Acadia Workshop 2024
In October 2024, I had seven photographers from all over the country join me in Acadia. This year they came from New Hampshire (x2), Maine, Colorado, Illinois, and Massachusetts (x2). One was returning after joining me before in 2022, and another became my first 3x attendee (2019, 2023 and 2024). There was a lot of excitement in the air as we met on our first afternoon, went through introductions, then headed out for the first excursion of the week. All together, we would go on about twenty-five excursions over the next five days.
Every day was a little different but they generally followed the same pattern: we began each day with a 5:30am meetup at our hotel, then drove off to a different sunrise location in the pre-dawn darkness, after which we made one more stop before heading back for some breakfast. Every day consisted of about 4-5 locations with a rest for an hour or two most afternoons.
We were blessed with beautiful blue skies and sunny weather each day… and we were cursed with beautiful blue skies and sunny weather… As landscape photographers, no one wants to take pictures in the rain, but we could’ve used some more variety in the weather. But you can’t pick your weather so we made the most it, shooting lots of great autumn color against the blue skies, photographing abstract reflections in the streams and brooks, and even shooting the full moon rising up in the eastern skies early one evening.
We even made it out to Schoodic Point on the windiest day, shooting the waves as they blew in off the ocean. Schoodic is an hour and a half away from the rest of the national park, but on windy days, you can get some beautiful images of the waves as they pound against the coast, so it makes the drive worthwhile.
Acadia experienced its busiest October weekend ever just before we arrived, but the crowds weren’t too bad for the workshop, and with my knowledge of the park, I was able to lead the group to places not well traveled by your average visitor, so we were able to photograph in relative seclusion at most locations.
The plan is to do it all again during the second or third week of October 2025. If you’re interested in joining me, send me an email and I’ll add you to the list of photographers to notify once I’ve nailed down the dates. In the meantime, enjoy these images from this year’s participants.
The group after a very fruitful morning at one of our favorite stops, Sieur de Monts: Mike (Illinois), Mike (Colorado), Deb (New Hampshire), Bryce (Maine), Katie (Massachusetts), Nicki (New Hampshire), Karen (Massachusetts) and me.
