I’ll be kicking off this December with a double-decker banana Sunday type blog post thingy… The December desktop calendar – celebrating family and the outdoors AND a formal announcement for a SF photography workshop for 5 people who want to learn how to get really great photos out of their DSLR.

Okay, so let’s talk calendar first. ‘Tis the season to snuggle up with the ones you love and spend some quality time together. And once those eggnog smoothies and award-winning fruitcakes fill your belly (for the 3rd day in a row) you’re ready to get out of the house in order to burn off a bit of that newly stored glycogen. Although some may hit the soccer field or the tennis court, more often than not, families head to natural areas to get their fill of exercise while sometimes accidentally coming back into center with their own world, and possibly even, the natural world.

The natural world is a place where we come to refill our inspiration, or to stumble into a tear of nostalgia, or maybe simply to get lost in the technicolor glow of the turning leaves.  There is no way to place a value on this space, and this is one reason I defend these places: for my own selfishness. This is a place where I can get a lick of youth and hope from an ice cream cone that sometimes feels like its melting too quickly.

Here’s my taste of enjoying some a simple hike in the Las Trampas Regional Wilderness with my girls – which I also unabashedly used for my December desktop. The stewardship of these places will need to come from these tykes soon enough. They must also have that aching heart to walk in the paces of mom and dad in places where they fell in love and shared their world together.

Here’s the full file for download and free use as a desktop.

Workshop you say?

Okay, so you have this DSLR thingy sitting on your desk and it’s a mighty fine paperweight. But boy, oh boy, does it have a coolness factor when you’re seen in public with it. Except, it’s kinda heavy, it has tons of buttons with odd abbreviations and honestly, your iPhone takes similar quality pics.

Well, this small 5 person workshop aims to conquer the button fear and help you springboard into better photos using some key concepts and some really great features on the DSLR.  Yes, you can read the manual, but will you? And that video your aunt gave you… will you ever really watch it? Why not come hang out with other folks who have some skills, some interest and a desire to get better photos in camera without a bunch of Photoshop post-processing. What will we cover: here’s a small taste of what we’ll try to touch on in 6 hours.

• basic focus modes
• how to get really sharp photos
• exposure/metering modes
• getting white balance right
• exposure compensation
• using your camera as a light meter
• controlling depth of field
• color and toning presets
• understanding lens characteristics
• JPG and other file formats
• basics to classic portrait setup
• working angles
• amazing backgrounds
• controlling ambient lighting conditions
• best uses of flash/lighting in 5 minutes
• photography in nature – landscapes and macros – tips and ideas (application of the above principles)
• motion blur (Tv)

Equipment required: A camera, a tripod if you have one, your humor.

Date/Time: 10-4:30 pm. Jan 4 – 2015.

Size: Max is 5 people!

Location: SF or Oakland or wherever the majority of people may be heralding from… TBD by consensus for those signing up by Tuesday Dec 3rd.

Cost: $150 includes lunch – $50 deposit required. Price increases to $180 after Dec. 3rd midnight!

Email me to reserve a spot!