Ralph Cle­venger grew up on the coast of North Africa and began div­ing in the waters of the Mediter­ranean Sea at the age of 7 with his father.  He even­tu­ally went on to study zool­ogy at San Diego State Uni­ver­sity and worked as a diver/biologist for the Scripps Insti­tu­tion of Oceanog­ra­phy in La Jolla, Cal­i­for­nia before attend­ing Brooks Insti­tute of Pho­tog­ra­phy.   He holds a BS degree in zool­ogy and a BA degree in pho­tog­ra­phy. Ralph is the author of Pho­tograph­ing Nature, pub­lished by New Riders.

Ralph has fol­lowed his pas­sion for the nat­ural world by spe­cial­iz­ing in loca­tion pho­tog­ra­phy and video projects of eco-travel, envi­ron­men­tal por­traits, nat­ural land­scapes, wildlife and under­sea sub­jects.

Ralph has trav­eled through­out the world on assign­ment includ­ing Aus­tralia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Cen­tral Amer­i­ca, Brasil, Antarc­tica, Alaska, Mex­ico, Kenya, Tan­za­nia, Zim­babwe, Zam­bia, Botswana and South Africa.

Ralph Clevenger’s Website: ralphclevenger.com

This workshop is always limited to only 10 participants with one instructor, to ensure the one-on-one educational environment.

No, there is not a deadline to sign up for the workshop. However, space is limited and this workshop is in demand. Unfortunately, to keep the small group size and to ensure the critical one-on-one educational environment between the instructor and student, we do not add additional seats.

 As this is a technical-based workshop, there is some additional equipment needs that go above-and-beyond the regular High Sierra Workshops camera/lens recommendations.

For starters, a tripod and remote shutter release are necessary. While you could do the ‘poor man’s cable release’ of using the camera’s self-timer, this will not work when it comes to photographing the critters. Please ensure you have a compatible and working remote shutter release for your camera.

For the tripod, a sturdy tripod that allows greater flexibility in the angle of the legs (how low you can bring the tripod down to the ground), as well as a short or adjustable center column, can really make the difference when it comes to macro photography.

As for your lens choices, you must have either camera lenses that have macro settings or dedicated macro lens. This is a MUST. Macro lenses (sometimes called close-up lenses), extension tubes, or close-up diopters (special lenses that screw into the front of your lens) will work well for macro photography.

In addition to a tripod and macro lens you’re going to need at least one flash.  You need to be able to use the flash off the camera.  A TTL flash cord or wireless flash triggering system will allow you to trigger your flash off-camera.

If you have a second or even third small flash bring them.

If you have small reflectors and diffusers bring them too.

Any other close-up equipment like focus rails, diopters, extension tubes, teleconverters, etc. will add to the creative opportunities.

The workshop will begin on Saturday morning with the required orientation, and will conclude Sunday late afternoon, allowing for travel time back to the airport/home.

The workshop meeting location and additional details will be emailed to all workshop participants as the workshop start date nears.

In order to accommodate a variety of dietary and meal-time needs, we will take the time each day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The itinerary schedule (which you will receive during the orientation) will detail the meal times and locations. You can anticipate spending between $30-40 a day for all three meals.