Zion and Escalante: Canyon Country Photo Adventure

October 24-28, (2022) Sold Out - Inquire about our Waitlist

Tour Overview:
Zion is well known for its dramatic beauty. We’ll be there for early fall and reduced crowds. A hike down the world class Virgin River Narrows will steal the show, with its glowing canyon walls. We’ll explore large views from the canyon rim, and we’ll peruse more intimate scenes with twisted trees, and autumn leaves. In Escalante, a variety of potential scenes will be available to us. We’ll shimmy our way into some unique and skinny slot canyons, and we’ll photograph sandstone in the many forms that it takes on in this photographic wonderland. Incredibly dark skies will create opportunities for star-gazing and star trail photography.

Topics:
All of our instructional workshops will cover two key areas: Craft and Creativity

Professional Craft for Landscape Photography:

• Getting fluent with your gear and developing a consistent workflow in the field
• Achieving an optimal exposure
• Managing depth of field
• Capture for multiple exposure blending
• Capture for panoramic stitching
• Using filters effectively

Creativity in the Landscape: 

• Core compositional elements in the landscape
• Creative use of depth of field
• Long exposure techniques
• Learning and practicing new compositions

And we'll also do at least one image review session and share some advanced digital darkroom workflow techniques. 

Tour Includes:
• Instruction in the field: craft and creative strategies for landscape photography
• Image reviews
• Instruction on digital darkroom workflow

Not Included:
• Food and Lodging
• Transportation to and from the workshop
• Participants can carpool

Fitness Level:
You'll need a moderate level of fitness to tackle some of the hiking and challenging weather conditions of the region. This workshop will involve a greater amount of hiking than we often encounter on our trips. We will head out on several hikes in excess of 5 miles (Round Trip). The most strenuous hike will be the Narrows. This hike involves the better part of an entire day of hiking through the river itself. There is little to no elevation gain/loss on the hike, but it takes place in the water, and over a variety of unstable footing. None of our hikes are extremely strenuous in nature, but you'll need moderate fitness and experience hiking in difficult terrain to manage this tour safely. 

Suggested Equipment:
• Digital SLR Camera
• Tripod with Cable Release
• Wide Angle Lens and Telephoto Zoom Lens (We use the 16-35mm and 70-200)
• Filters: Circular Polarizer
• Lots of Memory Cards
• Extra Camera Batteries
• Micro-fiber Cloths
• Camera Bag/Backpack for Gear and Food/Water

Clothing for a variety of weather conditions from 30F to 70F
• Rain Jacket and Pants
• Down Layer
• Trail Shoes or Hiking Boots
• Gloves and Hat
• Plenty of Wool Socks
• Moisture Wicking Base Layer

Lodging:
Our bases of operations will be in Springdale, Utah and Escalante, Utah which will allow easy exploration to key locations in Zion and Grand Staircase Escalante respectively. We will have a block of rooms reserved for our group and we'll include all the information in the detailed itinerary once you register. However, you are welcome to camp or arrange lodging anywhere you like. 

Cancellation Schedule:
90 days or prior to day 1 of tour = Refund of all registration fees and deposits
60-89 days prior to day 1 of tour = Josh Merrill Photography will retain tour deposit
59 days or less prior to day 1 of tour = Josh Merrill Photography will retain full tour tuition

We strongly recommend that you purchase trip insurance if you need to cancel your tour and are unable to complete the tour for any reason.

We also reserves the right to cancel the photo tour for any reason including low enrollment in the tour. 


Payment:
All you need to do is contact me via the form below and tell us which tour you'd like to attend. We'll e-mail you an invoice that allows you to pay online by credit card. If it's 60 days or less prior to the start of the tour, the full tuition amount will be due in order to complete your registration. Prior to 60 days out, we'll invoice you for a deposit of 30% of the total tuition to hold your spot. We'll then invoice you again for the balance prior to the 60 day point when the full amount is due. 

Contact Us

We’re excited that you’re interested in our workshop. If you are ready to register, you may click on the link above.. If you just have some additional questions, this form to the right will put you in touch me.