The Versatile Travel Photographer with Ralph Lee Hopkins and Bob Krist

Great travel photography requires a command of many types of photography – from close-up portraits and loose candids, to off-the-hip street photography at festivals and celebrations – from architecture and cityscapes, to landscapes and nature. Becoming versatile requires that you become like a one-man band, utilizing what technology has to offer while developing an eye for composition and a feel for being in the right place at the right time.

Join National Geographic Traveler photographers Ralph Lee Hopkins and Bob Krist as they share their secrets and insights into how to make travel photos that convey a powerful sense of place and capture rare moments. Learn simple tricks for using flash to expand when, where, and how you shoot, as well as collecting audio so you can produce multi-media slide shows of your work.

Get real-world advice to help make the most of your travels. Using a slide show/lecture format Ralph and Bob will show you how to add depth and “local color” to your images to make your travel photography zing!

This one-day seminar is intended for amateur to advanced photographers looking to take their travel photography to the next level.

1. Introduction
   Travel photography is experiencing a renaissance in the digital world where the lines between creativity, art, and technology are disappearing.. Bob will present a behind-the-scenes look from a recent assignment at the elements that are needed in a travel story – Portraits, architecture, festivals and celebrations and landscapes and cityscapes. Ralph will then review digital cameras, de-mystifying technical aspects while offering tips on shooting modes and understanding exposure and histograms.
   • Understanding the Elements of Travel Photography
     Rome cover story for National Geographic Traveler (July/August 2008)
   • The Digital World
     Although the basics of making photographs have not changed, digital technology has changed forever how we go about it
     - Review of Camera Basics (ISO, Color Space, White-Balance, Resolution)
     - Shooting Modes and the Histogram
     - A note about Tripods
2. Improving the Quality of your Travel Images
   Travel photography is more than just taking your camera on vacation. Making good images on the road is challenging and requires a little extra effort. Ralph will offer tips for improving your travel images by discussing ways to make images that have impact. Bob will follow with a presentation about using flash and time-tested techniques for approaching and photographing people.
   • Ten Tips for improving your Travel Images
     Establishing Shot, Seeing the Light, The Right Lens, Impact of Color, Elements of Composition, Showing Motion, Sense of Scale, Time of Day, Waiting on Weather, Power of Moment
   • Making Effective Use of your Flash
     Fill Flash, Bounce Flash, Off-Camera Flash, Slow Sync, Multiple Flash
   • Photographing People
     The Art, Gesture, Candid vs. Posed
3. On the Road
   The equipment that travel photographers take on the road has changed. With digital cameras come battery chargers, cables, memory cards, and portable storage devices. Traveling comfortably requires that you pack efficiently. Take a look inside Ralph’s and Bob’s camera bags and learn what you need to pack. Ralph will then outline his workflow from capture to catalogue.
   • What’s in the Bag
     - Ralph ’s Bag
     - Bob’s Bag
   • Work Flow for the Road
     Capture, Download, Back-up, First Edit, Catalogue
4. Putting it all Together
   One way to challenge yourself to put it all together is by tackling an assignment. Whether photographing an exotic destination for a major magazine or a self-assignment in your own backyard, photographing with a narrative in mind will help you grow as a photographer.
   • Street Photography at Festivals and Celebrations
     - Tribal Faces of Papua New Guinea
     - Mexico’s Day of the Dead Celebration
   • People, Architecture and cityscapes
     - The cultural landscape of India
5. Sharing Your Images with Others
   With digital photography and the internet, there are more options than ever for sharing your travel photos with friends, family, or prospective publishers. Bob will discuss shortcuts for sharing your images on the web, digital slideshows, and for adding sound to your presentations. Multi-Media and Digital Presentations

The Versatile Travel Photographer
will be offered in the following cities:

Online registration for Portland, OR is CLOSED.

Registration for Washington, D.C. will close 2 days, 9 hours and 14 minutes from now, at 1 p.m. Mountain Time (3 p.m. Eastern Time).

$195.00 per person (includes lunch)
Sessions will run from 9:00 am — 4:00 pm

Ralph Lee Hopkins
Ralph Lee Hopkins travels to the world’s wild places as photographer and expedition leader with Lindblad Expeditions, which operates six ships worldwide including the National Geographic Endeavour. He is also the Director of Photo Expeditions for the Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic alliance. His images are represented by the National Geographic Image Collection and are regularly published in National Geographic Books and publications. Ralph teaches photography workshops for Lindblad Expeditions, National Geographic, Arizona Highways, and the Santa Fe Workshops. He is also author of the popular guidebooks Hiking the Southwest’s Geology and Hiking Colorado’s Geology. His website address is: www.wilderlandimages.com.

Bob Krist
Bob Krist is a freelance photographer who works regularly on assignment for National Geographic Traveler as well as Smithsonian, Islands, and the German magazine GEO Saison. These assignments have taken him to all seven continents. He has been stranded on a glacier in Iceland, nearly run down by charging bulls in southern India, and knighted with a cutlass during a Trinidad voodoo ceremony. His awards include “Travel Photographer of the Year” from the Society of American Travel Writers, and his work was featured on the cover and in a 10-page portfolio in a recent issue of the prestigious publication, Communication Arts.

An accomplished writer as well as a photographer, he is a contributing editor at both National Geographic Traveler and Outdoor Photographer, where he writes a travel photography column. He also lectures at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, DC as part of the Society’s ongoing “Masters of Photography” series.

His books include Spirit of Place: The Art of The Traveling Photographer (Amphoto Books, NY), hailed by American Photographer magazine as “the best book about travel photography we’ve ever read”; In Tuscany (Broadway Books, NY), which spent a month on the New York Times bestseller list, and the coffee table books Caribbean and Portrait of the Caribbean (Graphic Arts Center Publishing). His website address is: www.bobkrist.com.