Colorado Fall / Autumn Photography Workshop

Regarded as one of the most beautiful locations in the world for fall foliage, the mountains of Crested Butte, Colorado are breathtaking and absolutely stunning for photography. The Colorado Fall / Autumn Photography Workshop conducted by Spencer Cox and Nasim Mansurov is designed to capture this specific period of the year when the mountain range gets the most stunning colors from aspens, shrubs, and other trees and plants in the area – it is truly an incredible experience to witness and photograph such magical transformations. Due to changes in weather and the amount of precipitation, the foliage colors and patterns can drastically change year to year, giving truly unique photographic opportunities for those who like visiting Colorado every fall.

The Colorado Fall Photography Workshop will combine a class on landscape photography, with the experience of photographing beautiful scenery in different areas of Colorado. We will travel together in cars and stop at the most scenic locations throughout the day, starting at sunrise and ending at sunset. Education will be provided throughout the workshop, and the instructors will spend one-on-one time with each participant (the workshop is limited to 10 participants). The goal is to learn how to capture beautiful landscapes in both normal and challenging lighting conditions. After coming back from the photo shoots, we will spend time learning how to cull and post-process images.

2024 Workshop Dates

Participants will arrive to Crested Butte the evening of Thursday, October 3rd and will depart the morning of Monday, October 7th, 2024.

Health Requirements

All participants must be in good health before the start of the workshop. If you have altitude sickness, heart condition and other high-risk health issues, you must report them in advance to see if the workshop environment is suitable for you.

Getting There

The workshop will take place around the town of Crested Butte, Colorado. Colorado residents might prefer driving to the location. If you are from out of state / different country, there are various airports that you can fly into and then rent a car:

• Denver International Airport (4.5 hour drive)
• Grand Junction Regional Airport (3.5 hour drive)
• Montrose Regional Airport (3 hour drive)
• Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport (40 minute drive)

Once you reserve your spot on the workshop, you will be able to coordinate your flight information with other participants and see if it is possible to share car rental fees. If you fly into Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport, it may be possible to take a taxi, Uber, or bus to Crested Butte.

Transportation / Driving Conditions

If you are planning to arrive by car or rent a car from an airport, we recommend reserving a 4×4 vehicle / SUV. Since we will be driving on some dirt roads, driving conditions in the fall can be a bit tricky due to rain/snowfall. Some of the dirt roads might get muddy, which is why we recommend an SUV. There is no need for high-clearance off-road vehicles because we are not planning to take any dangerous high-clearance roads in the area.

Accommodation

Crested Butte has a number of wonderful hotels, ski resorts, and Airbnbs with availability during the fall color season. There are also campgrounds and RV spots throughout the town and surrounding area. We can help coordinate accommodations that fit any of your requirements.

Before each day of photography, we will coordinate the schedule and ensure that you leave your hotel at the right time to arrive on location for the best light. If you don’t have a car with you, someone in our group will pick you up at your hotel.

What to Bring

Please note that we will have limited space in each car for camera gear, as we will be loading up every car with up to 4 people to reduce the number of total vehicles on the road – please consider reducing the amount of gear you will be taking with you. If you don’t have any high-end camera gear, please do not worry – this workshop is aimed at making you a better photographer, irrespective of the gear you own.

Cameras and Lenses

You can bring any kind of camera equipment with you. Our team is pretty familiar with all camera systems out there, so choice of brand is a non-issue. As for lenses, our recommendation would be to bring several lenses:

• Wide-angle / ultra-wide-angle: It will be useful to cover the ultra-wide perspective with a lens that reaches at least 20mm on a full-frame camera – in other words, 14mm on APS-C cameras or 10mm on Micro Four Thirds cameras. Ultra-wide lenses will be useful for shots like this:

• Normal zoom lens: A 24-70mm, 24-105mm, or a 24-120mm zoom would probably be your most-used lens during the workshop. It’s going very useful for typical photos of landscapes and aspen trees, and most of these lenses have good close-focus capabilities, allowing you to capture abstract leaves on the ground.

