Category Archives: Antelope Canyon
During the workshops I want everyone to capture great images, have fun, and be safe. When we are on location I have photographers at every skill level join me, and I make sure to line up great locations that you do not have to be a mountain goat too get to. Some of the clients are in top physical shape and extremely adventurous, and I do not want to tell any of them that they can’t venture off from the group and explore the wonderful locations. Some like to go a little further then others. When they do this, I just tell them that they have broken off from the group for a little while and when they come down the can rejoin us.

Has anyone seen Randy?
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Leave a comment | tags: Paul Christopher James, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity | posted in Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Lightroom 6, Pink Slot Canyon, Slot Canyon Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Photo Software, Valley of Fire, Zion National Park
The Southwest workshop is only a few weeks away and I have been going over images getting ready for the shoot. On this fall day I hope everyone is out enjoying corn fields turned into mazes and spending time in the apple orchards. One of my favorite fall activities has been to find the perfect pumkin to carve my Jack O’ Lantern and with Halloween just around the corner this image popped out at me.

Southwest Jack O’ Lantern-Valley of Fire
The Southwest doesn’t have corn fields and apple orchards but it does have some of the best Jack O’ Lanterns formed by a millennium of wind and rain.
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Leave a comment | posted in Antelope Canyon, Lightroom, Nik software, Photographic Workshops, Pink Slot Canyon, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Labs, Valley of Fire
I am looking forward to Saint James Court Art show this weekend! This will be my last outdoor art fair of the season. After the show I will have a little more time to work with images, as well as get the house and yard ready for winter. Soon I will be heading out to spend time capturing fall colors in the Smoky Mountains and Zion National Park along the Virgin River. The Show season goes fast and I will miss seeing everyone. Thank You All for making it another wonderful year at the shows!

Cottonwoods along the Virgin River
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Leave a comment | tags: Paul Christopher James, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity | posted in Antelope Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon, Nik software, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Topaz Photo Software, Valley of Fire, Virgin River, Zion National Park
Every Spring I teach a workshop in the Smoky Mountains to capture images of the park coming out of its winter sleep.
It is always enjoyable seeing images that clients capture during the workshops.
Bob thanks for sending over some of the images that you and Linda shot.
Looking forward to this spring’s workshop and will enjoy seeing the images you capture!

Flour ground in a Smoky Mountain Grist Mill

Spring Dogwoods in Sparks Lane

Spring Dogwoods at rustic cabin Smoky Mountains

Bonsai Dogwood Smoky Mountains

Last Light – Rustic cabins Smoky Mountains
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Spring Photo workshop, Paul Christopher James, Rome photo workshop, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Antelope Canyon, Charleston Photographic Workshop, Michigan photographic workshops, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Rome Photgraphic Workshop, Slot Canyon Photo Workshop, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, Topaz Clarity, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Venice Italy Photographic Workshop, Zion National Park
Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with JBrad Lewis on a few of the images he captured during my Novembers Southwest workshop. We used Adobe Lightroom developed module to process his image. Lightroom has a fantastic develop module and its cataloging system to organize my workflow is amazing and over the last year it has become my starting point for working on images. Lightroom’s lets you work with a thumbnail of your images instead of the full image storing metadata of the changes and making my workflow lighting fast. When I work with my images in CS6 program the larger files slow me down. Not having to wait for files to open saves me time to go out and do a little more shooting.

Antelope Canyon – Southwest Workshop
The unprocessed image looks good out of the camera but a few Lightroom adjustments makes it a award winning image.

Antelope Canyon Raw unprocessed image
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Labs, Tuscany photo workshop, Venice Photo Workshop | posted in Antelope Canyon, Audubon Swamp, Barns, Battery Park, Boneyard, Botany Bay, Charleston Photographic Workshop, Fire Canyon Arch, Fire Wave, Grand Canyon, Hopi Point, Horseshoe Bend, Michigan Photographic Workshop, Michigan photographic workshops, Natural Arch, Nik software, Petroglyphs, Photographic Workshops, Photoshop Elements 13, Pink Slot Canyon, Pink Slot Canyon, Rialto Bridge, Rome Photgraphic Workshop, Rome photo workshop, Smoky Mountains National Park, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, The Narrows, Topaz Clarity, Topaz Photo Software, Tuscan Photo Workkshop, Upper Antelope Canyon, Valley of Fire, Venice, Venice Italy Photographic Workshop, Virgin River, Zion National Park
Nature often offers us elegance that takes us out of ourselves and into places of amazing beauty. While in the Southwest I am alway delighted by the shapes that wind and rain have formed over the millennium and I am looking forward to my next trip.

Ray of light Antelope Canyon
When capturing images and looking at compositions it is always important to consider cropping and to try to compose the image both vertically and horizontally.

