Crescent City, California and
The Oregon Border

When: May 10th - 12th, 2010

Vincent Versace  •  Navy CPO Michael A. Strand  •  Jean Miele

Why the Oregon Border? We like places with diversity. And this is one of them. It's got coastal shooting. Redwoods shooting. Wildlife. Landscapes. Macro. Waterfalls. Dunes. You name it, it's here. It's one of our instructor's favorite places to shoot each year.

We will be leaving the hotel at approximately an hour before sunrise each day to shoot various locations within different state parks in the area. Whether we start at Prairie Creek or at Redwoods and work back towards the hotel - you are going to get some AMAZING shots. 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. 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 fleeting sunset across the park at places like the waterfalls at Gold Bluffs Beach or Fern Canyon. These are locations our instructors have shot and are places they are looking forward to helping you capture yourself.

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: $69.00/night
• Crescent City Lighthouse Inn
  681 Highway 101 South
  Crescent City, CA 95531
  (877) 464-3993
• http://www.crescentcitylighthouseinn.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.

Jean Miele

Jean Miele "cruises through life" photographing the world: Asia, Scandinavia, Europe, Canada, 43 of 50 states (including Alaska & Hawaii). Best known for his black-and-white landscape photographs, he loves making images of solitary places, and recently did some shooting in Iceland, where he camped out in a Sami "lavo" tent on the very beach where Vikings first landed in 874 AD.

Original prints of Jean's images have been exhibited internationally and acquired by collectors worldwide. Solo shows include the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Soho Photo Gallery in New York. Miele's 2007 "Seeing Is Believing" black-and-white landscape show was the first solo exhibition by an American at Oslo's "Fotografiens Hus" gallery. His work has been featured at the prestigious Photo London photography fair, and his photographs have appeared in thousands of publications, including recent articles in "Fotografi," Norway's premiere photo magazine, and in the Houston Center for Photography's journal: "Spot."

Jean (pronounced "Gene") is also internationally known as a teacher whose digital darkroom workshops demystify digital technique and empower students to realize their own photographic vision. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Miele's work encompasses exhibitions, commissioned work for clients, and a busy teaching schedule. He lives with his wife Carol and daughter Cally, and he travels often, continually adding images to several ongoing bodies of work.

Miele has taught for: Adobe Systems; Apple Computer; the International Center for Photography (ICP) in New York; Fuji USA; the Maine Media Workshops; the Norwegian Fotografiakademiet, and many others. For more information, and current exhibition and workshop listings, please visit: www.jeanmiele.com.

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