Have you ever wondered if a photography workshop worth the time and money? 

YES! A Photography Workshop is worth the time and money.  Especially a Lori Kincaid Photography workshop.    

For the record, I have always been hesitant of spending the money on a workshop for fear I would not get much out of it.  One of my close photography friends, Judy, has always wanted to take a private photography workshop with Lori for a few years now.  Judy asked if I wanted to attend this workshop with her and two other ladies.  Decided to take a chance. Figured if it didn’t work out, then I would never do another one.

What is included in the Photography Workshop

The private workshop included:

• Lodging – The cabin, which is owned by Lori, is just up the hill from Lori’s cabin. Cabin was large enough so we all had our own room.
• Food – Lori’s assistant, Gail, made all our meals and they were delicious. It was so nice not having to worry about making any meals.  We were so spoiled by the end of the trip.
• Three solid days of shooting plus four nights of shooting
• One on one instruction
• Daily critiques of 5 or more images
• Whatever we wanted to learn to photograph. We chose sunset/sunrises, landscapes, macro and nature (which included flowing water)
• The wonderful company of Lori and Gail at dinner time. They were both such a joy.  We met as strangers and left as friends.

Photography Workshop Itinerary

I lovingly called this workshop a boot camp for photographers because the moment we arrived to the day we left we were photographing.

Arrival Day

Our group arrived Friday at approximately 6:30pm. Lori and her assistant, Gail, had dinner waiting for us.  We quickly ate so we would have time to take sunset photos from the porch of our cabin. Before retiring for the night we packed our breakfast for tomorrow morning.

Second Day

Headed out the door by 6:30am to hike up to Max Patch Bald to catch the sunrise. There were approximately 15 tents of college students who camped out on the mountain to catch the sunrise also. While we took our photos of the sunrise, Lori divided her time between us to give us tips on how to shoot sunrises. Before leaving the mountain we ate our breakfast and enjoyed the wonderful views surrounding us. Following breakfast we took our time hiking back to the car to take some photos of the flora and fauna along the trail.

Next, we ate lunch at our cabin before heading out to a local pond to take photos of the reflections and nature. 

Ended our shooting session by photographing the sunset from Lori’s cabin.

After our delicious meal we had 5 of our photos from the days events critiqued by Lori.  Packed our lunches and snacks for the next days adventure before retiring for the night.

Third Day

Woke up early to catch the sunrise up above Lori’s cabin. Followed by walking her land on top of the mountain to take some nature photos.  The fresh air was awesome.  Headed out for our hike to Wolf Creek Falls to try our hand at taking smooth flowing water photos.  In order to get smooth, silky flowing water you need to shoot at a slow shutter speed.  I used a circular polarizer which cuts down the light entering the camera, set my ISO to 100, aperture f16 and shutter speed to 2 – 4 secs. Occasionaly I used neutral density filter with the circular polarizer. Came back to the cabin to select our 5 photos, eat dinner and have our daily critique.

Last Day

On our final day we had planned to go to the Blue Ridge Parkway but due to the weather we had to change our plans. As an alternative we went to Big Creek to take some nature and flowing water photos. 

Big Creek was an awesome alternative that Lori came up with.  We hung around there for a while.  Came back to the cabin to pick our 5 photos for our daily critique before heading out one last time for a sunset shot at Max Patch Bald from a different direction.   It was amazing how different the lighting is each day.  So breathtaking. 

Enjoyed our last delicious meal by Gail, followed by our final critique by Lori.  In addition, Lori asked us to put in our two cents on each other’s photos. Which I found to be a lot of fun to hear from my companions.

Photos taken at the Photography Workshop

Below are my photos from this wonderful, fun filled photography workshop weekend with Lori Kincaid Photography.  Enjoy!

In Summary

If you have never attended a workshop or even if you have I highly recommend contacting Lori Kincaid to make your reservation to attend one of her workshops.  You will not be disappointed.