The Latest Vulture Workshop Wrap up

Richard Charpentier Arizona, Notes from Rich, Photography, Prescott, RLC Design, Workshops Leave a Comment

Ah, today marks the end of the 3rd Vulture Mine / HDR Workflow Workshop here. Once again, another great time with other photographers at the Vulture Mine!

This workshop was pretty full.  Normally, 5 or fewer students.  This weekend we hosted 4 folks for the two day event, and we had a great time.  And amazingly enough, this was a total Canon user’s workshop to boot.  2 50Ds, 7D, and a 5D Mark II.  You know, that made the talks on setting features very easy, as everyone could listen in while helping participants with settings on their cameras.  🙂

From Spring to Summer

Things in the Vulture Mine area are already warming up.  We saw temperatures in the 80’s yesterday, which meant that while in the sun you could get a little tired pretty easily.  Fortunately enough water and gatorade was on hand, so we all fared pretty well.

A quick edit from today's software part of the workshop.

After such a cold winter it’s nice to feel the heat once more, but the heat adds complications to any outdoor workshop.  Dehydration, heat exhaustion, and all the rest can come up on a person pretty quickly.  That’s why this was the last Vulture Workshop until this fall.  Touring the ghost town is great fun, and a fantastic way to help participants get a handle on shooting for HDR, and for getting ready to work through an HDR workflow.  But some new venues will be posted soon for “cooler climates” this summer.  And of course, this fall we’ll be visiting Vulture again.

Vulture is changing quickly

Looking at the back wall of the Assay office you can see the damage to the structure is progressing.  The stones that make up the bulk of the exterior are continuing to fall down, leading me to believe that the Assay office might be nothing more than a memory over the course of the next year.

Not a good prospect if you enjoy ghost towns, the old west, and seeing historic places for yourself.

In talking with the caretaker on site yesterday morning I learned that there’s a push to do more to preserve the location.  He explained that the donation system is just maintaining the caretakers (a husband and wife team) and not enough revenue comes into the location to help work on preservation and restoration of the site.

This is a site worth preserving by the way…..

So, what can be done?  Well, I was given a pamphlet on “The Vulture Mine Preservation & Restoration Association,” by the caretaker.  You can become a fan of the group and learn more if you become a fan on Facebook.  You can also learn more at SaveVultureMine.org

If you’re a fan of historic sites like Vulture, I do hope you will help to preserve this amazing location!  I can assure you, I will be signing up with the group this week, and I became a fan on Facebook while compiling this post.

More fun than I should be having

Once again, another great weekend of shooting with enthusiastic photographers.  It was great, everyone had a good time, and I had a good time as well.  Of course, my voice wants to leave me now after 2 straight days of talking photography, camera settings, shooting styles, software, and more.  Maybe I should gargle some salt water or something.

Of course, I had a great time.  I’m exhausted now, and tomorrow I will not have the alarm clock active.  If I’m lucky I’ll sleep until 7:30 or something like that (maybe 8?).

I do have to say, with each workshop I’m finding that I enjoy it as much as the participants.  It’s great to share favorite places and photographic techniques with other people interested in growing in their photographic skill sets.  And with each workshop I feel like I’m growing more as a photographer as well.  Talk about a win win situation!

Well, there’s the wrap folks.  Thanks to all the participants as well!  Doug, Nancy, Paul, & Steve…..you guys were great this weekend, and I know you each came away with some cool shots.  Can’t wait to see your final edits!

Now, with this post going up, I’m going to curl up on the couch for a bit and doze!  😉

Don’t forget, check out the Vulture Mine Preservation and Restoration Association all!

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