Part 1 of 3: Blog as Diary

In my first post, I listed "diary" as one of the reasons I am now blogging. This one will be particularly applicable soon. Like, early-next-week soon. Twenty months ago, I signed up to attend "Photography in Patagonia with Thom Hogan" which finally gets underway on Monday. The workshop is 18 days through Argentina and Chile; to say I'm excited is a grotesque understatement. I've got two days to make sure I don't forget anything!

I'd love to tell you that my photos—alone—are all the storytelling you'll need. I actually laughed typing that. But I imagine there will be 2 distinct stories to come out of Patagonia: the stark, pristine beauty of the place, and the logistics of seeing it for yourself. One of these is helped immensely by the written word. Hello!

This will be my second photo workshop. The first was 5 days in Vermont in October, 2008. Care to guess what we were shooting?



Yeah, Vermont has a lot of that in October. At that time I was celebrating my first year of DSLR ownership (a Nikon D80). On one crisp morning during that workshop, as we hovered over frozen flowers, I felt that my camera was having focus issues. So one of the instructors grabbed my camera and took a few test shots. As I watched him work with my camera, I suddenly didn't care so much about the focus...I wanted to see those test shots! Wow! With one glance I saw how much I had to learn about composition and light. Up until that moment I had attributed his success to his fancy cameras and expensive glass.

Anyway, Patagonia is on my mind right now, and I plan to blog each day through it, even if I don't have internet, which could mean the occasional flood of posts. The workshop runs from Dec. 27 to Jan. 13.

After the workshop, I hope to continue using this blog to journal and share the things I'm learning. I expect I'll never feel that I've "made it." But then, as long as the journey is the destination, I'll never be unhappy.