Join me this spring in Des Moines, Iowa for a weekend long photography workshop at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge has great classrooms, a bison herd, elk, tallgrass prairie, oak savannas and sedge meadows. I’m staging this workshop at a perfect time to kick off your spring and summer photography. You’ll learn tons.
Dates: Not currently scheduled. You can see the list of current photo workshops here.
Bryan Hansel Photography is an authorized permittee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and operates under a Special Use Permit from the Department of the Interior.
Check out my current photo workshop schedule.
During the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge Photography Workshop you’ll learn techniques in the classroom and then practice those same techniques in the field. During the field sessions, Bryan and the guest instructors will be available for plenty of one-on-one instruction. The field sessions will take place in the 5,600-acre Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge in Des Moines. The refuge is home to lots of wildlife, including bison, elk. The tall-grass prairie, oak savanna and sedge meadows provide environments to photograph. On Sunday, we’ll review your photos taken during the field sessions in an honest and supportive atmosphere. Not only will you learn from your successes, but you’ll also learn from your mistakes. You’ll also be able to see what you missed when looking at the photos from other participants.
Instructors
- Bryan Hansel: See my bio by clicking here.
- Dave Austin: Part-time portrait and sports photographer, who has a talent for capturing farms and the rural landscape.
Workshop Topics
- Working methods for landscape photography: camera settings, exposure, depth-of-field, focus, shutter speed, the four creative looks resulting from aperture and shutter speed combinations
- Filters: ND grads, ND filters and polarizer
- Composition: Simplicity, Balance and Relationships
- Composition: Juxtaposition in Landscape Photography
- Composition: Shapes, lines, patterns, texture and colors
- Composition: Visual weight and gravity
- Shooting Iowa’s landscapes and farms
Tentative Des Moines Photography Workshop at Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge Itinerary
Subject to change
Friday:
- 6pm to 8pm: Photography Walk (open to the public)
Saturday:
- 9:00 am: Workshop begins
- 9:15 am: Welcome and Orientation
- 9:30 am: Presentation 1
- 10:30 am: Presentation 2
- Noon to 1pm: Lunch
- 1 pm: Presentation 3
- 2 pm: Presentation 4
- 3 pm: Field Session 1
Sunday
- 6:00 am: Field Session 2 – Sunrise at Neal Smith
- Break for breakfast
- Field on your own after breakfast
- Noon to 2pm: Reconvene for review of images and question and answer session at Refuge Center
Testimony
Paul from Fort Atkinson, Iowa:
I recently attended the “Neal Smith Wildlife” Photography Clinic, and it was extremely beneficial to my experience and will improve my technique. They took the time to explain the processes in detail from the simple basics to the extreme depths of the art of photography. Whether you are just starting out in the digital photography world or a seasoned veteran, you will learn from the experience and be enlightened with a desire to endeavor to persevere behind your camera, for your best photograph is still ahead of you. The images we create are the legacy of the past preserved for those of the future.
Jeff Parker from Eden Prairie, MN
I took Bryan Hansel’s photography workshop at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in central Iowa. This my first time with a workshop of any kind. I’ll definitely take another course with Bryan. The course was full of great material from technical aspects of camera usage to an artist’s take on photo composition. I learned more than I expected and Bryan’s “bedside manner” made me very comfortable when asking questions and working with him one-on-one. A first experience like this has to be good for a budding photographer like me to want to do it again. I want to do it again.