Hal "Bull" Schmitt is the Director and Lead Instructor of LIGHT Photographic Workshops in Los Osos, California. Hal instructs all levels of photography, Lightroom, and Photoshop as if he’s been shooting for decades. His workshops and photo tours are recognized around the world as incredible learning experiences.
As Director of the Lepp Institute previous to Light Workshops, Hal was fortunate to train with photography and Photoshop’s best and brightest and is now an expert in all aspects of the digital workflow. Although the subject matter is a little slower and safer, Hal teaches his digital courses using the same techniques he mastered at TOPGUN. Polished and confident but down to earth and approachable, Hal delivers an incredible workshop experience. Hal’s teaching style delivers results. He believes in teaching the theory and basics of everything necessary in the digital workflow. More importantly, he takes the mystery and technical complexity out of a subject allowing access to the how. With a strong foundation, it is amazing how quickly you can learn and improve.
To learn more about Hal's upcoming workshops and tours visit www.LightWorkshops.com
Rick Sammon, a Canon Explorer of Light, has published 36 paper books, including Secrets of HDR Photography, Exploring the Light, and Digital Photography Secrets.
Rick also has four apps on the iTunes store:
- Rick Sammon’s 24/7 Photo Buffet for – an e-book that offers 24/7 access to Rick’s best photo tips, tricks and techniques. iPhone and iPad versions available.
- Rick Sammon’s Social Media Marketing for Photographers, a series of Quick Time movies that features Rick’s tips on Social Media. iPhone and iPad versions available.
- Rick Sammon’s Life Lessons We Can Learn From Mother Nature, a collection of Rick’s favorite wildlife photographs accompanied by inspirational quotes. Mini-lessons on wildlife photography are also included, as well as quick Photoshop tips. iPad version only.
- Rick Sammon’s Butterfly Wonders, a beautiful collection of Rick’s favorite butterfly photographs accompanied with information on each animal by butterfly expert Alan Chin Lee. A comprehensive course on close-up photograph is also included.
Rick’s book, Flying Flowers won the coveted Golden Light Award, and his book Hide and See Under the Sea won the Ben Franklin Award.
Rick, who has photographed in almost 100 countries around the world, gives more than two-dozen photography workshops (including private workshops) and presentations around the world each year.
Rick co-founded the Digital Photography Experience (www.dpexperience.com) with Juan Pons. DPE is on-line digital photography learning center that offers podcasts and articles – and more!
Rick also hosts several shows on kelbytraining.com.
Rick, who has been nominated for the Photoshop Hall of Fame, is considered one of today’s top digital -imaging experts, cutting through lots of Photoshop “speak,” making it fun, easy and rewarding to work and play in the digital darkroom.
When asked about his photo specialty, Rick says, “My specialty is not specializing.”
See www.ricksammon.info and www.dpexperience.com for more information.
Commitment, passion and love to elicit “magical beauty” are the paradigm of Parish’s intuitive philosophy of three decades of photography. Consistently original, diverse, inventive and timeless are the hallmarks of his photography. His uncommon uses of colors, whether vibrant or pastel, as well as multitudes of tonalities in his stunning and luminous black & white images have become his distinctive and unique signature and style.
During his career, he has worked commercially for many Fortune 500 Companies, IBM, Coca-Cola, DeBeers to name a few and his work has appeared on the pages of Vogue, Harper’s Bazzar, Forbes, Time and Newsweek. Having an insatiable desire to explore and expand his artistic horizons, he still remains true to his approach to simplicity and to the visual dialogue that is intuitive and innate.
Hanson Fong of San Francisco, California, is globally recognized as one of the premier photographers in the industry today. With over 30 years of experience, Hanson has earned the photographic degree of Master of Photography and Photographic Craftsman. He is also a member of the prestigious and world-renowned Society of XXV and Canon’s Explorers of Light.
Hanson’s photographic experience and educational credentials are unsurpassed. As an award-winning wedding photographer and instructor, Hanson is on the cutting edge of photography. His work sets the standard for wedding photography around the world.
Hanson has lectured at every major school of photography across America and has been invited to speak at various national and international conventions.
Jane is a photographer, media artist, independent consultant and teacher for the professional photography industry. With over 25 years of experience, 19 of them in digital imaging and evolving technologies, the techniques Jane developed for facial retouching and enhancement and portrait painting are widely emulated by photographers and digital artists worldwide through her classes and educational products.
