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Sunrise, Zion National Park

Introduction
Each year for the past 15 years we have offered an event called the Fine Art Photography Summit.

This event used to be organized jointly by Uwe Steinmueller and myself. When Uwe passed away in 2014 I continued organizing the Summit with my wife Natalie.

The goal of the Summit is to offer an event that covers all the different aspects of fine art photography: field work, image processing, one on one work, printing and print reviews. The goal of the Summit is also to give you the opportunity to photograph some of the most photogenic locations and learn from different guest instructors each year.

To achieve these goals the Summit features both field photography sessions and classroom presentations. We capture photographs during the field photography sessions, at sunrise, sunset and during daytime, and we study, process and review these images during the classroom sessions.

The classroom sessions include instructional presentations given by myself and by Jeff Schewe who is the 2017 Guest Instructor. Classroom sessions also include time for personal work as well as time for one on one work. During the one on one sessions Jeff and I work with you personally and help you with specific aspects of your work. This gives you an opportunity to get personalized help and to focus on what matters to you.

The Summit takes place in a different location each year. Over the years the Summit has taken us to Death Valley, Arches, Canyonlands, Navajoland, Antelope Canyon and many other locations. This year we have chosen Zion National Park as our location. The Summit classroom sessions will take place in the Zion Holiday Inn at the entrance of the park. The hotel will be our base for this event. From there we will explore the park daily to photograph the best locations at sunrise, sunset and during daytime.

The Summit is an educational, creative and fun event. Participants include both new and previous attendees. This creates a learning and sharing environment in which study, creativity, fun and camaraderie are essential components.

Classroom Session during the 2015 Death Valley Summit

The Instructors
The summit is taught by Alain Briot and Jeff Schewe. Jeff is our guest instructor for 2017. Jeff is one of the most knowledgeable persons about Photoshop and Lightroom. I can guarantee that he will answer each and every question you may have about Photoshop and Lightroom.

My personal focus is fine art photography and my presentations will teach you how to create fine art photographs. Specifically, I will show you techniques that will take your work beyond documentation and into the realm of art, working with Lightroom, Photoshop and other software packages.

The advantage of having two instructors is that you are exposed to two very different ways of creating fine art photographs. These differences are obvious when you look at the workflows that Jeff and I use. While our goal is the same, namely to create fine art images, the way we reach this goal is very different. We use different workflows, different tools and we have a different philosophical approach to art.

This is a huge advantage for you because it proves the point that there are many ways to create art. Being exposed to this diversity opens the way to finding your own personal style. You can pick and choose what you like and don’t like and create your own personal approach to fine art photography.

Alain and Jeff teaching during the 2016 Summit

 

Our Schedule
The Summit schedule is carefully organized. Natalie takes care of all the logistics and scheduling. Having a dedicated person taking care of logistics insures that everything runs smoothly and that our photography and instruction time is maximized.

The Summit takes place November 3rd to 6th 2017 in Zion, Utah. The Summit is followed by a three-day Photographic Vision Field Workshop to Bryce Canyon, Escalante-Grand Staircase and Capitol Reef on November 7th to 9th. The full schedule and Field Workshop itinerary is available at this link:
http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/Workshop-Summit-17-Zion.html

About Zion
Zion National Park is one of the Jewels of the Southwest. The park consists of two main areas: Zion Canyon and Zion High Country. This layout has the advantage of offering roadside access to both the canyon bottom and the canyon rims, a combination unique in the Southwest. In comparison Grand Canyon only offers roadside access to the canyon rim. To access the bottom you have to hike a mile down into the earth. Similarly Canyon de Chelly only offers roadside access to the canyon rim. To access the bottom you have to hire a Navajo guide and four wheel drive into the canyon.

Having easy access to both floor and the rims of Zion canyon multiplies the photographic opportunities this National Park offers us. Because these two areas are totally different they allow you to create a greater variety of images. These include views of Zion’s Canyon towering walls, photographs of the river and the narrows from the canyon bottom and views of the high country where the variety of sandstone formations offer endless opportunities for creative photography.

About the Summit Vision Field Workshop
The day after the Summit ends we start on the second part of this event: the Summit Vision Field Workshop. The Vision Field Workshop is your opportunity to practice and develop the skills you learned during the Summit. It is called the Vision Field Workshop because the goal is to focus on finding a personal vision for your work.

The Summit Vision Field Workshop is popular because it allows you to maximize the value of your trip by visiting and photographing additional locations. This year we will visit three different National Parks and National Monuments: Bryce Canyon, Escalante-Grand Staircase and Capitol Reef National Parks.

All three parks offer superb photographic opportunities and all three are little visited meaning that we can expect to see few and at time no other photographers. Please note that if you are joining us and you want to attend both the Summit and the Vision Field workshops you need to act quickly because the field workshops are nearly sold out. The combination Summit + Vision Field Workshops always sells out first because participants want to maximize their time by taking advantage of the photographic opportunities offered by both.

Bryce Canyon, one of the locations we will photograph during the Summit Vision Field Workshop

 

Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument A second location we will photograph during the Summit Vision Field Workshop

 

Jeff and Natalie during the 2016 Summit Vision Field Workshop to Navajoland

 

Link to the Summit description and registration page
The full Summit description, pricing and registration information are available at this link:
http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/Workshop-Summit-17-Zion.html

This link also features biographies for Jeff and myself, a detailed itinerary and additional important information about the Summit.

Free Raffle
We always have a diversity of gifts that we raffle to Summit participants at the end of the event. These include books signed by Jeff and Alain, free gifts, Epson inkjet paper and even the Epson printer we use to print participants work during the Summit.

Last year we raffled the Epson Printer we used to print participants work during the Summit. The raffle was won by Roz (between Jeff and Alain) who returned home with a free printer, an extra set of ink cartridges and boxes of Epson inkjet paper.

Questions
If you have any questions not answered here or on the Summit description page simply email me at alain@beautiful-landscape.com

Thank you.

Alain Briot

Testimonial from Stefano, 2016 Summit participant

The Zion Narrows

 

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