Explore the wondrous hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park day and night on this 5 day photo workshop in Southern Utah, home to some of the best light for landscape photography in the world. 

Pending weather, we will spend at least 3 full days in Bryce Canyon National Park, with the balance of time in other nearby unique red rocks and slot canyon locations.

Subjects will include, but not be limited to: unique rock formations, natural arches, slot canyons, canyon rim vistas, and night photography in an internationally recognized dark skies park.  We will end the workshop with a group slide show and critique.

Colin D. Young is an award-winning photographer who has spent the past several years exploring the red rock Canyonlands of Southern Utah and the mountains of Colorado.  As a part time resident of Moab, Utah since 2011, he has spent several weeks a year exploring the photographic riches in Southern Utah in every season, and has been leading workshops and tours in the area for several years as the founder of Rock Light Photo Tours.   He is a certified and insured photography travel guide in nearby Arches,  Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands & Rocky Mountain national parks.  This will be Colin's 4th year leading this workshop.

- Recognizing and capturing the magical natural lighting in Bryce Canyon

- Making your red rock images pop

- Determining proper exposure

- Analyzing a scene for compositional options

- Using filters to improve artistic results

- How to photograph slot canyons

- Capturing the Milky Way with your digital camera

- Photographic techniques for shooting the red rock sandstone of the Colorado Plateau

- HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography

- Shooting and Stitching panoramic images

- My Adobe Lightroom workflow for getting the most from your images

- Creating great black & white images from digital color captures

- A positive group critique of images to end the workshop - this is a wonderful lesson in composition and seeing the world through other peoples' eyes.

Skill Levels 

All skill levels are welcome.  Participants who have a good working knowledge of their cameras, a basic understanding of digital workflow, and knowledge or exposure to Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop will get the most from this workshop.  

Physical Demands

Though locations visited during this workshop are readily accessible, the hilly terrain requires some moderate hiking (typically 1-3 miles round trip). Participants MUST BE IN GOOD PHYSICAL SHAPE  and able to climb and descend moderate to steep inclines. They should wear sturdy  boots and use caution on slippery and rocky slopes.  Keep in mind that the elevation in Bryce Canyon is 7500'-9,000'  above sea level, so a day in the area before the workshop is  recommended if coming from sea level. 

Group Size

Maximum 6 photographers. 

NOTE: our basecamp house in the quiet town of Tropic, Utah is full, but there are several hotels, motels, cabins and glamping experiences available nearby. Please let me know when you book in you would like to be put on the Wait List for housing.

For all of my workshops, I rent a 4-5BR house that will be our home base, giving us a place to gather for classroom sessions, a  kitchen to use for meals, and a chance to mingle with and learn from  your fellow photographers.  There will be a limited number of rooms available at the 5BR vacation rental property in Tropic, Utah that will  be the home base for the workshop.

King Bedroom with private bathroom - $165/nt +tax (reserved for a couple) - 0 avail

King Bedroom (x3), shared bath - $140/night or $165 dbl occ. - 0 avail

Queen Bedroom with shared bath - $125/night - 0 avail

Registration fee: $1225 per person (includes 6.85% Utah services tax)

Deposit to reserve a date: $400 (plus housing deposit as appropriate)

Dates and Times

Workshop begins Thursday, Sept 25th at 4pm, and ends Monday, Sept 29th at 11am.

Non-photographer/tag-along rate: $400 - for a  spouse/partner/friend who wants to come along, eat meals with the group,  and travel to some of our shooting locations.  Note there is a double occupancy rate for the lodging options at the vacation rental properties.

Where to Meet

Participants will gather and be based at our home base vacation rental property in Tropic, Utah.   Directions and details will be sent well in advance of the workshop.

 What to bring:

• ·         A digital SLR or mirrorless camera capable of manual exposure settings.  Due to the short time frame of the workshop.

• ·         Plan to bring all of your lenses, from 14mm to 200mm(full frame equiv.), as the variety of daytime locations for sunsets will put all your gear to work!  A wide angle lens (somewhere in the 14mm to 35mm range) capable of an aperture of f/2.8 or lower is best for capturing the Milky Way.  Consider renting a lens if you don’t own one.

• ·         A sturdy tripod (ask me about my disastrous tripod failure 2 years ago in Bryce!)

• ·         A circular polarizer filter, while not required, can be a useful tool for controlling glare and reflections for the daytime shoots. Also, most of the viewpoints in Bryce face east, so we will be shooting into the sun at sunrise, so a graduated ND filter can definitely be of use. NOTE: Colin is a rep for NiSi Filters, which makes an excellent circular polarizer filter, and he can get you a 15% discount off retail prices.  https://nisiopticsusa.com/shop/nisi-circular-filters/round-cpl-circular-polarizer-filter/ti-enhanced-cpl/

• ·         Hiking boots or other sturdy shoes: while the hikes to locations we will visit will be fairly short (typically less than 1-3 miles round trip) a good set of sturdy hiking boots is good for protecting the ankles on rocky trails and slippery rocks.

• ·         Lots of clothing layers – Bryce weather can be finicky, and temps can be chilly at night in the high desert, and much warmer during the day. Keep in mind that the Bryce Canyon rim varies from 8-9,000' above sea level, which means it is generally cooler than other Utah parks. Make sure you have a good pair of gloves, a warm hat and a puffer jacket in your arsenal!

• ·         A headlamp, preferably with a red light setting, to participate in optional night photo sessions.  A dimmable headlamp is a bonus.

• ·         Your own method of transportation.  We will carpool to locations as possible, so not everyone needs to drive every day.

• ·         A laptop computer (or tablet), ideally loaded with Adobe Lightroom Classic, to best take advantage of the Lightroom workflow instructional session.  Cables and devices necessary to download your images from camera to laptop.