Wildlife Photography Workshop in Panama

Featuring:

National Geographic Expeditions: Christian Ziegler

January 12-20, 2013

8 Nights/9 Days

 

Trip Highlights

• Immerse your selves into the rich biodiversity of Panama, from lowland rain forest and mangroves to the dry and cloud forests and photograph thousands of bird species and plants as well as hundreds of different mammal species
• Spend 2 days in the Smithsonian Field Station of Barro Colorado Island, a site not accessible to the general public
• Stay in one of the World's Top Eco-Lodges according to National Geographic Magazine, a former Radar Tower: The Canopy Tower Lodge
• Experience what being on assignment means for a Nature Photographer

Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrival  

Arrival to Panama City International Airport. You will be picked up and taken to Soberanía National Park where the hotel is located. The group will meet for a welcome dinner at this very unique hotel situated in the forest canopy. Overnight at Canopy Tower (D)

 Day 2: Soberanía National Park and Gamboa

After breakfast at the hotel we will have a short walk with cameras to get a sense of place in this  rich tropical ecosystem.  Afterwards, students will have a portfolio review and will share their interests and hopes for the week with Christian. 

After lunch, we will start our photo adventure. This first day students will photograph birds and will learn effective use and new techniques with telephoto (long) lenses. Overnight at the Canopy Tower Hotel. (B,D)

 Day 3: Gamboa 

Today we will go to the Panama Rain forest Discovery Center (http://pipelineroad.org/) run by the Fundacion Avifauna Eugene Eisenmann, where we will photograph hummingbirds and the great variety of birds that inhabit this area.  During this shoot, you will learn the best use of flash, mixed light and remote flash. 

 After lunch in Gamboa, the group will head to Gamboa to for an afternoon shoot where we will photograph flowers and critters,  specially leaf cutter ants and lianas.  Here you will learn to get the best use of your macro lens and the use of wide angle lens for close up.  Overnight at the Canopy Tower Hotel. (B,L,D)

 Day 4: Barro Colorado Island

 After breakfast at the hotel we will take a short boat trip to the Barro Colorado Island where we will have the privilege of visiting the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. This unique experience is not open to the general public. We have been granted special access to this research center, typically reserved for scientists involved with ongoing research projects.   This  biodiverse 1,500 hectare island is located in the middle of the Panama Canal.  Overnight at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. (B,L,D)

 Day 5: Barro Colorado Island

During our stay at the Barro Colorado Island we will photograph different plants and animals, and special attention will be given to the monkeys that inhabit the island. Students will also focus on photographing with their macro lenses the famous red-eyed frog.  On the way back to mainland, students will shoot landscapes as we travel by boat along the canal.  Overnight at the Country Inn Suites Hotel, located on the Panama Canal, offering a spectacular. (B, L)

Day 6: David                    

In the early morning we will take a 50-minute flight to David, located on the province of Chirique, in Western Panama.  From there, we will head to our beautiful cabins located in the highland cloud forest. 

During the afternoon, we will photograph hummingbirds on feeders and other birds with long lenses. We will also photograph the cloud forest streams in the surrounding area. Overnight at Los Quetzales Ecolodge and Spa Cabins. (B,L,D) 

Day 7: David

During the morning we will learn to create great landscape images by photographing the cloud forest scenes.  During the afternoon, we will photograph the volcanic flow, which is about 10,000 years old, from the most recent eruption of Volcano Baru . Overnight at Los Quetzales Ecolodge and Spa Cabins. (B,D)

 Day 8:  David

After breakfast at the hotel, we will head to Finca Dracula, a place dedicated to promotion of education, investigation and conservation of orchids and other tropical ornamental plant species.   They hold one of the largest collection of rare orchids in the world.

During the afternoon we will head to the airport to fly back to Panama City.  At night we will have our farewell dinner at the famous Manolo Caracol Restaurant. Again, we will overnight at the Country Inn Suites Hotel, located right on the shores of the Panama Canal. (B,L,D)

 Day 9:  Departures (B)

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For More information call +1-888-741-3974

IMPORTANT NOTE: 

This is an adventure photographic workshop, the idea is to see how it is for a photographer to be on assigment, we will be getting into the rain forest of Panama and will be staying at very unique hotels hand-picked by you instructor, right in the middle of the forest and in the islands. In some cases, there may be a need to share a restroom (in the case of the single accommodations) and in others, as it is the case in the Smithsonian Research Center, there will be a need to share rooms due to the limited capacity of the place, but the place is so unique and offering so many great opportunities for photography, that we believe this is one of the highlights of the workshop. There is a limited capacity and can only take a max of 12 students.

SUGGESTED PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT: 

• 1 DSLR camera body
• 1 DSLR backup camera body
• 1 wide angle lens (20 mm or wider)
• 1 Macro lens (100 mm or 105)
• 1 long lens (ideally 300 or more)
• 1 sturdy but not too heavy tripod with head
• 1 flash that can be used off camera (with cable or IR control) (ideally would be 2 or 3 flashes)
• 1 circular polarizing filter for the wide angle lens
• 1 cable release for your camera
• 1 remote (with long cable or IR) for your camera
• 1 laptop computer and software for organizing and presenting images

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is for amateur and serious digital photographers. All participants must bring a digital camera, a laptop computer and software for organizing and presenting images. The workshop is limited to 12 participants to allow for maximum individualized attention.

About the Instructor:

Christian Ziegler is a photojournalist specialising in natural history and science-related topics. He is a regular contributor to National Geographic Magazine and has been widely published in other magazines like GEO, Smithsonian and BBC Wildlife. A tropical ecologist by training, he has worked in tropical rainforests on four continents, and for the past 10 years has been associate for communication with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama. Christian photographed “A Magic Web”, a coffee table book on tropical ecology on assignment for STRI and just published “Deceptive beauties” a book about wild orchids. He is a founding fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP.com), for which he volunteers assignments every year. Christians work has been awarded prizes in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitions, and in 2008, he has was honoured with the Vision Award by the North American Nature Photography Association. Christian lives on the edge of a rain forest National Park in Central Panama and currently works on several magazine articles and book projects, as well as a biodiversity museum. www.naturphoto.de

Register Now!

Or

For More information call +1-888-741-3974