Sierra Nevada East Side - Profiles
Howard Goldenberg: I’m 67 years old. Have haunted fine art museums most of my adult life & as I try to wind down a self directed business career in Commercial RE, I am looking forward to improving my photo skills & “Eye”. I’m not super technical—just want to take more composed, meaningful pics.
Some of the equipment I am bringing is my son’s, so I don’t always know every detail of their capabilities. Hopefully time will become freer in my busy life, (if old age doesn’t get me first)
This is my first workshop & I am looking forward to learning as much as possible from the experience. I do hope they have good coffee in Bridgeport, BTW.
Chris Russell: I am a retired (2014) Software Engineering Manager living in Silicon Valley. I was a participant on Ken and Dave's 2015 Yosemite Workshop. I have been a keen photographer for many years, but have only invested time and money to this as a real hobby for maybe the past 7-8 years. Some of my portfolio can be seen on my Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisjrussell/ where I have mainly been shooting in and around the Bay Area, especially the coast.
As my technical abilities improve, I have also tried to work on my composition skills, which I feel are also improving. Living near the bay, which teems with bird life, I have also invested in a long lens (Sigma 150-600mm), which I have found fun as I try to capture the various species, both large and small. I have also been experimenting with long exposures, with “experimenting” being the operative word. Some images are very pleasing, and others turn out disappointing. At the moment, it seems to be a case of trial and error.
I know from the Yosemite trip that Ken and Dave know the location and times for getting optimum results, as well as the ability to find that special shot. So, I am looking forward to this trip to the Eastern Sierras, which I haven’t visited in over 30 years.
Tim Underwood: I have been on two tours with Dave and Ken - Monterey quite a few years ago and Route 66 about 5 years ago.
My photos are on www.flickr.com/tunder14. Much of my recent photography has been from Safaris in Africa, but mostly I shoot outdoors nature and such.
Photos: A couple of pictures from South Africa last December
Tori Bohn: I grew up in Phoenix, AZ, and spent most of my summer holidays visiting Wyoming, Montana and Idaho where my parents were from originally. I have always loved nature and National Parks. At 18 I took my first trip to Europe and have basically never stopped traveling. In 1990, at 26, I permanently moved to Bali, Indonesia and have been there ever since. I am married to an Indonesian and have three children. We own a sterling silver jewelry manufacturing company that supplies designers in the states and other parts of the world. My daughter just finished university in Holland and has just moved to Malta to work as a professional contemporary dancer. My son graduated from high school and took a gap year working in Melbourne, Australia. My youngest is 14 and, thank goodness, still at home.
I never really thought about taking photos throughout most of my travels except with just simple point and shoot cameras up to a few years ago. It was during my third safari trip that I realized the photo opportunities I was missing by not having better knowledge and equipment. I began studying online and with photography friends to pick up some important new skills. I have followed on Instagram one wildlife photographe from Johannesburg, Gerry Van der Walt of Wild Eye Safaris for a few years now. I decided to go to Svalbard, Norway on a photographic trip he led this past June. I feel I picked up quite a lot of knowledge from him. There is so much more I am interested in understanding. I am visiting my parents in AZ in November, and decided to add this little excursion onto my itinerary to help take me to that next step in my photographic journey.
Sharon Barker: After retiring a few years ago, I picked up my Nikon F100 and started taking photography seriously. I enrolled in courses at our community college and soon found out that everyone was shooting digital. Switching to a Nikon DSLR wasn’t hard but did involve learning how to edit using Photoshop. I continued with the Photography program for five years and have attended several professional classes and workshops.
Since I live only five miles from the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, it’s a natural that I learned to love bird and wildlife photography. I spend a lot of time out there each year during the waterfowl migration. Currently I am using a Nikon D7200 with a Nikkor 200-500mm lens for birds and wildlife. I also have a Nikon D700 full frame with a variety of Nikkor lenses and filters (many recommended by Ken’s website!).
I’ve been lucky to have my photographs exhibited in several juried shows in Northern Sacramento Valley galleries, including Snow Goose Festival Art Show in Chico, North Valley Art League in Redding, Sundial Film Festival, Redding, Chico Art Center and Orland Art Center. My photos are at sharonbarkerphotography.com. During this
workshop, I hope to improve my skills for landscape and night photography and establish some new photography friends!
James Jordan: I am a novelist and an attorney. I’ve been devoted to photography as a hobbyist since 2010. I have traveled to Kenya, Botswana, Columbia Gorge (Oregon), and Joshua Tree, among other destinations, as a photo-workshop participant. I’ve taken road trips with a companion or alone through the Southwest, to Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Yosemite, Zion, Bryce, Arches, along California coast.
I love photo-road trips as I can easily bring as much of my gear as I wish: less planning, more clutter I suppose. If you infer from this info that my interest is travel photography – wildlife and landscapes – you’d be correct.
On this trip I plan to bring my Nikon D810 and D500 and perhaps a half-dozen lenses for those cameras. I also plan to bring my Panasonic GX8 with Olympus lenses, Sony RX-100 V, and iPhone 7+.
Looking forward to meeting everyone.
Randy Hall: This is my first workshop. I did take a B&W photography course many years ago (in the film era). I like to travel to beautiful locations and take photos but I find I am not very good about following up with the post processing. Because of this, I want to work on my composition and post processing skills.
I could also do better with exposure settings (but I'm learning). I recently joined the local photography club to better focus on these subjects. I'm retired but work part-time to support my photography. I am very excited about this workshop and looking forward to meeting everyone.
Jim Defebaugh: I am 63 and started taking photographs in junior high about 45 years ago so obviously my roots are in film, but I am now about 98% digital. I am a lawyer by day but have done a little professional photo work on the side over the years, shooting a handful of weddings and selling some prints (mostly landscape). My objective on this trip is to learn as much as I can and take advantage of the opportunity to shoot in one of the most spectacular areas of the country.
Josh Templet: I've enjoyed taking photos sporadically since college. I have been reading Ken's blog since that time and have learned a lot from it.
I prefer a compact, light weight setup and use one of Nikon's smaller DSLRs with three lenses (normal, very wide, and a telephoto zoom) and a small tripod. I don't have a very good system for choosing and switching among these lenses while shooting and could use some practice.
I am most interested identifying subjects/landscapes to shoot with an ultra wide angle lens.
I love the Eastern Sierra and am looking forward to seeing it during fall (I chose this workshop over a trip to visit family in Vermont).