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!

Event: Fall 2010 Photo Tour at Aurum Lodge
Co-leaders: Royce Howland & Alan Ernst
Group size: 6 participants maximum, intermediate to advanced photography experience
Dates: September 28 – October 3, 2010
Highlights: 3 days / 4 nights at Aurum Lodge & David Thompson Country, 2 days / 1 night at Jasper & Icefields Parkway
Travel on location: Car-pooling with the group
Fee: $1649 CDN including all accommodations & meals; not including travel to the lodge
Registration info: The photo tour event page at the Aurum Lodge web site

I'm pleased to announce a new Fall 2010 photo tour in the Canadian Rockies. Based at the ideally situated Aurum Lodge, with co-leaders Alan Ernst and myself, this tour will present an excellent opportunity for fall photography over a period of 5 days. We will cover locations in the front range territory of David Thompson Country (including Abraham Lake, pictured above), in the Rockies along the world-famous Icefields Parkway, and in the Jasper area.

The primary goal of this tour is to provide field-intensive photography opportunities to participants at an intermediate to advanced level; this is not an introductory photography workshop. However we will also provide participant-focused, hands-on instruction whenever needed. This will include site orientations as we hit each new or different type of location, and in-field instruction on various topics such as equipment, technique and composition. We’ll also incorporate a pair of indoor portfolio review sessions where we review images made by everyone during the event to provide focused improvement opportunities during the event.

For more information, see the main announcement posted at my blog. Or see the event page at the Aurum Lodge web site. If you have any questions, please contact me directly via email (royce at vividaspect dot com). You can also contact Alan Ernst at the lodge (info at aurumlodge.com) for any information regarding the lodge, logistics there, or registration.

Maximum group size is limited to 6 participants. As of today we have 2 bookings confirmed so far. If a field-oriented fall photo tour in beautiful Alberta mountain country sounds like a good thing, we hope to hear from you!

I recently completed a photo tour as a participant on the Extreme Saskatchewan event. This tour was developed and led by Samantha Chrysanthou, Branimir Gjetvaj and Darwin Wiggett. The tour was hit with some wet and crazy weather to start, but ultimately resulted in successful image making opportunities. You can read about the event as I begin to write up the experience on my blog. Here are the first couple of entries:
A Little Extreme Never Hurt Anyone... Or Did It?
Making Tracks

I was just informed that my image Sundown On the Rocks has been selected as a home page feature at Fine Art America, where it will appear in the coming week. Neat! To see this image and many others, please visit the FAA Alberta photographs listing.

I have been interested in High Dynamic Range technique as it applies to photography, for almost 5 years now. In 2006, I wrote an article for NatureScapes.Net, The High Dynamic Range (HDR) Landscape Photography Tutorial, and broke a bit of new ground at the time in terms of introducing people to the topic. Over at my new blog, I've just posted Natural Dynamic Range (tm) -- When Only the Best Will Do. While it's half satirical, this is the first of what I expect will be an on-going series on my continued exploration of HDR technique.

As a companion to this site, I have just launched the Vivid Aspect Photography Blog. The main site, here, will remain concentrated on my photographic work and resources related to photography. On the blog, I will post solo images, as well as commentary that is finer grained and -- from time to time -- more editorial in nature.