2018 Waterfalls and Wildlife Photography Workshop 

Mandy Lea and Brett Wells are heading up our Fall Photo Adventure in Western North Carolina this year, where we will be chasing waterfalls and wildlife for 5 days in some of the most beautiful country you will find anywhere.  The Great Smoky Mountains are a sight to behold in the Fall, so add the additional element of the land of waterfalls right next door and you have a guaranteed recipe for success in photographic adventure!

We will be based out of the beautiful Balsam Mountain Inn just about 15 minutes outside of Waynesville, North Carolina.  With this close proximity to the National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and SO many waterfalls, we will have a full agenda.  Most of the waterfalls that we will be visiting are less than a one mile hike in, however, the terrain in this area is usually steep.  Many of them are very close to the road, but my still have steep terrain to get to the best viewing and photographing spot, so please keep this in mind if you register for this workshop.  In addition to the waterfalls, we will also be making a trip in to Cataloochee to photograph the elk population there.  For those of you who may have done this with us before when we left from Townsend, the good news is that we are MUCH closer from this location, so we won't have to leave nearly as early!

Most of this workshop will take place out in the field, but we will have some classroom instruction as well.  While we do not concentrate on editing, we will have some "informal" time to help anyone with editing and we will also have image critiques along the way and at the end of the workshop.  We will discuss equipment and what you need to know before we go out to shoot.

The Balsam Mountain Inn is a beautiful, historic Inn nestled close to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We will hold our classroom meetings there and we hope that all participants will stay there as well.  The room rates for our group will run between $100 and $135 per night (depending on the night) before tax for a standard room.

This group is limited to 20 participants so that you will receive plenty of individual attention.  The fee for the workshop is $449 per person.  This does not include lodging, meals, or transportation.   We will be based at the Balsam Mountain Inn which is a beautiful, historic inn nestled close to the Blue Ridge Parkway about 15 minutes outside of Waynesville, North Carolina.  We have a special group rate of between $100 and $135 per night (before tax) for standard rooms before tax.  You must call to make reservations (828-456-9498) and mention that you are with the Photography Workshop to receive the group rate.  Please visit their website, www.balsammountaininn.net, for more information.

Cancellation Policy for the workshop - Full refund minus $20 administrative fee is available until August 15, 2018.  A 50% refund is available August 16-September 30, 2018.  After October 1, 2018 no refund will be available.

A little bit of info on our workshop leaders...

Brett Wells has a bachelor's degree in graphic design from Samford and a master's degree in Photographic Studies from the University of Westminster in London, England.  He was an instructor for the Atlanta Art Institute for seven years after completing his studies in London.  I often call him "Brettipedia" because yes, he is just that smart and informative about all kinds of things...just ask him most anything (especially to quote lines from Monte Python because those are just funny).  While teaching is still his passion, he now is a full time team member of Sigma Photo and travels the country educating people about their product and photography.  One of his favorite places to be though is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so he says that any day in the Park with a camera in hand is a good day!

Mandy Lea has been a photographer and worked in the photographic industry for many years before she set out on the road full time to explore and photograph the country in her tear drop trailer.  Mandy first joined us in leading this workshop last year and we had such a blast that we are so thankful she has agreed to join us again this year!  Mandy tells her story much better herself than I ever could tell it here, so I'm just going to point you to her website where you can watch some of her video blogs and see her work.   She is teaching and photographing wherever she goes!  Check out her story...www.mandyleaphoto.com.

Kendrick Callaway is Mandy's partner in crime:).  An avid trail runner, mountain climber, and camping expert (among so many other things!), he has become quite the photographer in the last year under Mandy's instruction and example.  I have seen him scour rocks looking for the best vantage point, carry people's equipment for them back out the trail just to be helpful, and I am convinced that he saved me from cracking my skull open when he caught the loop of my backpack just as I was sliding off a boulder at a waterfall about a year ago...so, yes, he is handy to have around and we are happy to have him with us on this journey!

April Love is me, so I'll admit that I'm not really an instructor, but more of administrative support for the two awesome people listed above.  I am more one on one help in the field or the person who can find an answer to your question if I don't know it myself.  I spend most of my time running f/32 Photo in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is a professional print lab (yes, we even still develop film), camera accessory store, rental program, and small studio.  We also produce a few workshops like this one each year.  Another one that you might have heard of is The Great Smoky Mountains Photography Summit.  Nature photography and being out on a trail is my joy, so it is a blessing to get to do that with other like-minded people and get to call it work!