Quick link to full exhibit info:
Arizona & Alberta: People & Places: February 1 - March 8, 2013 in Calgary, Alberta, at multiple venues



More exciting exhibit news! I’m pleased to announce that Peter Carroll and I will have an exhibit of photography from the recent international photography exchange project we did in conjunction with Arizona team mates Ken Ross and Colleen Miniuk-Sperry. The event will run in Calgary February 1 - 28 across multiple branches of the Calgary Public Library, as well as February 21 - March 8 at St. Mary's University College. In addition to the photography displays, there are various presentations and receptions where visitors can meet the photographers behind the project.

For more information, see my blog post. If you're in the Calgary area over the coming weeks, I hope you can make it to one or more of these events!

Quick link to full exhibit info:
Arizona! People & Places: January 4 - February 2, 2013 in Calgary, Alberta



In continued exhibit news, I’m pleased to announce that Peter Carroll and I will have a joint exhibit of our Arizona photography from the recent international photography exchange project we did. The event will run in Calgary at the Framed on Fifth art gallery & framing studio, from January 4 - February 2, 2013. Visitors can meet Pete and myself at an artist reception from 5:00 – 9:00 PM on the opening night, Friday, January 4.

For more information, see my blog post on this topic. If you're in the Calgary area next month, I hope you can make it out to our show!

Event: Summer 2013 Photo Tour, Icelandic Summer Light
Co-leaders: Markéta Kalvachová and Royce Howland
Dates: July 15 – 24, 2013
Highlights: 10 days / 9 nights in Western & Southern Iceland, with Landmannalaugar
Departure & arrival: Keflavik airport, Iceland
Hours of daylight: ~20!
Travel on location: Minibus
Group size: 8 minimum, 10 maximum
Fee: $4395 USD per person double occupancy room ($530 USD supplement for single occupant room); includes transportation, accommodation & meals in Iceland; not including international flights or optional side tours
More info: See the tour schedule (PDF), and the Icelandic Summer Light tour page at Markéta’s web site
To register or for questions, contact: Royce Howland (royce at vividaspect dot com) or Markéta Kalvachová (kalimarky at yahoo dot com)

2013 will bring an exciting new event! I'm pleased to announce a new Summer 2013 photo tour -- Icelandic Summer Light. In July of 2013, I'll be partnering with Iceland-based Markéta Kalvachová to co-lead this tour. For 10 days, she and I will lead a small group of photographers to amazing locations across Western & Southern Iceland. My trip to Iceland in June of 2012 was incredible, and in 2013 the experience should be no less amazing. If long summer days in a breath-taking land with a group of like-minded folks sounds good to you, check out our Icelandic Summer Light photo tour in 2013!

For more information, see the main announcement posted at my blog. Or see the tour page at Markéta's site. If you have any questions, please contact us via email: royce at vividaspect dot com or kalimarky at yahoo dot com. We'd be happy to tell you more about travel, accommodations, logistics, what gear to bring, or registration details.

We hope to hear from you!

Quick links to event pages:
Stories Instead of Snaps Presentation: Oct. 27, 2012 in Phoenix, AZ
Arizona / Alberta Photography Exchange 2012 Exhibit: Oct. 30 – Nov. 10, 2012 in Gilbert, AZ



I've announced it elsewhere, but wanted to add the news here as well. I’m very pleased to announce the launch exhibit for the first ever Arizona / Alberta TEOE international photography exchange! The exhibit will be held from October 30 – November 10, 2012 at the Art Intersection Gallery in Gilbert, Arizona. An artist reception will be held from 7:00 – 9:00 PM on Wednesday, November 7, where exhibit visitors can meet me and the other 3 photographers behind the project.

Also, this weekend on the 27th, my 3 project team mates will be presenting a photo talk in Phoenix, Arizona -- "Travel Photography: Stories Instead of Snaps".

For more information, see my blog post on this topic. If you're in the Phoenix area any time during the next couple of weeks, I hope you can make it out to one or both of these events!

