Woodland Park Zoo PhotoWalk with Merrill Images

Join travel photographers John and Lisa Merrill for a fun small group PhotoWalk at the Woodland Park Zoo. With their on-location tips and encouragement, you’ll build wildlife photography skills, work with light and compose for impact -- and intentionally make vs. take photos. The Merrills welcome participants at every skill level, with any camera (including a phone), and will help you create compelling artistic images to treasure and share.

The PhotoWalk begins with a briefing highlighting the abundant photo opportunities of Woodland Park Zoo – intimate expressive portraits of animals’ faces, layered images showcasing their environment, and exciting action photos of lemurs leaping, birds building nests, otters swimming, wolves howling and other fascinating behaviors.

Then you’ll create on your own, and John and Lisa will be nearby to answer questions or offer suggestions. They’ll occasionally demonstrate photo techniques including varying your perspective, using grasses and trees as frames for intimacy and context, isolating an animal with a shallow depth-of-field, or capturing peak action with fast shutter speeds and continuous autofocus.

To ensure a personalized learning experience, the PhotoWalk is limited to 8 participants with 2 leaders (or 4 with 1 leader).

After uploading up to 10 photos to a shared folder, the group will reconvene via Zoom to discuss them, give and get supportive feedback, and be inspired by what others created at the same location. The Woodland Park Zoo PhotoReview session will be Wednesday October 2 from 2-3pm (a recording will be available for anyone who can’t join).

John and Lisa welcome questions about any aspect of this PhotoWalk, including gear. Other than your camera and a desire to create and have fun, everything on this list is optional:

• Camera (dSLR, mirrorless or phone) with a charged battery, and an extra if you have one
• Camera manual (or file downloaded to your phone)
• Lenses – if you have more than one, bring any that you want to use. A telephoto will be especially useful to capture portraits of animals at a distance
• Circular polarizing filter - one to fit the diameter of each lens – highly recommended to reduce sheen on surface of water/windows and saturate colors
• Comfortable walking shoes
• Raincoat
• Hat
• Water and snacks

John and Lisa Merrill are travel and social impact photographers who create images to evoke joy and wonder, inspire action and strengthen communities.

The Merrills are inspiring educators who enjoy nurturing others’ creativity. They’re grateful for the community of Seattle-area photographers who join them for small group PhotoWalks and workshops at libraries, art schools and camera clubs. Merrill Images photo adventures include San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Vietnam, and Slovenia, and UnCruise small ship expeditions in Baja and Alaska.

Visit www.merrillimages.com to view image galleries and learn more.

By registering for this event, you agree to receive the quarterly Adventures and Inspiration e-news from Merrill Images with info about new PhotoWalks and workshops, and photo tips and resources. You can unsubscribe at any time.

This event is limited to 8, and registration is required for each participant. If you are on the waitlist for this event, you will receive a notification via email if a space becomes available.

Participants must pay for their own Zoo admission and parking

Merrill Images PhotoWalks are held rain or shine (puddles reflect hidden wonders!). If you need to cancel, please notify [email protected] at least 2 days before the event date and the Merrills will issue a credit which can be used towards a future PhotoWalk. Note that Eventbrite fees are not refundable (unless the event is canceled by Merrill Images).

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