Neo.

[IMG: Sunrise, Conway Summit]
Sunrise over Mono Lake as Seen from Conway Summit, 6:53 A.M. Canon EOS R6, RF 24-240mm IS USM at 62mm, wide-open at f/5 at 1/50 at Auto ISO 100, (LV 10¼). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
Again, Skylum Luminar Neo was amazing, amping-up color and bringing highlights and shadows under control and rendering this nutty image the way I want it.
Just a few minutes later we have a very different picture as the sun rises and lights more clouds higher up (closer to me):
[IMG: Sunrise over Mono Lake as Seen from Conway Summit]
Sunrise over Mono Lake as Seen from Conway Summit, 7:05 A.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 3× (9mm actual or 77mm eq.) camera, f/2.8 at 1/247 at Auto ISO 32 (LV 12.6). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
Skylum Luminar Neo let me put colors back where God didn't quite put them. Bravo!
Yes, these are similar images, but they are also very different. My website, my rules.

[IMG: Orange Aspens in fall color, Poole Power Plant Road, Lee Vining]
Aspens Aflame, Poole Power Plant Road, Lee Vining, California, 10:59 A.M. Canon EOS R6, RF 24-240mm IS USM at 118mm, f/8 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 100, -1/3 stop exposure compensation (LV 13.0). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I worked this in Skylum Luminar Neo, adding saturation and vignetting to bring the flaming trees forward and push back the background. Neo was also superb for painting-out various distractions.
[IMG: Pine Cone, Poole Power Plant]
Pine Cone 4Doe, Poole Power Plant Road, Mammoth Lakes, California, 12:24 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 1× (6.9mm actual or 24mm eq.) camera, f/1.8 at 1/1,495 at Auto ISO 80 (LV 12½). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I used Neo with vignetting and masking to lighten the pine cone, which was almost black in shadow.
With its larger 48 MP sensor the iPhone 14 Pro Max now also has a longer lens to retain the same 24mm equivalent angle of view. For the first time I often notice background optical defocus effects in regular shooting, as you can see here and at the dog closeup photos above and below. This defocus (bokeh) is what's coming from the lens; it's not an electronic portrait mode.
We headed back to Lee Vining:
[IMG: Mono Market]
Mono Market, Lee Vining, California, 1:09 P.M. Canon EOS R6, RF 15-30mm IS STM at 15mm, f/9 at 1/60 at Auto ISO 100 (LV 12.4). bigger or fit-to-screen.
All I edited in this was to change the saturation and use a curves adjustment layer in Photoshop CS6 (2012). I also used Skylum Luminar Neo's Erase tool to remove a car parked at the curb!

[IMG: Mono Market]
Mono Market, Lee Vining California, 1:21 P.M. Canon EOS R6 in square-crop mode, RF 24-240mm IS USM at 42mm (about equivalent to the normal ZEISS 80mm f/2.8 PLANAR lens on HASSELBLAD 6×6), f/11 at 1/200 at Auto ISO 100, -2/3 stops exposure compensation (LV 14.6). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I used Skylum Luminar Neo to remove wires and power poles from the background, to amp-up the colors and add vignetting.

[IMG: Orange Handle on Blue Door, Lee Vining]
Orange Handle on Blue Door, Lee Vining, California, 1:24 P.M. Canon EOS R6, RF 24-240mm IS USM at 100mm, f/8 at 1/40 at Auto ISO 100, -1/3 stop exposure compensation (LV 13.4). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
Part of the handle isn't that sharp because depth-of-field goes away at distances this close. If I was paying more attention as we walked around looking for lunch I'd have shot at f/16 at 1/10 instead, but tough.
I used Skylum Luminar Neo to purify the colors.
After relaxing in Lee Vining for a little bit we trekked off to Bodie:
[IMG: Brick Building, Bodie, California]
Brick Building, Bodie, California, 3:24 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 1× (6.9mm actual or 24mm eq.) camera, f/1.8 at 1/3,247 at Auto ISO 80 (LV 13⅔). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I purified the colors and amplified the shadows in Skylum Luminar Neo and fixed a slightly tilted camera in Photoshop CS6 (2012).

