I entered a contest at the Digital Photo Experience in the hopes of winning a photography workshop. Juan Pons and Rick Sammon were kind enough to select me as one of the two winners, and I was given a choice of either Juan’s Waterfalls of Western NC workshop in May, or Rick’s Croton-on-Hudson workshop in September. It was a tough choice, but because I was longing for spring weather, and didn’t want to wait till September for a workshop, I chose Juan’s from May 5-9.
After a full day’s drive from central NY, my husband and I arrived in Pisgah Forest, NC, late Wednesday afternoon. We checked into the hotel, relaxed a bit, and then met with Juan and the rest of the participants in the hotel lobby at 7 pm. Juan struck me as being a very personable, easy-going guy, and this proved to be true throughout the workshop. There were a total of 10 participants, 8 men and 2 women, ranging in age from 20-something to 70-something. Everyone was excited to be there and eager to get going the next morning.
We hit a total of 13 waterfalls in 3.5 days, some of them twice. We saw so many beautiful sights in the western North Carolina mountains. I was just in awe of the mountains and valleys and overlooks as we drove from waterfall to waterfall. The waterfalls themselves ranged from small, out-of-the-way creeks where we were the only visitors, to large tourist attractions such as Whitewater Falls, the tallest waterfall east of the Rockies. Juan is very familiar with the area, and did a great job picking sites that were optimal for learning how to photograph under a variety of lighting situations. We battled the bright sunshine sometimes, but there were always spots in the shade for practicing on smaller falls while waiting for that optimal evening light to fall on the larger falls. We had plenty of time to sit and get as many shots as we wanted, and I never felt rushed at all. It was a pleasure to be able to take as much time as I wanted without hearing, “Mom, I’m bored….Mom, can we go now?…Mom, are you done yet?”
The map below shows all the falls we traveled to. Clicking on the yellow markers will bring up the names of the falls. My favorite shots from each of the sites are posted in my Waterfalls of Western North Carolina gallery.
Day 1: Looking Glass Falls, Slick Rock Falls, Cathey’s Creek Falls, Hooker Falls
Day 2: Triple Falls, Courthouse Falls, French Broad Falls, Mill Shoals, Bird Rock Falls
Day 3: Dry Falls, Quarry Falls, Cullasaja Falls, Rhodes Big View overlook, Whitewater Falls
Day 4: Hooker Falls, Looking Glass Falls
View NC Waterfalls Workshop 05/2010 with J. Pons in a larger map
Juan is an excellent instructor. He took time with each of us in turn to make sure we were getting the shots we wanted, and to provide tips for improvement. We had nightly critique sessions that were laid-back and not nerve-wracking like I expected. I was sure my images would get torn to bits, but Juan’s constructive criticism was delivered so helpfully and kindly that it didn’t seem like criticism at all. The guys kept up a continual stream of comedic entertainment that made the evenings a lot of fun, even though we were exhausted from the day’s adventures and sometimes up till midnight looking at each other’s images. And we had a lot of beer.
If you have never been on a workshop, I urge you to GO! Just pick one and go. If you can get in on one of Juan’s, even better. I learned not only from Juan, but from all of the other participants. We talked about everything from the iPad to sushi to Lightroom to foursquare. I feel like I gained knowledge to help me make better images, and gained several new friends in the process.
A big THANK YOU to Digital Photo Experience and to Juan for offering me the opportunity to attend. It was awesome, and I’m already planning for the next one!
Honestly, it’s hard for me to write good things about myself, because I’m always afraid I’ll sound egotistical. But my general life’s philosophy is that God put me here, at this moment, in this place, to serve Him by serving others, so that’s what I try to do. Every day, to the best of my ability, whether it’s at home or at church or at the grocery store. And I hope that what I do helps others in some small way.
