About Jay and Varina Patel
This husband and wife duo is well known in the Landscape World of Photography. They travel to magnificent places and hike for miles to remote and exotic locations to bring us some amazing photographs. Check out Jay Patel and Varina Patel websites.
Landscape Workshop
Late 2013, they announced a Workshop for Australia in Port Stephens. The limited number of seats went very quickly and as so it happens I nabbed a place in the workshop.
Soon after they sent everybody a brief survey to understand what people want to get out of their workshop. They then tailor the content
Excited to learn and take my landscape photography to another level, I drove 2.5 hours to Port Stephens for this workshop. Unfortunately Varina got delayed in Chicago and missed her connection to Sydney so she couldn’t arrive until later that afternoon.
The workshop started on time and all the participants were welcomed by Jay. After introductions, Jay explained the plan for the three days. Essentially were were going to have three hands-on sessions per day with only limited time spent in the conference room.
The format of the sessions was sunrise, afternoon and sunset. One might wonder what the hell we would shoot during the afternoon but trust me there are many things one can do still in the world of landscape.
Key Topic Covered
- Preparation and Planning techniques
- Hyperfocal Distance
- Histogram
- Filters
- Macro
- Focus Stacking
- Long Exposure
- Working against the Elements ie when the weather and climate is not on your side
- Jay and Varina’s Workflow
- iHDR Workflow
The Trainers
Both Jay and Varina are very down to earth and easy going people. They tell you stories about their adventures, good and bad. They crack jokes all the time and get to know everybody very quickly. After a short time talking with them you think that you’ve known them for years.
When it comes to the teaching they are deep sea of knowledge, they structure their lessons with hands-on activities. During the hands-on sessions they both provide each of the participants individual attention and will spend as much needed time with you. They are happy to lend a hand no matter what your skill level.
My Favourites from the Workshop
All Alone
Fishermans Bay
Fishermans Bay
Looking for a new home – Focus Stacking
Tiny Family, Robinson Reserve
Macro Focus Stacking
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Excellent write up Harmeet!!! I have to agree that this is a highly recommended workshop to attend!! It was so good to share these learning experiences with you 🙂 Both Mykal and I got so much more out of the workshop than we could possibly expect 🙂