2023 Photography Workshops

Colin D. Young Photography 2023 Landscape and Nature Photography Workshops

I will be leading five photography workshops in 2023.  Each will have a different focus and location, but they will all be intimate affairs, limited to only 6-8 participants each.  Photographers of all skill levels are welcome.  Whether you are a beginner just getting to know your new DSLR or mirrorless camera, an amateur looking to elevate your craft, or a seasoned photographer who just wants to explore the secrets of the Colorado Rockies or the red rock canyons of Utah, you will get something out each of these photo workshops.

  • Arches & Canyonlands Winter/Spring Workshop March 2-6, 2023 Moab, UT
  • Bryce Canyon Magic Light   May 11-15, 2023   Tropic, UT
  • Arches at Night Workshop   June 12-16, 2023   Moab, UT
  • Autumn Color in Rocky Mountain National Park Sept 24-28, 2023 Estes Park, CO
  • San Juan Mountains Fall Color Workshop   Oct 2-6, 2023  Ouray, CO

Arches & Canyonlands Winter/Spring Photography Workshop

March 2-6, 2023 – Moab, Utah

Spend a fantastic weekend exploring Arches, canyons, ancient rock art, the Colorado River, iconic movie and TV locations, and some of the best light for landscape photography in the world. The weather is cool and lovely in early March, with the snow-capped LaSal mountain peaks making a great background.We will visit a wide variety of great locations in Arches National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park, plus locations in both the Island in the Sky and Needles districts of Canyonlands National Park.

Click Here for Details

Bryce Canyon Magical Light

May 11-15, 2023 – Tropic, Utah

Explore the wondrous hoodoos of Bryce Canyon and the unique slot canyons of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on a 5-day photo workshop is Southern Utah, home to some of the best light for landscape photography in the world.  This workshop sold out in 2022, so book your space soon!

Click Here for details.

Arches at Night Photo Workshop

Arches at Night Photo Workshop

June 12-16, 2023 – Moab, Utah

Arches National Park has been designated as an official International Dark Sky Park.  Spend 4 nights learning techniques to photograph the Milky Way against a wide variety of fascinating rock formations, including the largest collection of natural arches in the world. This workshop always sells out, so book soon!

Click Here for details.

Sept 24-28, 2023 – Estes Park, Colorado

Spend 5 days exploring glacier-fed waterfalls, alpine lakes and night skies from 12,000′ in rugged Rocky Mountain National Park. We will explore the Wild Basin, Glacier Gorge, Dream and Emerald Lakes, Trail Ridge Road, and other lovely locations inside and outside the park, high in the Rocky Mountains.

Click Here for details

San Juan Mountains Fall Color Workshop

October 2-6, 2023 – Ouray, Colorado – New Workshop! 

Based in picturesque Ouray, Colorado, we will visit a variety of great locations in the San Juan mountains for fall foliage, combined with classroom work to better your photographic craft. Locations will include, but not limited to: scenic highways, forest streams, aspen groves, mountain lakes and epic mountain overlooks, in areas near Silverton, Ouray, Ridgeway & Telluride, Colorado.

For more details about this workshop, Click Here

Bryce Canyon Magical Light Paricipants – 2022

All of these photography workshops are designed for photographers of all levels and skills, whether you are a newbie with a new DSLR or mirrorless lens, or an experienced pro that wants to get great advice on locations when visiting a bucket list national park or two. Please be sure to Contact Me if you have any questions regarding any of these workshops.

Rock Light Photo Tours

Rock Light Photo Tours – Moab, Utah

Big news!  My new website is live, so I can now officially announce Rock Light Photo Tours! I now offer customizable half-day, full day or multi-day private photo tours in Moab, Utah for individuals or small groups.  Excursions are designed to match your experience level, physical abilities, and interests. With input from you we can create a tour that suits your needs to get the shots you want!

Rock Light Photo Tours - Balanced Rock Milky WayI am a fully licensed and insured tour guide in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Other locations can include Dead Horse Point, Fisher Towers, Castle Valley, rock art sites, cottonwood canyons, and many other hidden gems in the area.  Utah’s Canyon Country has some of the best light for landscape photography in the world, and the area is also famous for its dark night skies!