She participated in Canon’s Explorers of Light PrintMaster program, is an Adobe Photoshop expert, a Corel PaintMaster and a Craftsman Photographer of the Professional Photographers of America. In addition, she is past co-chair for the Digital and Advanced Imaging Committee for the Professional Photographers of America.
Jane worked with the Dicomed team in creating the first ever retouching station for bulk portrait retouching and presented the first industry program on “Electronic Retouching for the Portrait Wedding Industry”. She consulted with the Burrell Professional Labs to open their Rainbow Digital Imaging Center, the first major imaging center providing service to the corporation’s ten national labs.
Jack Davis is best known as the coauthor of the award-winning and best-selling guides to Photoshop, The Photoshop Wow! Book, and How to Wow: Photoshop for Photography - as well as being an award-winning designer, photographer, and contributing editor to numerous other books and magazines on digital tools and the creative process.
For over 20 years, Jack has also been an internationally recognized spokesperson on digital imagery, and has given keynote address’ at conferences and universities throughout the US, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Brazil, Europe and Australia as well as leading countless hands-on workshops around the US and abroad. Jack routinely teaches as part of the “Dream Team” at the National Association of Photoshop Professional’s Photoshop World Conferences, where he was recently inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame for his life time contributions in the field of educations and digital imagery.
Jack has undergraduate degrees in Graphic Design and an MA and MFA in Digital Imagery, and when he’s not in his studio in San Diego, he’s usually on the beach somewhere in Polynesia with his digital camera and analog paints capturing the local color.
Tim Grey is regarded as one of the top educators in digital photography and imaging, offering clear guidance on complex subjects through his writing and speaking. He has written more than a dozen books on digital imaging for photographers, including the best-selling Real World Digital Photography, Photoshop CS4 Workflow and Color Confidence. He has also had hundreds of articles published in magazines such as Digital Photo Pro, Outdoor Photographer, and American Photo, among others. He publishes the Ask Tim Grey email newsletter, as well as the Digital Darkroom Quarterly print newsletter. Tim teaches through workshops, seminars, and appearances at major events.
David began working for Playboy magazine in the fall of 1979, soon after becoming a staff photographer, moving to Chicago. In 1987, he would take a title change to Contributing Photographer where he would continue with Playboy until 2002. During this period he would begin to expand on his photography style to include fashion, beauty, and celebrity work for various editorial and advertising assignments worldwide.
Called upon to shoot Petersen Publishing’s Sport magazine swimsuit issue four successive years, the final year would culminate with it being broadcast on ESPN, ESPN-2, and PRIME TICKET, where he would serve both as narrator & host. Not long after, he would be thrown into an acting stint in a made-for-TV movie titled Posing, aired on CBS, when, while working as a technical advisor, the director tapped David to play the fictional Playboy photographer instead of their actor. From 2000–2003, David was co-host and photographer on Playboy TV’s, Sexy Girls Next Door.
In 2001, David founded, David Mecey’s FotoFantasyCamp®, www.fotofantasycamp.com, a workshop that has grown to become one of the premier photographic workshops in the world. Featured in American PHOTO, David brings a select number of photographers together to a fantastic location for three days of intensive training in his style of lighting, posing, rapport with models, literally everything that makes up professional-level photography.
Juan A. Pons was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and has held a passionate interest in photography since high school. As a nature and wildlife photographer, he is a strong supporter of wildlife and natural habitat conservation and is a member of several conservation organizations.
Although much of his photography is focused on native wildlife in North Carolina, Juan and his family also travel frequently to other regions of interest, such as Yellowstone National Park, Puerto Rico, New England, and the Southwestern states. Juan never ceases to be amazed by the natural subjects he photographs and hopes that sharing his photographs will inspire others to appreciate and respect natural life. Juan shares his tips and experiences about wildlife photography on his website WildNaturePhoto.com.
Juan’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including Sierra Magazine, Nature Conservancy, Audubon Magazine, Wildlife in North Carolina, and others.
Together with Rick Sammon, Juan co-founded the Digital Photography Experience dpexperience.com, an online digital photography learning center. He also co-hosts the bi-monthly Digital Photography Experience podcast (http://bit.ly/DPEPodcast).
Bobbi Lane, a commercial photographer, specializes in creative portraits on location and in studio. With over 35 years of technical experience she shoots for editorial, corporate, and advertising accounts. A dedicated photo educator, she brings insight and enthusiasm to her fun-filled workshops. She's been named as one of the Top Workshop Instructors by PDN. Bobbi has created several instructional DVDs: Posing and Directing, Portraits Unplugged and Portrait Lighting Techniques.
