Conservation Photography

Conservation photography is a vision of photography that has a long history with a new purpose. A conservation photographer's work begins once they click the shutter. It's what you do with these images that matters as it takes you into the active role of affecting conservation for the natural world.

Conservation Photography Workshop
Digital Asset Management and Adobe Lightroom 4
Gary Sharlow
Education Manager and Photographer

Sunday, June 3rd, 2012 from 1:00 - 4:00 pm
In this workshop you will be taken through the steps of setting up Adobe Lightroom for the first time all. Many professional photographers and photo editors identify this as the single most important step in their photographic workflow. It will be presented in a way that it can be useful no matter what your level of photographic expertise. We will cover the basic features of the library mode and how to organize your collection including the use of external drives. There will be an additional presentation about using your photos for conservation and how you can help effect change and protect the natural world through your passion for nature photography.

Note: We will meet at the Business Reception Desk at the backdoor of the Academy at 12:45pm. Feel free to bring your laptops with Adobe LR4 (Which does have a trials period option.)

Reservations: Members: $40, Adults: $50 ~ For ages 18+ Space is limited. To reserve a place today, buy a ticket online or over the phone at 415-379-8000

Conservation Photography Field Excursion and Workshop
Exploring The Eastern Sierras
Gary Sharlow, Education Manager, Photographer
Geoff Willard, Education Manager, Natural History Guide

Sunday July 15th - Tuesday July 17th Sunrise to Sunset
The Sierra Nevada is a photographer's dreamscape. John Muir famously referred to it as 'the Range of Light,' and Ansel Adams' stunning photos made the beauty of the Sierra Range known around the world. Immerse yourself in the practice of Conservation Photography in this special field excursion. In 3 days, we will explore the landscape and wildlife diversity of the Eastern Sierra to include Owens Valley, Mono Lake and Yosemite National Park where we will grapple with the area's complicated water and conservation history, and gain invaluable insight into how to capture the landscape through your lens. By the end of the trip, we aim to help each participant complete a photo series that tells a visually-captivating story of the land, its people, its past and future. Moderate hiking is to be expected with free time during the middle of the day for adventuring.

Learn More…

Reservations: Early bird tickets are $350 for Members, $400 for Adults (through June 21st); then, $400 for Members, $450 for Adults. Please reserve a space online or call 415.379.8000 Minimum 4 people, Maximum 18. This is a non-refundable event. (Note: Food, lodging, park entrance fees and transportation not included.)

Photography Workshop and Field Excursion

Part One: Saturday April 21st 2:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: California Academy of Sciences

Part Two: Sunday April 22nd 8:00am to 6:00pm
Location: Point Reyes National Seashore

What's Included: Full day admission to the Academy on April 21st for Earth Day celebrations and a 3 hour afternoon photography workshop held at the Academy. The second day includes roundtrip transportation between the Academy and Point Reyes, lunch will be provided, and we will also be joined by an interpretive guide while making stops in the field. Dive into the art of conservation photography during this hands-on, two-day workshop. On Day One, workshop participants will be introduced to the field’s methodology and techniques among the Academy's live animals. On the second day, the group will put its skills into practice on an all-day excursion to some of California's most dramatic protected spaces in Point Reyes National Seashore. Conservation photography is a field rich with history, which has only recently been recognized as a discipline and powerful medium for conservation of wild areas. Throughout the experience, Academy staff and guest experts will offer photographic guidance and insight into the subjects' natural history.

Click Here For Full Details

Early Bird Reservations: Members: $150, Adults: $175 ~ After March 31st: Members: $170, Adults: $195 Ages 18 and over only with limited space available. Reserve online or call 415-379-8000.

Our Real World Meetup Community

Consider this your invitation to join our virtual community that can serve as way for all of us to stay in touch as a photography community. If you who are new to Meetup, they describe their service as such: “Meetup.com helps groups of people with shared interests plan meetings and form offline clubs in local communities around the world.” We would love to have you join our group and spread the word to fellow photographers. We can use this platform to announce free real world gatherings to grow our community and plan times to get together with new friends that you may have made through the Academy photography workshops. Speaking of workshops, we’ll also announce upcoming Academy workshops through the service as well as on the Academy site. We hope you will join the group and spread the word so we can grow our community.

Please visit us online so we can make plans to get together in the real world!

http://www.meetup.com/conservation-photography/

Conservation Photography Flickr Pool

The second most requested thing from our workshop participants, beyond ways to continue to get together in person, has been for ways to post the images taken in our workshops to an online site where we could offer each other feedback on our images and technique. This can also be used to open up topics of conversation about anything photography related. We hope you will consider posting some of the images you took through our workshops, and we look forward to seeing more of your nature related photography through this group. A bonus of contributing to the flickr pool is that they joined forces with Getty images giving you a professional service from which to sell your images. If you’re good, they will find you!

Please join the group at our Flickr pool We look forward to sharing images and comments with you.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/calacademy-conservation/

iNaturalist Identification Database

From the inventors of the inaturalist.org website: "From hikers to hunters, birders to beach-combers, the world is filled with naturalists, and many of us record what we find. What if all those observations could be shared online? You might discover someone who finds beautiful wildflowers at your favorite birding spot, or learn about the birds you see on the way to work. If enough people recorded their observations, it would be like a living record of life on Earth that scientists and land managers could use to monitor changes in biodiversity, and that anyone could use to learn more about nature. That's the vision behind iNaturalist.org. So if you like recording your findings from the outdoors, or if you just like learning about life, join us! "

Please visit our "project" page to join the effort to explore, explain and protect the natural world.