Looking Towards My 2027 Photo Workshops

For the last month, I’ve been in the process of imagining what my 2027 should look like and then taking those ideas and putting them on the reality of a schedule. I find this time of year both rewarding and also nerve wrecking. It’s the latter because—and I know I say this every year when I do this annual post—it’s hard to believe that I’m scheduling my life over a year ahead of time. That’s especially true because I used to like to wing everything in my life and just figure it out when I got there.

Anyway, I decided that for 2027, I’m doing two destination workshops, and Grand Marais, MN will host the remaining.

I’m doing registration in two waves again this year. The first wave is for alumni and Facebook subscribers. The second wave is general registration.

Register here: Photo Workshop Schedule

• April 7, 12:01am: Alumni registration begins

• April 11, 12:01am: General registration begins

To get into the alumni registration, you will need a code. If you are an alumni, you will find the code in our alumni Facebook group. If you are a Facebook subscriber, you will find the code in our Facebook subscriber group. If you’re an alumni that doesn’t to Facebook, email me.

So, here are the 2027 workshops and why I decided to offer each. Even you aren’t interested in attending one of my workshops, these are locations and timings that you should consider in your own travels.

Winter on Lake Superior | Jan 29–31

I love photographing Lake Superior during the winter. From Grand Marais, because the shore runs mainly east-west, the sunrise and sunset are over the lake. In the early parts of the winter, we get sea smoke, which is a fog that makes everything feel dreamy. The shore gets coated with ice. Later in the season, plates of ice hummock against the shore. It’s amazing.

Registration for everyone is now open on this workshop.

Spring in the Great Smoky Mountains | Apr 19–23

If I had to pick a national park that I love the most, it would be Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I first visited there when I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, and it was one of my favorite spots on the trail. I also love the spring there. I love to see the flowers coating the forest floor, the green moss along waterfalls and streams, and the colors of sunrise painted against ridgelines that stack against each other and go to the horizon.

I was thinking about skipping another year before I returned to this one, but multiple workshop alumni requested this one.

Waterfalls of the North Shore | Apr 30–May 2

Waterfalls are one of my favorite subjects, and the Grand Marais area has many. The photo below is from Cascade River State Park. During this workshop, we visit as many as we can. Some years, snow remains. Some years, it’s gone. There’s usually a high flow, and on the big years, you can feel the vibration of the water cascading down to Lake Superior as you stand next to the falls.

Milky Way Pano | May 6-8

Have you wanted to learn how to make a Milky Way panoramic photo? Then this workshop is for you. In spring, the Milky Way is low in the sky and stretches from the north to the south. I hadn’t planned on running this workshop again until 2028, but it’s back because multiple alumni requested it.

Flowers, Waterfalls & the Full Moon | Jun 16–20

I’ve offered flower photography classes, waterfall photography class, full moon photography classes, and flower and full moon photography classes, but I figured that I could try to top it all by combining three of my most favorite subjects into one workshop. The timing is perfect for spring flowers in the Grand Marais area, and we’ll get a couple of chances at the full moon, plus waterfalls are usually running at a low late spring or high early summer rate, which I find stunning.

Northern Night Skies | Jul 6–10

This is a classic photo workshop for me. It explores the night skies of Cook County, MN which is one of the darkest places in the world. We have a IDA Dark Sky Sanctuary in the county. On this workshop, we split our time between inland locations and Lake Superior. The locations are different from those on the next workshop.

Night Skies of the Gunflint Trail | Aug 1–5

The Gunflint Trail is home to one of the darkest spots in the world at a Bortle 1. It’s also home to streams, and lakes, and beautiful tree lines. If we’re lucky, we’ll see the northern lights. I remember one workshop where we arrived at the darkest spot on the trail during the twilight, and after a participant got out of his car he said something like, “I’ve never seen the night so dark and with so many stars.” And, it wasn’t even true night, yet.

Lake Superior Fall Color | Sep 29–Oct 3

If you’ve followed my work and writing for awhile, you have likely seen me write that I’m not a fan of photographing fall colors, but I do like photographing landscapes when covered with fall color. That’s what we do on this workshop. We visit overlooks, inland lakes, remote gravel roads that become a tunnel of fall color, and end up with amazing photos. Plus, the sunset and sunrise photos! I had a hard time picking one photo for this newsletter because I have so many. This one is from last year’s workshop.

Gales of November | Nov 5–7

This is one of my longest lasting workshops. I’ve been running this one for 20 years now, although I have started to run it every other year. It’s back in 2027. I plan it for the statistically stormiest weekend of the year, and then we get the weather that we get. Sometimes it’s great (stormy) and sometimes it sucks (sunny and clam), but we focus on nautical themes for the workshop, and hope for the best or is that the worst.

Early Winter in Badlands National Park | Dec 1–5

I used to run this workshop often, but then I replaced it with the Badlands and Black Hills Workshop. I was looking back at my old photos from 2019 and prior and saw how amazing the park was in December. I’m really looking forward to this one. I have so many good photos from the Badlands in December. And, it’s always so quiet there in December that we practically have the park to ourselves.

Until next time

I hope you enjoyed this edition. If you’re interested in my workshops, please, sign up early and sign up often and sign up for all of them. I’ll see you again in two weeks with a new essay.