On the tours, I offer hands-on instruction on how to read and shoot the light to make your red rock images pop, and get the most of your Moab photo tour experience.

Tour Options

Rock Light Photo Tours: Soda Springs Basin in Canyonlands National Park
Soda Springs Basin in Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Full day tours include sunrise/morning and afternoon/sunset sessions totaling 8-10 hours with a mid-day break.  1/2 day  tours include either sunrise or sunset.  Any of the following can be included in your tour options.  Assume 1-2 locations for a half day tour, and 2-4 for a full day tour.  Have specific destinations in mind not shown here?  Please let me know!  Once you have dates and some itinerary ideas in mind, fill out the contact form to Book a Tour, and I will get back to you ASAP with some possibilities.

Suggested options to include in your photo itinerary

  • Icons of Arches National Park (great introduction to the area)
  • Epic Canyon views from Canyonlands Island in the Sky & Dead Horse Point
  • White Rim Colorado River views in Canyonlands
  • Dead Horse Point – you simply have to see this!
  • Castle Valley, Fisher Towers, and the Colorado River (any West World fans out there?)
  • La Sal Mountains (good for a hot summer day or fall Aspen color)
  • Ancient Rock Art & Ruins in and around Moab
  • Bears Ears & Cedar Mesa ruins (full day – hiking required)
  • Night Photography

Explore the tour options, and send us the contact form to book a tour with your favorite dates and tour site requests, and we will endeavor to put together a unique Rock Light Photo Tour that will have you coming back for more!  Bring along a friend to make your tour more affordable!

Rock Light Photo Tours banner

Where to Buy: Upcoming Arts Festivals

Arts Festivals

While it is always possible to buy my work online, many people would like to see art in person before they buy it. If you have questions about the print formats I offer, want to see how my prints take the light, or want to compare 2 or 3 photographs side-by-side to see how they will work together in you living room or office space, then it makes sense to attend one of the arts festivals where I sell my work.

Arts: Festivals: Colin in his Booth
Colin in his booth

I truly enjoy selling my work at arts festival and craft shows.  It gives me an opportunity to interact with potential customers that I can’t reach in any other way.  I love getting feedback, especially on my new work, and it is fun to share stories about how I captured some of my favorite images, and favorite places to travel.

2018 Fairs & Festivals Schedule

Sugarloaf Crafts Festivals
March 2-4 – Edison, NJ
Fri & Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm
NJ Convention & Expo Center, 97 Sunfield Ave.
This is an indoor show, so the crazy weather should have no effect.  I have a limited number of free ticket passes to offer, so contact me to get in free!
Look for me in Booth #415
70th Annual Albany Tulip Festival
May 12-13 – Washington Park, Albany, NY
Washington Park is spectacular with Tulips everywhere, and there is live music and great food to go with the art & craft vendors.
     
Fine Art & Crafts at Verona Festival
May 19-20 – Verona, NJ
My last show in New Jersey!
    
Fleischmanns Memorial Day Street Fair
Sunday, May 27, 11am-5pm – Fleischmanns, N
Your last chance to buy my work in person before we move to Colorado!
Colorado Springs Art & Music Festival
June 30 – July 1 – America the Beautiful Park, Colorado Springs, CO

NOTE:  I will be moving to Colorado in June, so I will not be doing any East Coast shows this summer or fall, which sadly means I will be missing some of my favorite shows (Ithaca, Stowe, Colorscape Chenango, Catskills Mtn BBQ Fest, Brookdale Park, etc).  Of course, you can always buy my work directly from my website!

Where to Buy

Arts Festivals, Booth ShotYou can always check my Where to Buy page for the current list of upcoming arts festivals.  Be sure to check in every couple of weeks, as I am constantly adding shows.  I generally try to attend 10 or 12 art festivals and craft shows each year.  This is also where I post information about shows or competitions in art galleries.

Did you miss a show, or did see my work and want to revisit my work?   Check out my online Art Fair Booth Gallery to see the work that is normally displayed on the walls of my booth! 

