Glacier National Park Workshop, July 21-27, 2024 (Deposit)
Regular price$1,500.00Sale
This workshop is now full. If you would like to be notified if and when a spot opens up, join the waitlist via email.
Total workshop fee: $5,745, which includes the workshop fee and 7 nights of accommodations. A $1,500 deposit secures your place. An invoice for the remaining balance will be sent upon request or approximately 90 days from the start of workshop.
Download the workshop PDF for a complete description of the workshop, including an itinerary, lodging info, what to bring, and more.
Glacier National Park combines everything I dream of in a photographic location. Razor-sharp, glacially carved peaks; high-alpine, reflecting lakes; pristine streams and raging waterfalls—all easily accessed by a series of roads and trails you’d expect to find in the Swiss Alps. Then there’s the wildlife: bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elk, moose, and grizzly and black bear are common sights in this incredibly photogenic park.
In this small, 12-person, lodging-inclusive workshop, we’ll spend six days roaming this amazing park, from the shores of Lake MacDonald on the west side, to the wilder areas of the park on the east side, including the gorgeous Many Glacier and Two Medicine Lake sections. We’ll spend lots of time on the scenic Going to the Sun highway, which cuts through the park, photographing some of the most epic scenery found in the continental US. Throughout, we will help you hone your photographic skills and creative vision through field work, editing and critiques, and classroom training.
I’ll be joined on this adventure by my good friends Rick LePage and David Archer. David is an amazing wildlife and landscape photographer who often comes along on our adventures, while Rick is my workshop coordinator, and a great teacher and photographer in his own right. Their presence will give us a 4:1 student-teacher ratio, ensuring that you’ll have plenty of opportunity to get the help and direction that you need throughout the workshop.
Locations This workshop will be a bit different than many of my other workshops: more flexible and safari-like. After meeting up in Kalispell, we’ll travel to St. Mary on the eastern side of the park for four days and nights. There, we’ll spend time in Many Glacier, scouting for wildlife and photographing in places like Swiftcurrent Lake and the waterfalls along the creek that flows out of the lake. We’ll also explore the amazing eastern section of the Going to the Sun highway, from Logan Pass — with mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and the stunning Highline Trail — down to St. Mary Lake.
Finally, we’ll spend an afternoon in the Two Medicine Lake area at the southern end of the park to shoot waterfalls and rivers.
The last two days of our adventure will take place in West Glacier, home of the beautiful MacDonald Lake, where we’ll shoot the sunrise on our last day. We’ll explore the rivers and waterfalls along the lower portion of the Going to the Sun highway, and close our time together with a lovely dinner at one of our favorite places in West Glacier.
Tentative course schedule This is a proposed guide to our Glacier adventure, and is subject to change based on weather, wildlife knowledge, and group interest at the time we’re in the park. We’ll do our best to have student image reviews and photo critiques, as well as some class time for post-processing demos, instruction and Q&A. In the field, we’ll demonstrate advanced techniques like panoramic mergers, focus stacking, time-lapse and night-sky photography.
Travel day: Sunday, July 21
Arrival in Kalispell; spend the night at our hotel
Day 1: Monday, July 22
Rendezvous at the hotel, and leave for St. Mary
Scout along the Going to the Sun Highway
Check in to our St. Mary Village Hotel
Drive up to Many Glacier for wildlife scouting
Day 2: Tuesday, July 23
Sunrise shoot at Wild Goose Island
Classroom time
Drive along Going to the Sun Highway for wildlife and sunset shoot
Day 3: Wednesday, July 24
Scout for wildlife in Many Glacier
Post-production/class time
Drive to Two Medicine Lake for waterfall, river and landscape shoot (afternoon shoot)
Day 4: Thursday, July 25
Many Glacier morning wildlife scout (optional)
Image reviews
Late afternoon drive into the park to Logan Pass for mountain goats and bighorn sheep and optional Highline trail hike.
Sunset over the back-lit river valley with possible side-lit waterfall options
Day 5: Friday, July 26
Pack up and leave St. Mary for West Glacier
Scouting and shooting along Going to the Sun Highway
Check into lodging
Scout sunrise shoot at Lake MacDonald
Day 6: Saturday, July 27
Sunrise shoot on Lake MacDonald
Waterfalls and more on the west side along Going to the Sun
Final image review and Q&A
Farewell dinner at local restaurant
Transportation During the workshop, we’ll have “El Jefe,” my big Mercedes Sprinter. While people will be able to drive on their own during the workshop, due to the congested nature of many portions of the park, we would prefer that participants ride in the provided transportation. (Talk with us if you have specific concerns regarding this.)
The nearest airport to Glacier is the Glacier Park International Airport (code FCA) in Kalispell, MT, and is approximately 30-45 minutes from West Glacier, depending upon the time of day.
When making your travel arrangements, please note that you must be in Kalispell on the night of July 21.
Lodging information and travel logistics Because getting accommodations in all areas of Glacier National Park during the summer can be difficult, the workshop fee includes all lodging from July 21-27. We have rooms reserved for the night of July 21 at a hotel in Kalispell, and we will meet up there and drive in the van to St. Mary on the morning of July 22. We will stay in St. Mary Village, near Glacier’s eastern entrance, from the 22nd through the morning of the 26th. On the 26th, we will drive back to various accommodations in West Glacier, for the last two days of the workshop. Participants will need to make their own arrangements for departure to the Kalispell airport on the 28th. (There are ample cab and shuttle services that make the drive to and from Kalispell.)
Classroom We don’t anticipate a lot of classroom time, given the scope of the park and our schedule, but we will do our best to spend some time looking over photos and offering post-processing advice. In St. Mary, we will have access to a conference room that we can use for image reviews and class time on at least two of our days there. The classroom in West Glacier will be at a house near where students are staying, and we will try to have at least one final image review session on the afternoon of July 27.
Fees and Payment Terms The Glacier workshop fee is $5,745, which includes the workshop and seven (7) nights of lodging. Participants can secure a place with a $1,500 deposit. An invoice for the remaining balance will be sent approximately 90 days prior to the workshop. The balance must be paid in full 60 days prior to the workshop to hold your place.
All workshop payments are fully refundable less a 10% fee up to 60 days prior to the first day of the workshop. If you cancel anywhere from 59 to 30 days prior to the workshop, we will make every effort to find a replacement. If we can fill your spot, 90% of your workshop fee will be refunded; if we cannot find a replacement, we will refund 50% of your workshop fee. Any cancellation within 30 days is non-refundable.
Download the workshop PDF for a complete description of the workshop, including suggested lodging info, what to bring, and more.
