$4,453 USD per person, land only  |  Single room supplement is 14% of trip cost
See discounts for repeat clients, early enrollment, room sharing, and 2 trips in 12 months etcetera

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8 places are available at this time   Ask a question via email: Click here   Updated Thursday the 17th of May, 2012   Gateway airport: San Francisco, California [SFO]   Arrival window: By noon on day one   Search Kayak or your preferred airline for a fare   For cost, enrollment link and other details go here.

Also see the photography tour calendar for trips that precede or follow this one

PHOTOGRAPHY TOUR OVERVIEW:  A very busy 13 days of quality photography subjects such as San Francisco, the Monterey peninsula, Big Sur, Death Valley, Mono Lake and Bodie, Yosemite NP and more.
California might be considered to be diverse to the point of overwhelming, but our itinerary concentrates on the heart of the State, and will bring photographs of more than sufficient diversity. City scapes, seascapes, dune-scapes, forest-scapes, mountain scapes, plus wildlife and flora. All this and more!

INCREASING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY SKILLS: There isn’t a straightforward way to describe everything you will learn on one of our photography tours in just a few words, but I'll give it a try . . . I instruct, encourage, nurture, coach, nudge, help and guide clients etcetera, all day and every day.  This includes one-on-ones and 'collective instruction', i.e. advice given to the whole group at each photo stop. Subjects and techniques discussed and demonstrated are composition strength, shutter speeds, exposure compensation, how aperture choice influences depth of field, lens choice, filter use, long exposure effects, deliberate blur, macro and so on. I also encourage you to 'see' an image when the opportunity presents itself, i.e. to be on the lookout for those less obvious shots that are no less stunning. Lastly, I conduct image critiques both on location - digital camera screens are ideal for this - and via the use of laptops. PhotoShop sessions are also included as time permits. For more details regarding what you'll learn go here.

TRAVEL TO THE GATEWAY AIRPORT
o It is recommended that clients arrive a day early to be fresh for the trip, and to also counteract possible flight delays.
o Early arrival also enables you to explore the gateway city should you wish to do so.
o When booking flights, add a day for overnight travel or two days if also crossing the Pacific Ocean/International Dateline.
o The last day of the trip is the date you should arrange your flight home unless you plan to stay on. Thank you!

DAY 1  |  SAN FRANCISCO
From your early afternoon flight into San Francisco airport we will head to our overnight accommodations close to the Golden Gate Park and the Pacific Ocean. We’ll then venture back out mid to late afternoon for photographic subjects including surfers, Golden Gate Bridge, Baker Beach and Alamo Square at twilight . . . the classic Victorian row house and city skyline composition.
SAN FRANCISCO, 1 night

DAYS 2 and 3  |  MONTEREY PENINSULA
First light on the Golden Gate bridge this morning, then following breakfast we’ll follow the Cabrillo Highway coast road shooting sea stacks and the Pigeon Point lighthouse.  Then on to Natural Bridges State Beach and Santa Cruz for the Breakwater lighthouse. We'll also shoot Pelicans, surfers, and colorful Capitola nearby. Then on to our Pacific Grove accommodations, and out to rugged Point Pinos for our first Pacific Ocean sunset.
On day 3 we’ll work both Fisherman and Municipal wharves on the Monterey bay waterfront where sea mammals are frequent.  Additional highlights throughout the day will be the Carmel Mission, Sea Lions, Cormorants, hopefully Otters too, Point Lobos State Reserve, and the late light on the Bixby Creek Bridge on the Big Sur.
PACIFIC GROVE, 2 nights

DAY 4  |  To CAMBRIA via the BIG SUR
We'll finish off in Pacific Grove this morning, then following the coast southwards today you’ll find that the Point Lobos State Reserve has plenty of photographic potential to explore prior to our ‘cruising’ of the Big Sur coastline. We'll re-visit the Bixby Creek bridge, and have the remainder of the day to compose both long and wide angle coastal classics with many sea stacks, headlands, surfers and Piedra Blancas Lighthouse, before going on to our overnight in Cambria.  Late light on the Pacific tonight.
CAMBRIA, 1 night

DAYS 5, 6 and 7  |  DEATH VALLEY NP
Cambria is a town that takes pride in it’s stately Pine groves and British connections, so we’ll delve into each, and look for Sea Otters and Sea Lions on the shoreline early before taking breakfast. Today is our longest road trip, and we'll go inland through the Temblor Range to Bakersfield, where just beyond, we’ll head into the Kern Canyon and Pass for various stops along the Kern River plus The Silver City ghost town at Bodfish. We’ll then traverse pass and desert on our way to Death Valley National Monument, where the warm late light on the dunes will get us in the right frame of mind for our photography there.
On days 6 and 7 we’ll rise early for first light on the colorful dunes and hope that the record temperature of 134°f is just a July phenomenon! It is also the lowest point in the lower 48 States at 282 feet below sea level.  We'll shoot early and late, shoot dunes, mountains and ghost towns, and take midday siestas with photography critiques also scheduled.
DEATH VALLEY NP, 3 nights

DAY 8  |  To MONO LAKE
We’ll depart Death Valley after more morning doses of photography, and go north on the Three Flags highway via Lone Pine, Independence and Bishop.  This is the eastern Sierras-Nevada mountain range and our first scheduled photo stop will be for the Alabama Hills, once a popular spot for Hollywood's westerns, plus nearby stands California's highest peak, Mt. Whitney at 14,495'. On to the Manzanar National Historic site which also affords great views of 14,000' Mt. Williamson, and northwards to the Devil's Postpile National Monument. Rainbow Falls are nearby, and long exposures using a tripod are recommended. On to Lee Vining for the night.
LEE VINING, 1 night

DAYS 9, 10 and 11  |  MONO LAKE, to YOSEMITE NP
Day 9 will start with sunrise at Mono Lake where the Tufa Towers and pre-dawn glow will make the effort worthwhile. After breakfast we'll head north with one last stop at Mono lake and on north to Bodie . . . once a booming gold rush town, but a State Park since 1962 and now a photographic gold mine. As Tioga Pass is closed until May we will take a northern passage across the Sierra-Nevada range to Yosemite via Topaz, Carson Pass, San Andreas and Groveland. Our first view of the Yosemite Valley will yield a long lens shot compressing El Capitan and Half Dome peaks together. We will stay in Yosemite for three nights.
Days 10 and 11 will find us taking in the likes of El Capitan meadow; the Merced River; Mirror Lake; waterfalls; Mule Deer and Coyote; Cathedral Spires; Half Dome and much more. We will of course pursue those great bands of light that set images apart from postcard shots taken at midday against a blue sky . . . though we'll settle for those too.
YOSEMITE NP, 3 nights

DAY 12  |  To SAN FRANCISCO
More Yosemite for most of the morning prior to heading eastwards.  We’ll arrive back in San Francisco around supper time and enjoy our last night’s dinner together.
SAN FRANCISCO, 1 night

DAY 16  |  Flights Home
Morning flights home from the San Francisco airport.