Ray of light Antelope Canyon Vertical
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity, Tuscany photo workshop | posted in Adobe CS6, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Lightroom, Nik software, Petroglyphs, Photographic Workshops, Pink Slot Canyon, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, The Narrows, The Watchman, Topaz Clarity, Valley of Fire, Virgin River, Zion National Park
After our last morning shoot and discussion of the trip over breakfast everyone headed home or off to capture more images. I headed back out to the Valley of Fire to spend a few days capture images and taking advantage of the rare opportunity to spend time in the desert reflecting before heading home. After teaching a workshop there is nothing more relaxing for me than to capture images and watch the light in great locations that I have shared with new and old friends. Our deserts in the southwest are perfect locations for reflection and to clear our heads of the distractions that come at us through work and the media.

Cottonwood Reflections on the Virgin River in Zion – processed with Lightroom and Topaz Clarity
I am not sure if anyone driving with me to locations noticed but I never had the radio on to distract us from the beauty of the landscape and the conversations about the images we were capturing and getting to knowing each other.

Cottonwood Reflections on the Virgin River in Zion – unprocessed
This is not to say that I do not enjoy music or want to be informed about the events going on in the world but sometimes I like a break to enjoy the wonderful locations and the people who travel to these locations with me. As I am putting my thoughts down I am listening to a great music station out of Springdale NC http://wncw.org/listen-live 88.7 The reason that I like this station is that is plays an eclectic mix of music. If I hear a song that I like it may be a month or two before I get to hear it again.
I had a great time out west and hope that everyone made it home safely! Paul
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Charleston Spring Photo workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Paul Christopher James, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Labs | posted in Antelope Canyon, Fire Canyon Arch, Fire Wave, Nik software, Petroglyphs, Photographic Workshops, Pink Slot Canyon, Smokey Mountain Photographic Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, The Watchman, Topaz Labs, Topaz Photo Software, Valley of Fire, Virgin River, Zion National Park
My mornings on location can bring amazing results. Earlier in the week we visited this lake hoping to capture mirror reflections at sunrise but the winds had kicked up making the lake choppy and even though that morning was beautiful I had to revisit this lake to capture this soft fog and mirrored sunrise.
Often clients and friends ask why I revisit these beautiful places? My answer often brings a smile when I tell them that I revisit these beautiful locations to capture them under the right lighting and weather locations. When I revisit an area like Pictured Rocks I will always explore and scout out new locations to shoot but there are locations that I will go back to every time I am in an area.

Sunrise in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
The unprocessed image of this misty morning on this mirror lake is pretty sweet but processing this image with Lightroom and Topaz Clarity brings the feel and look closer to what we actually saw that morning.

Sunrise in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan Raw image
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Leave a comment | posted in Antelope Canyon, Fall Colors, Michigan photographic workshops, Nik Software, Photographic Workshops, Pictured Rocks, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Smoky Mountains National Park, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Labs
The 4th of July is a great day to have fun with family and friends and plan trips to our great National Parks. My images below capture the beauty of Grand Canyon and remind me of the visual treasures the parks hold for us to photograph. I have scheduled two workshops this fall in our National Parks, hope you can join us.
The Great Smoky Mountains Workshop tour October 26-29 2014
Southwest Slot Canyon Workshop tour Nov. 8-14 2014.
Hope you can join me in one of our national parks!

Shadow Lands, South Rim of the Grand Canyon
Both Topaz and Nix software can work magic on your image. Today Ihave spent a little time today working on images of the Grand Canyon that are in my Panoramic Gallery. The Topaz software that I used to finish these images makes a huge improvement over the original processing in Photoshop CS3 used just a few years ago.

Tapestry of Light, South Rim of the Grand Canyon

Raw image with a few adjustments
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Leave a comment | tags: Italian Photographic Workshop, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Smokey Mountain Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Clarity | posted in Antelope Canyon, Cades Cove, Dogwoods, Fire Canyon Arch, Fire Wave, Fog Bow, Grand Canyon, Greenbrier, Hopi Point, Little River Road, Natural Arch, Nik software, Ogle Cabin, Owl Canyon, Page Arizona, Paul Christopher James, Photographic Workshops, Rime Ice, River time exposure, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Slot Canyon Workshops, Smokey Mountain Photo Workshop, Smokies, Smoky Mountain Photo Workshop, Smoky Mountains Institute, Southwest Photo Workshop, Southwest Photographic Workshop Tour, The Watchman, Topaz Photo Software, topaz simplify, Tremont, Valley of Fire, Virgin River, White Rainbow, Zion National Park
When I am out capturing images the mornings will often bring gifts and it is just you and the light. These mornings do not happen every time but often enough. This was one of my all time favorite morning not just because of the light but because I was able to share it with a few others who wanted to see what the morning would bring.

Hopi Point, Grand Canyon Panorama
This image was captured in 2005 and I have just reworked the image with Topaz in CS6. Watching the light dance across the Grand Canyon was an exhilarating experience.
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Leave a comment | tags: Charleston Photographic Workshop, Digital Photographic Workshop, Nik Software, Paul Christopher James, Topaz Clarity, Tuscany photo workshop | posted in Antelope Canyon, Hopi Point, Slot Canyon Photo Workshop, Southwest Photo Workshop, Topaz Photo Software, Valley of Fire