This has been a very busy year! Although gallery updates can always be found here, I've not updated this site's news posts that frequently. Current info about what I'm up to can always be found at my blog. Here are some recently completed projects that I've posted about on the blog.



Assisted this year by Daniel Wheeler and Alan Ernst of Aurum Lodge, I just finished running my Fall 2012 Photo Tour. We had a full group this time out, and enjoyed unseasonably warm weather. I thought it might mean we'd miss the major fall color, but fortunately the aspen started to turn quickly. The group experienced fantastic locations including back-to-back days at Lake O'Hara, points around the Lake Louise area, and several of my favorite spots in David Thompson Country. This included some great cloud conditions, and one of the best mountain sunsets any of us have seen in years. See my blog post Fall 2012 Photo Tour in the Canadian Rockies for more information about the tour, including links to images from participants coming soon.



In June & July, I completed the field photography part of a collaborative project with photographers Peter Carroll, Colleen Miniuk-Sperry and Ken Ross. Working with this team on an international photography exchange for the Phoenix-based group Through Each Others Eyes was an incredible experience. For more, see my blog post Whirlwind Tour. Public print exhibits of the resulting work are coming soon, stay tuned for details!



At the end of May and well into June, I was occupied on an 18 day trip to Iceland with my wife and a fun group of other folks, mostly photographers. The group was organized by Samantha Chrysanthou & Darwin Wiggett, while Tim Vollmer built out the itinerary and very ably shepherded us around the island of fire & ice. Iceland -- what can I say? This destination has been on my travel & photography "must do" list for years, and when I finally got there I realized it was even more impressive than I had imagined. My own images from this trip are still waiting to be looked at & developed, since I've been busy with photo tours and the TEOE project. However if you'd like to see some examples of what the rest of the traveling group came up with, be sure to check out the free Oopoomoo photo e-book pictured above. You can also have a look at my blog posts Iceland 2012 Photo Results From the Group and More Iceland 2012 Results From the Group. I must get back to Iceland...



Earlier in May I had another good group out in the field for my Spring 2012 Photo Tour. We were again based at Aurum Lodge, where Madeleine & Alan Ernst have created a virtually perfect base of operations for photography in the front ranges of the Rockies, extending to the world-famous Icefields Parkway. The group had a great time photographing scenic & natural subjects at springtime, and for a change we also threw in a special all-day access to the intriguing Brazeau Collieries abandoned mine site in nearby Nordegg. All in all it was a productive experience, and we all learned a lot while experiencing many great opportunities for photography. See my blog post Spring 2012 Photo Tour in the Canadian Rockies for more, including links to participant photos.



The final big project I'll call out was the excellent month I spent exploring around the northern Alberta town of Peace River, hosted by colleague Daniel Wheeler. What a cool experience that was! I've never spent any time north of Edmonton, with or without a camera, and it was great to finally begin experiencing a different side of Alberta. I met some great folks, had a couple of well-received photo presentations, and took a lot of photographs... but even after a month, I was only scratching the surface. Read more at my blog, including Aaahhrr, matey! Things be a-buzz in Peace Country.

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Well, those were the big ones, but filling in the cracks there were a whole bunch of other things as well. Suffice it to say I've got a pretty large backlog of photography to come to grips with over the coming winter months! Starting in October, look for new material hitting my online galleries...

Openings are available in all of my currently scheduled photo tours and workshops. See the listings on the workshops page here or at my blog.



All events are running at Aurum Lodge in beautiful David Thompson Country, providing fantastic access to photogenic areas of the Canadian Rockies. Events this year still with spaces open include the Fall Photo Tour (happening at the end of this month) and the Light Matters Masterclass: Creative Expression workshop coming up in November, which I'm co-leading with Samantha Chrysanthou and Darwin Wiggett.

We're also taking advanced bookings for the Spring and Fall Photo Tours in 2012. See the event package descriptions at the Aurum Lodge site.

