New York's Hudson Valley

When: October 4th - 6th, 2010

Vincent Versace  •  Navy CPO Michael A. Strand  •  Andy Katz

This trip is one of our instructor's absolute favorites. In addition to being another Fall Foliage Gem, this is smack dab in the middle of one of the emerging wine centers of the United States - think the East Coast's version of Napa. So we have peaking color on the trees, outstanding local vineyards, breathtaking landscapes with incredible waterfalls and gorgeous vistas... exactly - a no-brainer!

So what do we have planned for you here? Landscapes and Color, of course! We'll be covering a wide variety of topics as always. Whether you're looking for landscapes, portraits, macro, or wildlife, our FIVE instructors have you covered. We will be leaving the hotel at approximately an hour before the sunrise each day to shoot various locations in the Hudson Valley and the surrounding areas. This area has lots of possible locations - coastlines, rural cemeteries, and of course the vineyards. Prior to each Photography Workshop, our FIVE instructors scout each and every location to ensure that we take you to optimum locations without wasting time or shooting in poor lit locations. As always, while we can't control the weather, our rigorous preparation helps cut down on wasted time. We regroup at 11:00am at the hotel to begin the process of finishing the images we have just captured in our mobile Digital Darkroom.

We then depart around 5:00pm to chase the disappearing light and capture the darkening beauty of the area. Our instructors have, of course, scouted the area and will have designed the perfect compliment to our morning shoot.

Our goal for the week is to allow you the maximum time to shoot with our FIVE instructors in both small groups as well as ONE ON ONE. They will help you with your images from Composition to Completion. Our instructors scout each shoot location personally before you set foot there...something other programs don't do. Why do we? Because things change. Because locations that were available one year may not be available the next. Because preparation is part of what has made us one of the most successful programs in the industry.

As always, Head Instructor Vincent Versace will lead the trip along with Mickey Strand, the former head the US Naval Combat Camera Division.

Cost: $995 per person - that includes your photography workshop, Photoshop workshops and seminars during the midday afternoons, welcome bag with goodies, and all instruction throughout the three days we are there.

Maximum Number of Students is 30

What's Not Included:

• Flights to/from the Photography Workshop
• Hotel Rate: $129.00/night
• Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel
  40 Civic Center Plaza
  Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
  (800) 216-1034
• http://www.pokgrand.com/
• Rental Cars to get to/from the airport, shoot locations, and the Hotel
• Meals and Beverages

Vincent Versace

Vincent Versace is a recipient of the Computerworld Smithsonian Award in Media Arts & Entertainment and the Shellenberg fine art award, is a six-time nominee to the Photoshop Hall of Fame and is the best selling author of Welcome to Oz a Cinematic Approach Digital Still Photography with Photoshop. His work is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History.

Vincent was the original host of the Epson Print academy and is the photographer of Immediate Assistants Medical Rescue Go team and one of the members of the photographic team of Eco-Challenge. He has been commissioned by the San Francisco Presidio National Park to create a permanent collection of art for the park. He is an American Photo Magazine Mentor Trek instructor. Vincent has led photographic workshops to San Francisco, Burma, Viet Nam, India, Morocco, Costa Rica, Santa Fe, Egypt, Cambodia, Mongolia and Australia.

Vincent is former member of the board of directors of Los Angeles chapter of the American Photographers Association. He is also a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals "Instructor Dream Team" and teaches regularly at Photoshopworld as well as being a regular instructor at the Maine Photographic Workshops, Santa Fe Photographic and Palm Beach Photographic Workshops. He is currently a member of Microsoft's Digital Imaging Applications Group and founding member of the Epson Stylus Pros, Xrite Colorotti and Lexar Elite Photographers.

He is the former artist in residence for Altamira Group and former consultant to the president of Kodak's Digital & Applied Imaging Group.

Vincent is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and on the weekends is a part-time super-hero and short-order cook.

Navy Chief Petty Officer Michael A. Strand

Navy Chief Petty Officer Michael "Mickey" Strand, is the Leading Chief of Combat Camera Group Pacific, in San Diego, Ca. He started his Photography career some 28+ years ago in a make shift basement dark room in his parents home in Racine WI. His father instilled the love for the craft into him at a young age and it continued to grow to this day. During high school he furthered his skills in photography classes and while serving on the yearbook and newspaper staff for 3 years.

Chief Mickey enlisted in the Navy in 1985 at a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game. After completing boot camp he reported to his first duty assignment on the USS Ranger (CV 61) where he served as a ships photographer. He continued to work his way up the ranks and improve his trade at shore and sea stations around the pacific, until being selected to teach Advanced Electronic Imaging at the Defense Information School (DINFOS), Fort Meade, MD in 1997.

DINFOS is the center for all five armed services basic and advanced communications arts training. Chief Mickey co-created the Advanced Electronic Imaging Course, which has been taught for the last ten years. This class trains students in the principles, techniques, and skills required to create photography, text, graphics, sound, animation and full-motion video thru the use of multimedia and web-based applications.

In 2001 Chief Mickey reported to Fleet Imaging Command Pacific as the Training Department Chief. He continued in his passion of educating young sailors throughout the Pacific Fleet which lead to his selection as the 2006 "Earl Seaver" Memorial Award recipient for his continuing efforts in educating young service members in the art of digital media.

One of Chief Mickey's career highlights was when he served as Gordon R. England, Secretary of the Navy's photographer while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001.

Andy Katz

The photographs created by Andy Katz have taken him around the globe. From the Old Country in Eastern Europe to the California wine country, which he now calls home, his subjects are as diverse as his travels and adventures.

The images in Katz's books, A Portrait of Napa and Sonoma; Concannon: The First One Hundred and Twenty-Five Years; New Zealand: Sea, Earth, Sky; Private Reserve; Robert Mondavi Winery; The Heart of Burgundy; Tuscany and Its Wines; and Vineyard have been described by vintners, photographers, critics and other readers as breathtaking. His evocative work is featured in museums and galleries worldwide including his own in Boulder, Colorado and Healdsburg, California.

Katz discovered his love for photography at a young age. Admittedly, he had been chasing his classmates around the playground with his camera since as early as the third grade. But when he was 11, his father brought home a book of black and white portraits by the legendary Canadian photographer Yosuf Karsh. "It was as if a flash bulb went off in my soul. I was amazed. Karsh's work was all large-format and his prints were so vivid you felt you could actually touch the persons skin. The tonality, the technique, it was all truly exquisite. I was mesmerized," said Katz. How ironic that years later, Yosuf Karsh would count himself among the many proud collectors of Katz's photos.

He has produced 10 books had his Photos on 6 million album covers which includes The Doobie Brothers and Dan Fogelberg . His images have been in ads for Mamiya camera, Contax camera and is now a spokesperson for Sony. His most recent project is a book on India.

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