Rob Sheppard has had a long-time and nationally recognized commitment to helping photographers connect with digital imaging technology. He was one of the small group of people who started PCPhoto magazine nearly eight years ago to bring the digital world to photographers on their terms. He is the editor of PCPhoto as well as Outdoor Photographer magazines (second only to Popular Photography in circulation), group editorial director of all Werner Publication photo magazines (PCPhoto, Outdoor Photographer and Digital Photo Pro) and is the author/photographer of over a dozen photo books, including The Magic of Digital Landscape Photography, and the The Complete Guide to Shooting HD Video with Your DSLR.
To learn more about Rob's adventures visit www.robsheppardphoto.com as well as his blog www.natureandphotography.com.
Lee Varis ,the owner and founder of Varis PhotoMedia, is a photo-illustrator working in Hollywood. He has been involved in commercial photography for the last 35 years. He started working with computer imaging about 21 years ago after being introduced to the Quantel Paintbox system. Lee currently works with digital as well as conventional photography in conjunction with computer graphics to create images for use in advertising, commercial graphics and multimedia. His work has been featured on movie posters, video box covers, CD covers, and numerous brochures, catalogs and magazine articles. Lee´s creative imaging has been featured in National Geographic and Fortune magazines as well as numerous trade publications including: Photo-Electronic Imaging, Studio Photography, PC Photo, Rangefinder Magazine, Photo District News and Mac Art & Design. Lee has also been involved with consulting and training activities for numerous corporate clients. He conducted a series of imaging seminars for Apple Computers that took him around the country to most of the major metropolitan areas and is currently active in seminar programs with PPA, APA and Julia Dean Photographic Workshops as well as a monthly "Photoshop for Photographers" workshop in Los Angeles. He maintains close relationships with numerous hardware and software companies and is involved in beta testing programs.
Lee's latest book is "Mastering Exposure and the Zone System for Digital Photographers" a complete guide to both the technical and creative aspects of exposure in digital photography.
Lee has developed a unique approach to photography that takes advantage of certain idiosyncracies of digital capture technology to create impossible lighting effects as part of his personal style. This intimate knowledge of digital image technology affects the pre-production process as well. Lee's strong background in conventional photography gives him a unique ability to develop digital imagery that has a more organic feel rather than the flat plastic look of much of todays digital artwork. With his ability to see a project from concept, through photography, digital enhancement and final delivery in a variety of mediums. Lee has a firm command of both traditional and digital techniques, giving him a clear advantage over the computer technician who is not equipped to make creative judgements and the conventional artist who lacks the tools necessary to realize the digital future.
David H. Wells is a freelance photographer focusing on in-depth photo-essays for publication and exhibition. Between 1986 and 1996 he produced 16 photo-essays for the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday Magazine. His photos have also been published in Aramco World, Chicago Tribune, Geo Magazine, Life Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Time Magazine, and U.S. News and World Report among other publications.
In 1988, Wells received the Nikon/N.P.P.A. Documentary Sabbatical Grant. In 1989, he received a fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for his photo-essay on the pesticide poisoning of California farm-workers.
Wells’ photographs have been shown in over forty exhibitions. His work has been featured in one-person exhibits at the University of Rhode Island, London’s Gallery Ezra, the Centro Colombo-Americano of Medellin, Columbia, Brown University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Harvard University. His work has been included in group exhibits at the National Center for Photography as an Art Form in Bombay, Houston FotoFest, Perpignan, France’s Photojournalism Festival, and the Museo Bardini of Florence, Italy. His work is in collections across America and overseas.
In 2011, he was featured in Photo District News as one of The Best Workshop Instructors.
A selection of David’s work can be viewed at: http://davidhwells.com/
Dave Wilson is a professional software developer, and a long-time amateur photographer. He has developed many iPhone and iPad apps for sale in the Apple App Store. Rick Sammon and Dr. Dave collaborated to create Dave's favorite app: "Rick Sammon's 24/7 Photo Buffet", available for both the iPhone and iPad.
Dave has taught advanced computer programming classes to thousands of professional software developers. He has a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University.
Jim is a Pro Market Rep for Canon USA. He has covered a variety of events for Canon including Superbowls, Olympic games and political conventions. He has led workshops in Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks as well as teaching at the Lepp Institute His photographs have appeared in Canon photo books and brochures.