• Telephoto lens: There might be some good opportunities for using telephoto lenses as well, for shots like below if you grab something like a 70-300mm or a 70-200mm. Another option is to bring a superzoom like the Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 or the Canon 24-240mm f/4-6.3. Today’s superzooms are sharper than ever, and their versatility can replace a normal zoom and a telephoto simultaneously.

Wildlife won’t be abundant during this time of the year, so I would not take any expensive super telephotos. If weather permits and you want to get out at night, you might want to consider bringing a fast wide-angle prime, like a 20mm f/1.8 or 14-24mm f/2.8 lens. In past workshops, we have sometimes stayed out for Milky Way photography on days when there are no clouds, at the expense of not waking up for sunrise the following day. However, we will also show you how to capture detailed Milky Way photos with ordinary lenses, so a 20mm f/1.8 or 14-24mm f/2.8 is not a necessity.

Tripod

A tripod is an absolute must for this workshop. Please take a good, sturdy tripod – see our article on choosing a tripod for recommendations. It will be needed for both sunrise and sunset shots. Don’t forget your tripod quick release adapters (we have had people before who forgot those). Make sure to use a tripod that is easy to set up (provided that it is not flimsy) – we will be driving, hopping in and out of the car quite a bit. There will not be any need for monopods or other camera support gear.

Filters

1. Polarizing filter: very useful for fall colors, especially if there has been any rain recently. If you don’t have one, please purchase one as soon as possible.
2. GND filter: for sunrise/sunset shots, a soft-edge graduated neutral density (GND) filter can be useful. We recommend taking both a 2 stop and a 3 stop GND. If you want to only take one filter, take a 3 stop soft-edge GND. However, if you don’t have a GND, we will teach you proper exposure techniques to deal with high-contrast light regardless.
3. No other filters are going to be necessary, but we may photograph rivers or waterfalls. If you would like to bring a regular neutral density (ND) filter to experiment with different shutter speeds, you may find it useful.
4. If you wish to shoot film, a yellow, orange, and red filter are additionally recommended. Spencer will help teach large format film photography to any participants who are interested.

Laptop

We recommended bringing a laptop for the post-processing class (either PC or Mac), since we will be going over workflow and post-processing in detail.

Accessories

Don’t forget to bring a flashlight, memory cards, and extra batteries. Batteries deplete much faster in cold weather, so we would recommend bringing 2-3 batteries with you.

Clothing

Early October can bring all kinds of unexpected weather in the mountains. If you are from a warm area, you will need to get some warm clothes! Bring a winter jacket (water-resistant is preferable, in case it rains) and some clothing to layer up. Bring underpants / leggings, gloves, and a warm hat that covers your ears – you will thank us later! Mornings tend to get really cold, sometimes below freezing. With some potential wind, you will surely feel it. As for shoes, warm water-proof shoes are a must. No need for boots, as long as your shoes are a couple of inches higher than your ankle bone.

Your Best Pictures

You read that right! Please bring your most favorite 5 images you have captured so far. Please bring a processed JPEG and the original RAW, if you have it. This will be needed for the critique / post-processing section and we promise, you won’t regret attending that part of the workshop! Every participant from prior year workshops found a lot of value in this session. Some workshop participants choose to only select images from the prior days of shooting, which also works, as you will get suggestions on how to properly post-process and improve those photographs.

Meeting Time

We recommend that you arrive to Crested Butte on Thursday, October 3rd at your leisure. You can explore the beautiful town and the surrounding areas before our first photoshoot on Friday morning. We will be having a dinner with everyone on October 3rd to get to know one another and make sure everyone is on the same page about tomorrow’s plan. Here is the detailed schedule:

