Western States Workshops is proud to be presenting David H. Wells at the OX Ranch facility in Idaho.
David was recently identified as one of the 13 THIRTEEN workshop teachers by Photo District News, a well-known and respected photography trade magazine.
Light, shadow, night and twilight are the tools David H. Wells uses as he makes his award winning “Light Studies.” Those are photo-essays exploring the light and atmosphere of different places. Train stations, shrines, city centers, buildings and the like are just a few potential subjects for such “Light Studies.”
• quality and direction of light
• scouting a location with a compass to plot the play of light
• the importance of the photographer’s position
• the use of lines, light and dark
This is a lecture/shooting class with extensive visuals to introduce this important and useful approach to using available light. Attendees will gain a better understanding of available light, how it is shaped by the time of day, seasons, the photographer’s positioning, etc.
Join David H. Wells and Eliot Crowley at the “Western States Workshops” for a 6 night 7 day adventure into the old west at the historic OX Ranch (pronounced oh-ex) in Idaho this summer July 22 through July 28. It is like having 2 instructors for the price of one. Spend the day making photographs on the cattle ranch, fly-fishing on the Wild Horse River, walking through a pristine area known as Wise Acres, or just hanging out around the lodge. Regardless of what your day revealed to you through your lenses David and Eliot will review your work and give constructive hints on how to make it better from proper exposure to composition and lighting techniques.
David H. Wells is a free-lance documentary photographer affiliated with Aurora Photos. He specializes in intercultural communications and the use of light and shadow in enhance visual narratives. Wells received the Nikon/National Press Photographers Association Documentary Sabbatical Grant in 1988, a 1989 fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation’s Program of Research and Writing on International Peace and Cooperation. In 1999, he spent five months in India on a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Mysore, where he started his project on globalization’s impact in South Asia.
Eliot has been a commercial photographer since he graduated from Brooks Institute in 1976. His work has taken him all over the country and to many international locations. Growing up in southern California Eliot’s love of traveling and taking photographs was introduced by his parents on multiple trips to Yosemite National Park. Even then Eliot was always with camera. In 1994 Eliot married his wife and moved back to Santa Barbara and was asked to join the faculty of Brooks Institute in 2005. He was asked to address the graduating class and was awarded and honorary Master’s degree by Brooks Institute. Eliot accomplished his MFA degree in photography from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2009. Eliot loves to share his knowledge about photography from the technical to the artistic, from exposure to emotion.
Accommodations
The Seven Devils Lodge, named for the nearby minarets overlooking Hell’s Canyon on the Snake River, is a friendly comfortable western style lodge. All meals are included as served family-style-with-Western-flavor in the dining room or out on the front porch when the weather is accommodating. From the front porch you can see Cutty Mountain miles away, which is part of the ranch. Depending on the time of year it could still have some snow on the top. Just across the road from the porch is the pasture for horses. Beyond a barn for hay and saddling the horses. Photographic opportunity is all around. All the bedrooms are double occupancy, housed under one roof, each has a private bathroom. The great room has a large stone fireplace and will double for our classroom. The lodge is equipped with wireless internet connection but your cell phone will not work in this remote area. The ranch is out in the hills of Idaho so wildlife abounds. Giant herds of elk are often seen, bears, bobcats, mountain lions and even wolves are known to frequent the property. In nature opportunity may be just around the corner. Weather is always possible at this latitude and as image-makers we welcome it but we also want to be prepared as well. This means not only rain gear for our bodies but maybe also for your camera.
Travel arrangements are on your own. Boise is the nearest large airport and the OX Ranch is about a three hour drive through beautiful areas of Idaho. Also, on the Ranch is Geiger Airfield, which can accommodate small aircraft for charted flights.
Price for this extraordinary opportunity is only $1750.00 including room and board.
For more information about David’s workshop at the Western States Workshops contact David H. Wells at david@davidhwells.com
See you there pardner.