Finally, if you have been to one of my shows, and wrote down the title of a piece you are interested in, or at least know it’s location, you can use the keyword search bar on my homepage to search for your favorite photo.

Top 40 Photographic Hits of 2017

I grew up in the 70’s listening to Casey Kasem on Saturday afternoons, so I’m a sucker for a good old Top 40.  In that vein, in lieu of an end of the year newsletter, today I posted my personal best photos of 2017 in my annual Top 40 Photographic Hits from 2017 Gallery.  See details below on my Top 40 Sale!
Once again, my travels took me to some pretty amazing places in 2017: two visits to Moab, Arches & Canyonlands, my first experiment with underwater photography coral reef off Roatán, a huge summer camping trip out west to five national parks, Autumn trips to Vermont and North Carolina, plus a special trip to Antelope Canyon and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Moab, Arches, Canyonlands & Bears Ears

Best Photos of 2017: Tower Ruins - Bears Ears Naitonal Monument
Snow-covered remnants of an Anasazi tower ruin on the rim of Mule Canyon in the Cedar Mesa area of Bears Ears National Monument (Jan 2017)

As I have every year since 2011, I spent a few weeks in Moab, Utah, exploring the photographer’s paradise that is Southeast Utah.  We are really lucky to own vacation rental property in Moab,  so that has become a second artistic home for me, typically in the off-season.  In January I made a brief foray into the newly formed, and more recently endangered, Bears Ears National Monument.  I have only begun to briefly scratch the surface of the thousands of natural and cultural wonders to be found within the boundaries of the Monument, and look forward to exploring more in the years to come.

The president has issued an order abolishing two of our most cherished public land areas: Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, potentially exposing 2 million acres of unique wilderness, and 10’s of thousands of cultural sites to drilling and mining.  I have created a Endangered Monuments Gallery.   It highlight some of the beautiful historical and natural resources that are now endangered by losing protection as National Monuments. I promise to donate 25% of all sales from this gallery to Utah Diné Bikéyah or the Natural Resources Defense Council, to support legal challenges in defense of these unique areas.

Underwater and Overwater photography in Roatán, Honduras

Best Photos of 2017: Blue Tang Crossing Roatan Reef
A school of blue tang crossing the reef near the Iron Shore off Roatan’s West Bay Beach. (April 2017)

I got to make my first open water dive, and played a bit with some underwater photography on our April trip to West Bay Beach on the island of Roatán, Honduras.  Unlike its larger cousin in Australia, the coral reef off Roatán is alive and well, and full of marine life!

I captured this photo from a platform on a cliff above the reef.  I was originally shooting wide angled shots of the extensive reef and turquoise waters, but when I looks at screen, I noticed a dark shadow that moved from one photo to the next!  Sure enough, there was a school of Blue Tang swimming nearby, so I quickly swapped my lens for a telephoto and captured the shot above.  The swirls of refracted light in the water remind me of Van Gogh’s Starry Night.  Plus it’s a photo of Dorys!

National Parks Grand Tour Camping Trip

Best Photos of 2017: Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park
Iceberg Notch and the Ptarmigan Wall, Glacier National Park, Montana (June 2017)

This was a trip I had been dreaming about and planning for many years.   This summer we packed up our camper-trailer and drove West from NY on a long summer camping trip to the Mountain West.   We visited 5 national parks in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, 4 of which were new to me!  We first camped at Many Glacier Campground in Glacier National Park, where we had camped in a tent 10 years earlier.  This time the mid-June snowpack kept me from hiking to some of the higher elevation places I had hiked to before, like Grinnell Glacier, but the waterfalls were glorious in their Spring melt, and I managed 9 or 10 hikes in 8 days, the last of which was an awesome ranger-led hike to Iceberg Lake, which was just beginning to thaw (right).