If you would enjoy an intensive photo experience with a blend of experienced instruction, fantastic field locations, a great home base lodge and like-minded participants, our events are your ticket!

The fall/winter 2011 issue of Outdoor Photography Canada is hitting newsstands. Starting on page 46, readers will find my new article, "6 Tips for Photorealistic HDR."



High Dynamic Range (HDR) technique has become very popular in the past few years, but it's often associated with a surrealistic style of image making that some people don't like. As a result, some photographers may be turned off the technique when in fact it offers a lot of benefits for those who maintain a photorealistic style.

Check out my article for the set of core tips I follow in my own HDR work. The article also may appear online in due course, at the Outdoor Photography Canada web site.

Also, see my blog posting about the article.

The famous Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken”, ends with a few lines that are easily seen as inspiration for the outdoor photographer:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

But what of the roads more traveled? Should I pack the camera away on these roads, or can I approach them photographically in a way that makes all the difference?

For my thoughts on this question, see my new article Roads More Traveled, just published at NatureScapes.Net.

Things have been busy of late, one task being to lock down some dates for upcoming photo tours in 2011. In addition to the previously announced Light Matters Masterclass on Creative Expression, which is confirmed for November 2 – 6, 2011, I will be leading two other photo tours this year.

The Spring 2011 Photo Tour is scheduled to run May 15 – 19, 2011. Based at Aurum Lodge, this tour can help you spring into the 2011 photographic year after what seems to have been a long winter.

Following last year's successful fall tour, the Fall 2011 Photo Tour is scheduled to run this year from September 26 – October 1, 2011. Also based at Aurum Lodge, this tour promises to be a successful visit to the Rockies during a spectacular season.

For more details on my tours, workshops and events, please visit the Vivid Aspect Tours, Workshops & Events page at my blog. Or check the workshops section here on this site for periodic updates. Also feel free to contact me directly for information.

Event: Light Matters Masterclass: Creative Expression
Co-leaders: Samantha Chrysanthou, Darwin Wiggett & Royce Howland
Group size: 9 participants maximum, intermediate to advanced photography experience
Dates: November 2 - 6, 2011; see this post for date change details
Location: 5 days / 4 nights at Aurum Lodge in David Thompson Country
Travel on location: Car-pooling with the group
Fee: $2745 CDN including all instruction fees, accommodations & meals; not including travel to the lodge
Information: See the event PDF brochure
Registration: Alan Ernst at Aurum Lodge

I'm very pleased to announce a new event in early November 2011. (Note -- date changed from November 2010.) I'm teaming up with the highly recognized and accomplished Samantha Chrysanthou and Darwin Wiggett to present Light Matters Masterclass: Creative Expression, the first in a new series.

This Light Matters Masterclass event is an intensive, mentor-based photography workshop. Unlike many other photo tours or workshops, it offers a unique balance of short, insightful seminars on key topics along with targeted field time including assignments. In addition, hands-on lab work and constructive critiques will cement the opportunity for each participant to hone their own unique balance between craft, art and profession, and master personal creative goals.

Making the event possible is the award-winning Aurum Lodge. Centrally placed in David Thompson Country with access to the world-class Canadian Rockies, the lodge provides an ideal blend of location, lodgings and meal arrangements designed for the focused photographer. Also unique to this masterclass event, the combination of a small group size (maximum 9!) and proven trio of instructors Samantha, Darwin and myself will afford a rare degree of personal focus for each participant. Our goal is to make sure each member of the group gets the maximum result from this experience.

For more information, see the main announcement posted at my blog. Or contact me (royce at vividaspect dot com) or Alan Ernst at Aurum Lodge for more information. You can also check out Darwin's announcement of the event or see Sam's announcement.

This will be an exciting event concentrated on personal creative expression. If this sounds like a good way to engage your creativity, we hope you'll join us for Light Matters Masterclass: Creative Expression!