[IMG: Blue Door on Red Brick wall, Bodie]
Blue Door on Red Brick Wall, Bodie, California, 4:20 P.M. Canon EOS R6, RF 15-30mm IS STM at 30mm, f/9 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 100, -2/3 stops exposure compensation (LV 13.4). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I used Perfectly Clear to brighten the image, and then Skylum Luminar Neo to crank it up.
I cropped it later to a square, the equivalent of a normal ZEISS 80mm f/2.8 PLANAR lens on HASSELBLAD 6×6.
Coming back from Bodie I spied these little guys hanging out by their trailer:
[IMG: Very Cute Great Pyrenees Puppy with Tongue]
Very Cute Great Pyrenees Puppy with Tongue, Bridgeport, California, 5:14 P.M. Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max 1× (6.9mm actual or 24mm eq.) camera, f/1.8 at 1/810 at Auto ISO 80 (LV 11⅔). More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
I

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[IMG: KenRockwell.com]

[H1] 2026 Photo Tours & Workshops

[H2] Thursday~Sunday, 22~25 October 2026: Autumn Light in the Eastern Sierra
[IMG: Arboreal Cathedral of Aspens, Lower Rush Creek Loop, June Lake, California]
Cathedral of Aspens, June Lake, California, 10:12 A.M., Friday, 24 October 2025. Canon EOS R1, RF 24-105mm IS STM at 24mm at f/11 at 1/125 at Auto ISO 100, -0.7 stops exposure compensation (LV 14.0), Radiant Photo software. More tech details. bigger or fit-to-screen.
Join us on our annual (and usually sold-out) photo tour to the east side of the massive Sierra Nevada Mountains. We'll turn our creative eyes on Bodie, the greatest ghost town in the West, with over 500 structures still standing. We'll look for - and even learn how to create - autumn color in the mountains. We will also visit spectacular and eerie Mono Lake, with its strange salt towers rising out of the water.
During this spectacular time of year we can expect to find our various locations with relatively few other people. The sun, low in the autumnal Heavens, will allow us hours of good light each day, in a part of California that is among the most beautiful places on earth.
[H4] Photos from last year's tour.

[H4] Join us on this year's tour.
These are guided photo tours where we shoot all day, every day. If you want hands-on technical help, my colleague Dave Wyman and I are available for all the one-on-one instruction and face-to-face coaching, consultation and critique you'd like. Believe me, there's more than enough time out in the field to answer all your questions without having to waste time sitting around in a hotel with computers. This is all about shooting and quick iPhone edits; it's not a Photoshop class (but ask me all you want about that, too).
Shoot anything from iPhone to digital to 35mm & medium format, but we tend to move along fast enough that you'll want to leave the large format and wet collodion shooting for when you're on your own.
To register and for any questions, call or email Dave Wyman at (323) 377-7565 in Los Angeles. Dave Wyman is often out leading other tours, so he's not always sitting by his phone or computer. Dave organizes these tours while we both lead and teach. Dave Wyman is the author of many books about travel and photography; Fearless Photographer: Nature is his most recent, with Yosemite in Photographs, Backroads of Northern California and Backroads of Southern California so popular they're often sold out. Dave has been leading outdoor hiking, educational, camping, historical and photo trips for decades and decades and decades.
[IMG: Chemung Mine, October 2024]
Our group at an Abandoned Mine in The Eastern Sierra, October 2024. Photo courtesy Julian Solomons (the guy holding the drone remote control?!). bigger.

[H4] Photos from Previous Trips
[H2] See. Shoot. WIN!!!℠
These are working tours, not boring indoor computer workshops. We're shooting outdoors all day long, not sitting in a motel looking at computers. Be sure to bring enough cards and batteries since we're usually gone from dawn till dark out shooting.
We're not doing any strenuous hiking or climbing, but we are on our feet 14 hours a day or more.
I'll only spend a half hour towards the beginning giving everyone a general pep talk about how to find and see the pictures you want, which is the only difficult part in photography that all too many people miss entirely. I'll cover the key fundamentals of composition, image structure and design and how to make strong images that stand out, win contests and catch everyone's eye. Once you learn to see the pictures that make everyone go "ooh!" and "ahh!" (and we'll take you to the best spots), shooting them is easy regardless of whatever camera or phone you have. You don't need a fancy or new camera to take great pictures once you learn how to see them in the first place.
We'll have more than enough time outside to give you all the personal one-on-one instruction you'd like — much better than being stuck in a motel hearing other people's questions answered — and you should come home with tons of awesome photos. Many people prefer to shoot the whole time and ignore us; you can get as much or as little personal help as you like. We get to all the right places at the right times, and fine-tune and optimize our itinerary continuously as weather conditions change.
Since any instruction — or not — is one-on-one, these are ideal for people at every level. If you're a full-time pro you'll just shoot the whole time, and if you've never been on one of these and just show up with your iPhone, you'll also get loads of great photos. We often shoot with our iPhones as well as our fancy cameras; we're all about the picture and not about what kind of camera people have. We'll show you how to get great pictures with any camera.
These tours are so good that about half of each group are repeat attendees!
To register and for any questions, click the links, or call or email Dave Wyman at (323) 377-7565 in Los Angeles. Dave is often out leading other tours, so he's not always sitting by his phone or computer. Dave organizes these tours while we both lead and teach. Dave Wyman is the author of many books about travel and photography; Fearless Photographer: Nature is his most recent, with Yosemite in Photographs, Backroads of Northern California and Backroads of Southern California so popular they've sold out. Dave has been leading outdoor hiking, educational, camping, historical and photo trips for decades and decades and decades.
Hope to see you there!

