Where We Go: Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains is widely seen in magazines, books, and movies, and there’s a good reason for that. It’s simply one of the most iconic and photogenic landscapes in the country. It’s also a place you could spend a lifetime shooting. Though it lasts only one week, this workshop with Lynn Hoffman-Brouse will help you discover landscapes and scenery that will ignite your passion for photography. With nothing more than your camera gear and your vision, you photograph soaring granite domes reflected in the Merced River, enjoy misty mornings at El Capitan Meadows and Tuolomne Grove, and revel in views of Half Dome as it’s painted by autumn light. Experience evening photo shoots at Olmstead Point and Sentinel Dome, where you learn to create a sense of place in your images.

What You Learn: A career educator, Hoffman-Brouse ensures you to leave this workshop a more skilled photographer with a better understanding of why you take pictures. She provides lectures on basic exposure, the Zone system for color, and creating a sense of place in your landscape imagery. Morning and evening shoots, when Yosemite is awash in golden hues, challenge you to view scenes in an extraordinary way and make photographs driven by your own sense of beauty. Your images are then critiqued by Hoffman-Brouse in the classroom during group sessions. Seeing your own results, as well as those of other students, helps train your eye, inform your style, and prepare you for the next location shoot.

Considerations: You should be comfortable with the manual exposure operation of your camera.