• October 3: Arrival, hotel check-in. Meet and greet / planning at dinner
• October 4, 5:30 AM: Load up for sunrise shoot
• October 4, Morning: Breakfast at McGill’s, aspen photography
• October 4, Afternoon: Lunch break, photo review from this morning
• October 4, Evening: Sunset shoot and dinner
• October 5, 5:30 AM: Load up for sunrise shoot
• October 5, Morning: Breakfast at Butte Bagels, aspen photography
• October 5, Afternoon: Lunch break, composition class
• October 5, Evening: Sunset shoot and dinner
• October 6, 5:30 AM: Load up for sunrise shoot
• October 6, Morning: Coffee Lab and drive into the mountains
• October 6, Afternoon: Mountain drive with stop for lunch
• October 6, Evening: Sunset shoot and dinner
• October 7, Morning: Optional sunrise shoot; photo evaluation, post-processing
• October 7, Afternoon: Departure

As you can see, this will not be just a photo tour – it is an extensive workshop to advance your photography skills! Please note that the above schedule is subject to change. Any changes to the schedule will be discussed in advance with all workshop participants.

Physical Health State and Altitude

Please note that we will be traveling by cars when we are out shooting and there will be minimal walking / hiking needed (typically no more than a few hundred feet). However, note that we will be in the high elevation zone (above 9000 feet), so we recommend you consult your doctor before the trip to make sure that you do not have high altitude sickness / problems. You will be asked to drink a lot of water during the workshop to avoid dehydration, headaches, and other problems associated with the high elevation. We will be requiring each participant to sign a “Release of Liability” form on the first day of the workshop.

Cost and How to Sign Up

The workshop cost is $1499 per participant. This cost excludes flight, car reservation, lodging, food, and other related costs. Workshop participants will be responsible for arranging their own flights, accommodations, and ground transportation to and from the workshop location in Crested Butte, Colorado.

In order to sign up for the above workshop, please use our secure Workshop Registration page.

Cancellation

Please note that the workshop fees are fully refundable up until 45 days prior to the workshop. We will not be able to provide a refund after this date due to planning and coordination issues. In the event of workshop cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances (natural disaster, government closures, injury, death, etc.), collected workshop fees will be refunded (minus potential processing fees and permits acquired in advance). If the workshop must be cut short partway through, refunds will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Photography Life will not be held responsible for airfare and other potential expenses incurred due to workshop cancellation.

Testimonials

Below are some of the testimonials from the prior workshops. If you have previously attended our workshops and would like to leave additional testimonials, please leave them in the comments section below. Thank you!

I attended a fall color landscape workshop that Nasim held in Colorado in October 2015. The workshop began with a tutorial on landscape photography, including camera settings. Over the next several days Nasim took us to many scenic venues in the early morning and early evening and made suggestions on composition, filters, etc. On the last day of the workshop he critiqued landscape photos we provided. Nasim’s expertise and instruction in all aspects of landscape photography was extremely valuable to me and the cost was a real bargain. Another benefit of this workshop was the interaction with the other workshop participants. I look forward to participating in other workshops Nasim organizes in the future. Jack Pearson.

The Fall 2015 PL workshop in Colorado was my first photography workshop. It may be my last because I am not sure other photography workshops can top how well Nasim orchestrated this workshop. It was my expectation that I would receive adequate one-on-one attention and instruction; Nasim came through beautifully. I came home with several spectacular shots made possible through his guidance. It was so easy to ask him questions and engage in conversation. His explanations, instructions and answers were given in an easy to follow manner. I am so glad I had the opportunity to attend the Fall 2015 workshop; it is an experience I will cherish. David Arthur.

The Photography Fall Workshop by Photography Life in Colorado will rank right up there for us as one of the best weekends we have ever experienced: peak fall foliage color, a terrific instructor and guide, and a fun group of fellow photography enthusiasts. Mark and Emily Fagan.

I have been to many photography workshops before, some of which were conducted by prize-winning National Geographic photographers. None of them were even close to the PL Workshop I was blessed to be a part of a couple of years back, all thanks to the passionate and super knowledgeable Nasim. He is one of the best instructions you can come by! I left the workshop full of knowledge and experience, not to count the beautiful images of fall colors, all of which helped transform the way I photograph today. Being out in the field and shooting with someone constantly helping you and fixing your mistakes is invaluable. I will surely be attending more workshops like this in the future by PL. Sunil Patel.