[IMG: Photo Group at Conway Summit, California]
Some of Our Group on the 2023 Fall Color Tour.

[IMG: Photographers by Monument Valley]
On the Monument Valley Tour, 14 November 2009.

[H2] Speaking Engagements
I love to teach
and speak when others invite me to events they have planned like the ones above.
I had the time of my life
for a week in Italy in October 2003 when the Politechnico di Torino invited
me to teach at their summer program.
Please ask if you'd like me to address your group,
whether it's graduate students at Oxford, a class of excitable first
graders, the local Police or Fire department or your local photo club, charitable organization or small or large business.
I love this stuff!

[H2] Other Great Workshops:
San Diego Photography Tours
Dan Ballard
Muench Workshops
Steve Cirone
More

[H2] San Diego Photography Tours

[IMG: San Diego Photo TOurs]
I don't do these; my friend Julie Kremen leads them.
These are half- or full-day hands-on photo tours of iconic San Diego spots with Julie.
Call her at (858) 692-8402 or see SanDiegoPhotographyTours.com for more.

[H2] Dan Ballard Private Workshops
[H2] Dan Ballard General Workshops
Dan Ballard, based in Colorado. He offers general workshops as well as private workshops around the world. Some options are Patagonia, Lofoten Islands, New Zealand and Iceland.
He still has some space in his Great Sand Dunes workshop in May 2018, as well as plenty of other trips.
[IMG: Dan Ballard Workshops]

[IMG: Dan Ballard Workshops]

[IMG: Dan Ballard Workshops]

[IMG: Dan Ballard Workshops]

[IMG: Dan Ballard Workshops]

[H2] Muench Workshops
Marc Muench runs trips all over the world. See all of these and more on Muench Workshops site.
Right now he's offering a discount on his upcoming February 2025 Antarctica trip.
Marc and his partner Andy Williams have grown their workshops over the years, and now have over 100 workshops available. Feel free to call them at (917) 854-8118 or (866) 745-7300.
[IMG: Marc Muench]

[IMG: Marc Muench]

[IMG: Marc Muench]

[H2] Steve Cirone (Private Lessons), San Diego
Bird ace Steve Cirone specializes in private instruction in San Diego. I've known Steve since the 1990s.
Steve is different: he'll let you shoot using his gear like his Canon 800mm f/5.6 so you don't have to haul yours to San Diego. Heck, with Steve, you get private lessons and don't even need to buy a camera!
See these shots? These aren't his life's best; they were what was on his screen to send me when I asked him for something to share here, since he hasn't been in National Geographic — yet.
[IMG: Bird]

[IMG: Tern Flapping]

[IMG: Dradonfly]

[IMG: Hawk]

[IMG: Bee]

[IMG: Black Skimmer]

[IMG: Black Skimmer]
A Black skimmer ejecting accidentally snagged eel grass. A photographic first. They are fish eaters. No veggies!
Steve is out every dawn shooting birds, and has made the most incredible bird shots I've ever seen. What makes Steve's work special is that he's able to capture birds actually doing things with each other, while in motion, while in awesome light.
I've seen Steve teach. He's a riot! He's able to explain everything in the funniest and simplest possible terms. Steve isn't out trying to sell you idiotic exposure calculators with 259 different scenes and exposure compensations. Steve gives it to you straight!

Other Tours         top
These are personal friends
who organize these trips, as well as do great photography.

Paul Renner Safaris to Africa
My photographer friend Paul Renner is always leading trips to Africa.
Paul was born and raised
in Tanzania, speaks Swahili, and spent most of his childhood chasing or running away from
wild animals.
Paul's website is RennerSafaris.com. People love his photo safaris!

Jim Cline Photo Tours
I suggest
my friend Jim Cline's tours of Latin America, Asia and southeast Asia.
I've known Jim for years and he really takes the time
to do the forward research for his trips. Every time we get together it
seems he's just gotten back from a scouting expedition in advance for
his next trip, in other words, Jim has probably been down there the month
before the formal trip to check everything out before you go.
Jim has been all over Latin America for a long time. He's not one of the
usual guys who just lets you pay for his vacations; Jim puts a lot of
work into these tours!

