Photo Adventures

                                                                The wild west of America has long played a nostalgic role in the minds of many people. Tall tales of life on the frontier, the gold rush days, notorious gunfighters, and the Oregon Trail are a rich part of American heritage.  Many of these icons are still present toady. Ghost towns are spread throughout the American west in many states and are in very good condition to photograph. Join professional photographer Charlie Borland for an incredible photo experience exploring some of these sites.

The ghost towns of Bannack, Virginia City, and Nevada City are rich in Montana history. Thriving towns during their heyday, each has colorful stories to tell about the mining era, the bandits, the bustling communities, and life in the old west. we will spend several days exploring each town and  a nearby mining camp. We will begin the workshop with basic photographic instruction followed by more advanced techniques followed by more techniques on how to shoot for Photoshop.

Our casual lectures will cover such subjects as:
Controlling depth of field
Controlling exposure and contrast
The best filters to use and when
Why you cannot always trust your exposure meter
Making stronger compositions           Using flash in the field                              Digital histograms                                     and shooting for Photoshop

Our base will be the small town of Dillon, MT where we will stay at the Guest House.

Workshop Agenda.
The dates are Saturday September 20th - 23rd. This 4-day workshop will begin at 11:00am on the 20th with a gathering in the hotel meeting room. Here we will look at multimedia presentations and discuss a variety of photo techniques. We'll also show you how to shoot for a variety of Photoshop techniques such as HDR, sepia toning your images, and increasing your dynamic range.  Sunday through Tuesday we will arise early for a drive to our destination for sunrise photography. We will return mid morning to the hotel for personal time to eat, download images, rest up, clean up, and relax. Mid afternoon we will meet again (except Tuesday) to carpool to our evening shoot. Following a quick Tuesday morning shoot,  we will return to the hotel and at 11:00am we will return to the meeting room for some Photoshop instruction on optimizing your RAW files and PS techniques for making old photos. We will then have a group slide show and critique our final images.  Workshop wraps up at 4:00 pm.

Additional information:                                                                                                                  Photo Equipment
This workshop is for digital and film photographers and proper equipment is crucial to your successful workshop experience. You can use 35 mm SLR’s, 2 ¼, or 4x5 format. The variety of lenses is up to you, but a wide angle through telephoto lenses are good choices, such as 28mm up to 200mm. If you have wider angles and longer telephoto lenses, they will get plenty of use. Digital photographers should not forget to bring plenty of flash cards and the means to download them. A sturdy tripod is mandatory for landscape photographers and you should have one in your equipment. Digital photographers may wish to bring a laptop and work on image processing between shooting.

Getting There
Dillon, Montana is 60 miles south of Butte, MT. Please note that Aspen Photo Workshops cannot provide any transportation to, from, or during the workshop. We will strongly encourage carpooling and if you would like to make pre-workshop contact with other workshop participants to make vehicle arrangements to share costs, please let us know upon registration.

Registration
1) The workshop is limited to 8 participants and cost is $650.00 per person for workshop only. To register for Ghost towns of Western Montana you can use our online registration  (PayPal). If you wish to not use Paypal then you can provide us your credit card information which we will run through Quicken Merchant Services. Click on this link and follow the steps. Or you can download our registration form and pay by check or money order.                                        

2) Next, contact The Guest House at 406-683-3636 and make your room reservations. They are offering rates $72.00 and up per night for workshop participants. You are not required to stay here, but we strongly encourage it.  This is the best way for you to receive all information regarding the next day’s events. If the weather changes and we decide to move to a different location, we want you to know about it.   

4) Next, open and read the Registration and General Info pages. There is important information essential to a successful workshop experience.

5)  This workshop also requires a liability waiver for participation in this workshop. Please click on this link Liability Waiver, print it out, complete the form, and mail to the address on the form.            

                                                                                                                          
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 60 days prior to workshop start date and receive a refund, minus a $50 processing fee. Less than 30 days there is no refund unless your space has been filled from a waiting list.