Mike Grandmaison - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Making A Living As A Nature Photographer

You will spend a good deal of time exploring the outdoors, capturing “grand landscapes” as well as more intimate views. In these hands-on, practical sessions, Mike will share his approaches to photographing different subjects under various light conditions and offer tips and tricks along the way. You will consider the appropriate and necessary tools or equipment for the job at hand, whether it’s capturing a bird in flight, correcting for “falling trees”, or dealing with a high contrast lighting situation. He will invite students to look through his viewfinder and offer advice on exposure, histograms and composition. You will discuss the entire gamut of capturing, downloading and saving images in the field.

Back in the lab, you will translate the “vision” captured on that 12 to 25 MB RAW file of 0s and 1s. Mike will demonstrate his workflow in processing digital RAW files using the “software tools” While it’s true there exists a plethora of photographers with great equipment, what separates the “pros” from the “enthusiastic snappers” is precisely the consistent, high quality of those processed files.

Once those “masterpieces” are processed, what next? The next challenge is finding someone to lease those images for a sufficient fee to continue pursuing the passion of creating images. You will delve into the realm of today’s “stock photography market” and discuss the business and marketing approaches that have shaped Mike’s success as a freelance nature photographer. Finally, he will share his insight into the process of making a photographic book, from conception to printing, using examples from his last 4 coffee table books.

Participants are asked to bring along up to 5 images for critique. All participants will be invited to participate in a dialogue aimed at increasing our ability to “see” and “create” fine images”.

Instructor: Mike Grandmaison

Photographer MIKE GRANDMAISON is no stranger to the Canadian landscape. Based in Winnipeg, MB Mike has explored and captured the width and breadth of his beloved country on numerous occasions. Mike is passionate about finding and creating beautiful images that capture the essence of our great country. His iconic images have graced the pages of calendars, books, brochures and magazines in North America and beyond. Some notable clients include National Geographic, Canadian Geographic, Audubon, Geo, Loblaws, CN, Canada Post, the Canadian Wheat Board and Wyman Publishing to name a few. His intimate portraits of the natural world and exquisite landscapes adorn the walls of private collectors and corporate boardrooms alike. Five postage stamps now feature his photographs.

Mike graduated from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario in 1976 with a major in biology. For the next 20 years, he worked in water quality and forest entomology and pathology, based first in Edmonton and later in Winnipeg. In 1996, Mike launched a new career specializing in outdoor assignment and stock photography. He shoots for a broad range of corporate and editorial clients, in fields ranging from agriculture to architecture and from forest to factory. He manages a full service stock photography business comprising of more than 100,000 images. Mike has taught photography and conducted nature photography workshops for various groups across the country, including “Focus on the Rockies” for the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. Mike is also a regular contributor to Outdoor Photography Canada magazine, where he illustrates a regular feature called “Discovering Canada.”

Mike is a member of CAPIC, CAPA and accredited in “nature” and “stock photography” by PPOC. Mike was awarded second prize in the “Northern Lights 2007 Awards Canada competition for Excellence in Travel Journalism”. On 4 occasions, his images have been “highly honored” in the annual “Nature’s Best International Photography Competition”. Mike’s image are consistently selected for inclusion in the award winning engagement calendar “Inner Reflections”.

Mike is the principle photographer in 9 coffee table books having illustrated 4 books for Key Porter including “Muskoka” (2010), “Georgian Bay” (2008), “The Canadian Rockies” (2007) and the bestseller “Canada” with CBC broadcaster Shelagh Rogers (2005). Mike is currently working on another book about “Ontario”.

To view more of Mike's work, please visit his web site at: www.grandmaison.mb.ca

Prerequisites

Students are expected to understand and know how to operate their camera in the manual mode and other digital equipment, including laptop computers. Knowledge of an image processing software such as Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture or other RAW processor is an asset.

A passion for creating images and a love of the natural world is a must!

All participants should bring the following

• Photographic equipment, including a backup camera if you have one. Bring enough flash cards (or film!).
• Tripod.
• Flash (on camera flash works if you do not have a separate flash).
• Spare batteries and battery charger.
• Flashlight for working camera controls in the dark.
• A laptop or desktop computer pre-loaded with imaging software. Bring a 20 ft electrical extension cord and power bar in the event that the outlets are a distance from your classroom seat.
• A card reader, portable storage media such as external hard drives, CDs or DVDs.

Dont forget:

• USB or Firewire cords
• 3 to 5 images for critique (jpgs, 1500 pixels on longest side at 300 dpi, RGB mode)
• Footwear – walking shoes or hiking boots.
• Clothing - we plan to shoot outside for a few hours at a time, including before sunrise and after sunset.
• Rain jacket - we will shoot in overcast and light rain (makes for great images)
• Protective equipment such as hat, sunglasses and sunscreen.
• Note pad and pencil for taking field notes
• Equipment - bring what you shoot with, enough card space and a backpack or camera bag to put it all into.
• ALARM CLOCK

Contact:

Mike Grandmaison
31 Clearwater Road
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada
R2J 2T4

Tel: (204) 254-3131
email: mike@grandmaison.mb.ca
www.grandmaison.mb.ca

Register now!