| | As the fall foliage season was winding down a couple of weeks ago in Vermont, I was out wandering around at sunrise in the fog. One of our employees at Focus Gallery has a beautiful farm at the corner of two dirt roads and I ended up there. She has a striking horse sculpture in a field that I had photographed last winter. There are also several horses wandering around the farm, which are great to photograph. As the fog came and went I wandering up and down the roads, making lot of photos. I was working the sculpted horse and made several photos with the statue in pretty much the same place as I did in the winter. It was lots of fun.
Then as I was photographing down the dirt road something came over me. Nothing special was going on but I got emotional. The beauty of my surroundings were almost too much. It was like this gorgeous scene was playing out just for me. Nobody else was around, no cars came by, it was just me, the horses and the incredible scene. How cool is it that I ended up here? Not just this day, but in my life. I frequently think back to being a dopey, fairly lazy kid without much ambition. My parents pushed me to go to college, which I did so I wouldn't disappoint them and it was there I found purpose with photography. Years later I found my extremely supportive, caring and loving wife Robin and now we're in Vermont together. Life is good.
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| | | Major changes to Namibia trip |
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I made a major change to the Namibia trip, which affects several things. I have decided to use a different guide. I’ve been working on this trip for several years, talking to lots of people to make sure I had the right local guide. And then I didn’t. I had whittled my choices down to two and I picked the wrong one. I did something I don’t do and that is to work with people I haven’t worked with before and don’t have direct knowledge of them. I had strong referrals but something was nagging at me. It had to do with the cheetahs and being able to mingle with them. One of my other clients brought it up, she had just returned from Africa and had been warned about things like that. There’s a reason the cheetahs let humans get close and it turns out that they are frequently drugged for money. When I tried to find out if this was the case, I couldn’t get a straight answer. Some of the other wildlife opportunities were questionable too. There was also a question about photographing the local people that I couldn’t get answered.
So I decided to make a change. I have worked with these people before and know them to be straightforward. The itinerary is a bit different but we’ll hit many of the same places. We’re going to toss in some night photography, Namibia is one of the darkest places on earth, so we’ll take advantage of it. Even if you haven’t done astrophotography before or think it isn’t for you, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is and what is it like to see billions of stars.
If Africa, wildlife, tremendous landscapes and a bit of astrophotography are of interest to you, take a look at the updated trip. We’re able to do the trip for a couple thousand dollars less since we aren’t paying for private photography sessions, etc., there are two less days and the new company doesn’t charge as much.
https://lorenphotos.com/mevents/namibia-landscape-and-wildlife-photography-workshop/ I hope you can join me for this special trip. |
| | | Droning on about fall foliage |
| | | Fall foliage season in Vermont is a special time of year and I can't think of a place I'd rather be. I did a little extra work this year with my drone, photographing the beauty from a different point of view. I rarely get it out during my workshops, I'm there to help people make photos and not shoot for myself. But we had a little break at Chittenden Resevoir for our picnic dinner, so I got the bird up. I'm very conscience of the noise they make, another reason I don't fly when others are around. I'd love to have a silent one. But as the sun was going down I wanted to get some shots of the trees tops catching the last rays of the day. You can see more drone shots on my blog at https://lorenphotos.com/using-the-drone-for-vermont-fall-foliage/ |
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| | Get updated on Loren's newest workshops and seminars You can now get a notice when Loren adds a new workshop, seminar or tour to his website. Click here and go down to Workshop Notifications
Visit my gallery When you are in Vermont visit Focus Gallery at 1 The Green, Woodstock, VT.
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