Right Place, Fourth Try

Occasionally as a photographer you get lucky – right place, right time.  Most of the time it takes careful planning, some amount of luck, and often a certain amount of stubbornness.   In our 8 days in Glacier, I visited various parts of Swiftcurrent Lake four different evenings to shoot the sunset.  Each of the first three afternoons, the clouds looked to be setting up nicely for a lovely evening, only to have the sun sink behind a think bank of clouds that filled in over the mountains to the West.  Finally, on a windy and bitterly cold evening, I parked my tripod on the deck of the Many Glacier Hotel, and captured the image below

Best Photos of 2017: Swiiftcurrent Lake Sunset Panorama
Colorful sunset clouds over Grinnell Point and Mt. Gould on Swiftcurrent Lake, in Glacier National Park, Montana. (June 2017)

Magic in Yellowstone

Best Photos of 2017: Grand Prismatic Spring
The vivid rainbow colors of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (July, 2017)

While I don’t necessarily recommend visiting Yellowstone for July 4th week, nonetheless I experienced some serious Yellowstone magic on my first visit (the trick was to get up early to beat the crowds!)  I have never seen so much wildlife: bison, pronghorn, elk, ospreys, even a lone wolf.  The wildlife was outdone only by the natural wonders of Yellowstone: geysers, huge waterfalls with rainbows more predictable than the geysers, and a seemingly infinite variation of thermal water features.  My favorite was the Grand Prismatic Spring.  Ever changing in colors and moods, it was truly one of the most vibrant things I have witnessed in nature.

Autumn Color in Four States

Best Photos of 2017: Colorful Autumn Collage
A colorful collage of Autumn leaves reflected in the ripples of the West Branch of the Little River in Stowe, Vermont. (Oct, 2017)

It was a challenging Autumn for photographers.  A weirdly cool stretch in late August followed by a hot September played havoc with the trees.  It was not the best fall foliage season.  Nonetheless, I was able to capture some interesting fall color shots, on a foggy mountain lake in the Catskills, on the Little River outside Stowe, Vermont, surrounding waterfalls near Highlands, NC, and in Neon Canyon in Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument in Utah.

Antelope Canyon Swirls of Light and Stone

Best Photos of 2017: Depths of River Stone
Twisting, striated layers of red sandstone walls of Upper Antelope Canyon, Navajo Tribal Park. (Oct, 2017)

To be honest, I had been avoiding Antelope Canyon.  We’ve all seen the vivid shots in magazines and coffee table books – breathtaking.  I had visited other slot canyons, and loved the experience and got some great shot.   I had buyers come into my art fair booth to request Antelope Canyon.  So why my reticence?  I had heard stories and read accounts about how overcrowded and dusty Upper Antelope Canyon could be, with herds of tourists in the narrow canyon.  I envisioned huddling over my tripod in the dark, trying to protect my gear from dust, and rushing to get a shot off before the next wave of tourist came around the corner.  Well, I am glad I finally went, and I am sure I will visit many more times in the future.  Our guide on the photo tour did a fantastic job of keeping the crowds away, and pointing out the changing light, and I came away with several keeper images that I imagine will be nest sellers at future festivals.  Only two images made the best of 2017 list, but there easily could be five.  Truly a wonder of the natural world.  Just, wow!

I could go on and on about each of these 40 photos.  I will go into more detail about some of these images and adventures in blog post to come, but let’s get to the exciting part – the sale!

Top 40 Hits of 2017 Sale – all sizes and formats 25% Off!

During the bleak winter period, I always like to share a bit of color to brighten everyone’s day.  To make this event even brighter, for the rest of January all of my Best of 2017 images are on sale!  Matted photo prints, canvas gallery wraps, and glossy aluminum prints in all sizes are all 25% OFF!  This sale only applies to my Top 40 Photographic Hits of 2017 Gallery.  So come on in and take a look.  Even if you don’t buy anything now, let me know which ones you like best, especially on social media – I love feedback!

No codes necessary!
Choose you favorite(s) from the website, click the “Add to Cart” button below the photo, and choose a size and format from the drop down menu.
Sale ends 11:59pm EDT Wed, Jan 31.

Please Leave Me Feedback!

As I try to figure out which of these Best photos of 2017 images might be most interesting to my buyers in the coming year, it is crucial that I get some feedback from my fans and fellow photographers.  I would love to hear from you, either by leaving comments here on the blog, leaving comments on the website page of your favorite photo, or on my Facebook or Instagram feeds, where you will find most of these images from post over the past year.

I hope you enjoy your trip through my 2017 that was.

Colin