Karl Grobl: The Rest of the World
Another
friend I've know for decades is humanitarian photojournalist Karl Grobl.
Today Karl spends most of
his time today documenting the efforts of humanitarian organizations throughout
Asia, Oceania and Latin America. He's usually away on assignment for weeks
at a time, but keep checking to see if he has anything recreational planned.
He'll get you places for which you'll need to consult an atlas. If you
want to get places no one has been before he's your guy.
See what he has
planned here.
Paul,
Jim and Karl are accomplished, published, multiple award-winning photographers
skilled at getting in and out of the right locations at the right time,
are articulate and a lot of fun with whom to travel. I've been all over
with all of them and wish I had the time to do more!

Bruce Percy's Scotland
[IMG: Bruce Percy Isle of Skye]
Isle of Skye, December 2010. Photo by Bruce Percy.
Bruce Percy's work speaks for itself. He offers "Light on Scotland" Workshops.
Bruce Percy is a Scottish Photographer who's work has been used by National Geographic Traveler magazine (Patagonian images), the Sir Edmund Hillary foundation in New Zealand, and Fujifilm UK amongst others.
He has weekend and 5 day photographic workshops running throughout the year in the highlands and islands of Scotland.

[H2] 17 ~ 20 October 2022: FALL COLOR in California's Eastern Sierra     top
As last year, this is an informal (but guided) "friends of Dave & Ken" outing. We pick a basic motel, meet there and are out shooting all day, every day. We'll spend a couple of days out shooting our favorite spots in the Eastern Sierra just before our formal Autumn Light in Yosemite outing. If you're coming for one, come for both — but you have to register in two different places. Here's a description of this same trip we did in 2019; this year it will be the same — but I think it's free this year because Dave is tired of all the paperwork (tips welcome).
To register and for any questions, call or email Dave Wyman at (323) 377-7565 in Los Angeles or ask me for details. Dave is often out leading other tours, so he's not always sitting by his phone or computer. Dave Wyman is the author of many books about travel and photography; Fearless Photographer: Nature is his most recent, with Yosemite in Photographs, Backroads of Northern California and Backroads of Southern California so popular they're often sold out. Dave has been leading outdoor hiking, educational, camping, historical and photo trips for decades and decades and decades. You also can ask me for details.
Here are two shots from last year's trip:
[IMG: Golden Aspen and Snowy Mountain]
Golden Aspens and Snow-Covered Mount Emma, 4:45 P.M, 18 October 2021, as seen on last year's trip.

Last year we had snow!
[IMG: Shimmering Aspens, Tioga Pass Road]
Shimmering Aspens, Tioga Pass Road, 12:25 P.M., 18 October 2021, as seen on last year's trip.
More photos from last year's two fall trips.

[H2] 20 ~ 23 October 2022: Autumn Light in Yosemite     top
This trips starts a couple of hours after the 17 ~ 20 October 2022 FALL COLORtrip ends. The FALL COLOR trip is in the Eastern Sierra east of Yosemite, while this Autumn Light in Yosemite Outing is in Yosemite Valley as well as other places inside Yosemite National Park.
If you're coming for one, come for both — but you have to register in two different places. While Dave Wyman and I lead both of these trips together, the FALL COLOR trip is informal while this Autumn Light in Yosemite Outing requires formal registration. It's a fund raiser for The Yosemite Conservancy to support the park in numerous ways, like their Free Bike Share Program.
Here's a shot from last year's trip:
[IMG: Half Dome in Last Light as seen from Cook]
Half Dome in Last Light, Cook's Meadow, Yosemite National Park, as seen on last year's trip, Thursday, 14 October 2021.
Stay wherever you like. Some people camp, some people stay in hotels outside the park, some people stay at the très luxe Ahwahnee, while most of us stay at the Yosemite Valley Lodge at the Falls, where we usually meet for everything. When you register, The Yosemite Conservancy often has rooms set aside for us at The Lodge.
Bring any camera you want. I shot both Half Dome in Last Light and Shimmering Aspens with my iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Feel free to call or email Dave Wyman at (323) 377-7565 or ask me for details. Dave and I have been leading this trip together since 2006, and Dave's been doing it much longer than that.

[H3] More photos from last year's fall trips.

Photos from Previous Workshops       top

[IMG: Decomposition, Barstow, California]

[H3] New: Photographs from California's Route 66.
Join us on next year's tour.
27 February 2026

[IMG: Eastern Sierra Fall 2025]

[H3] Fall Color in California's Eastern

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