Join us as we learn how to reframe our familiar connection with water

How do we avoid the obvious when photographing water landscapes fraught with clichĂ©s? What are the ways in which expert photographers see beyond the familiar and elevate subjects that others might gloss over? We will answer all of these questions and more in this International Speaker Series on photographing Unique Waterscapes. This series gives you the opportunity to learn from some of the world’s leading photographers with decades of experience photographing water and coasts all over the world. 

Join for what is guaranteed to be an incredible International Speaker Series where you will hear from 4 speakers over the course of a month, each talking about their unique approach to photographing seascapes, intertidal zones, intimate scenes, and crafting original images. At just $22 per speaker or $77 for the whole series, this represents incredible value to access presentations from these photographers — including lifetime access to recordings, so you don’t have to be there live! We will learn about creative techniques, uncovering beauty in the everyday, and how we can grow by challenging ourselves to craft personally meaningful photographs. 

  • We start the series with Hans Strand’s presentation on “Waterscapes”, kicking us off with a deep dive on his approach to photographing water with 35 years of experience. (LIVE April 25th at 11:00 am PT / 19:00 pm GMT)
  • Bill Ward joins as the next speaker to discuss “Shooting Water”, his creative philosophy to photograph water no matter where he finds it. (LIVE April 29th at 11:00 am PT / 19:00 pm GMT)
  • Next up David Southern enlightens us with his talk “Out of the Ordinary”, a deeply personal approach for elevating everyday subjects to their fullest potential. (LIVE May 17th at 11:00 am PT / 19:00 pm GMT)
  • Lastly, Theo Bosboom, a returning NPC speaker, joins to talk about “Seascapes: The Intertidal Zone”, offering unique insight into making original photographs. (LIVE May 21st at 11:00 am PT / 19:00 pm GMT) 

This promises to be a practical and insightful speaker series from photographers who have honed their craft through years of hard work. 

At just $22 per speaker or $77 for the whole series, this represents incredible value to access presentations from these photographers — including lifetime access to recordings, so you don’t have to be there live!

Each session will be approximately 60-90 minutes in length with 30 minutes for Q&A.

Registration for the series comes with the opportunity to ask questions live, rewatch the sessions as much as you want for as long as you want, and even download for offline viewing. They are all recorded so no need to be there live! You will have permanent access to the recordings through your NPC account, YouTube or Dropbox file download.

Are you an annual or monthly member? You’ll gain access to all these sessions the day after they’re streamed live!

Nature Photography Classes offer are a unique opportunity to hear from and interact with people that rarely speak with audiences and are considered some of the best photography educators in the world.  

5% of all registration fees will be donated to the environmental cause or organization of the speakers choosing.  Another great opportunity to give back!

The sessions will be hosted by Murray Livingston, International Speaker Series moderator for Nature Photography Classes. Learn more about Murray below.

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Hans Strand teaches â€œWaterscapes"

Hans Strand

Water has 3 ways or phases to show itself: as solid, liquid and gas. In landscape photography water is present in almost everything we shoot. It can diffract sunlight in a piece of ice, plunge as a glacier river into a gorge or fill the sky with clouds. Especially photographing water in motion is subject enough for a lifetime. A photographer's task is always to make his/her interpretation of what is in front of the camera. Waterscapes are no exceptions and when in motion, your choice of shutter speed is an important ingredient of your interpretation. In my presentation I am showing my way of depicting the subject of water, including choice of shutter speeds, how to do manual focus stacking of riverscapes, using water as reflectors, ice landscapes, aerial photography of riverscapes, how to shoot waterfronts, how to include weather in your photography etc.

Bio:

I have 35 years of experience as a professional landscape photographer. I have also spent 30 years photographing Iceland both from above and below resulting in several books. My latest book is AQUA, a depiction of water in all 3 of its states. Along my entire career, I have been associated with Hasselblad and was one of the photographers they used to present their new flagship camera X2D-100c in September 2022.

Learn more about Hans and his work on his website

Hans will be supporting United Help Ukraine with 5% from the registration fees donated to their mission.

Price: $22 (or as part of the entire series for only $77!)

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Bill Ward teaches “Shooting Water"

Bill Ward

Join multi-award winning creative photographer and actor Bill Ward as he takes a deep dive into the wet stuff. From waterfalls to seascapes, urban canals to mountain streams, Bill leaves no stone unturned in his quest to uncover the mysteries of H2O, and how we as photographers can help unlock its full potential.

We’ll have an in depth look at the building blocks of composition, use of aperture and depth of field, focal length, weather conditions, and reflections, as well as moving on to more abstract and creative photography later in the presentation.

Whether you’re a tripod user or prefer handheld, this is the perfect seminar for anyone who’s interested in exploring the photographic possibilities of our fabulous aqueous companion.

Bio:

Bill Ward is a multi-award winning photographer and actor. He won the inaugural Adobe Prize at the UK Landscape Photographer of the Year 2015, Best Seascape at Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year 2020, and was runner up in the Creative Photography category at Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year 2021. He’s gives talks at Festivals, Shows, and Camera Clubs all over the world, and is delighted to be on the current judging panel for UK Landscape Photographer of the Year. He is an Ambassador for Pentax Ricoh UK, a Tour/Workshop Leader for Light and Land, and shoots for the photographic agencies Robert Harding and ArenaPal.

As an actor, he has appeared in over 30 TV Shows and Films, and 50 Plays since turning professional in 2000. He is probably best known for playing the rather unpleasant builder Charlie Stubbs in the UK TV show Coronation Street for over 400 episodes, for which he won many awards. A creative photography specialist, as well as a landscape photographer, he is particularly drawn to water, and is a regular writer and contributor to the worldwide ICM Photography Magazine. He believes in improvising, meeting the landscape on its own terms, and going with what he’s given.

His photography is a response, and in many ways an antidote, to the time he spends as an actor working in the public eye.

You can learn more about Bill and his work on his website.

Bill will be supporting Surfers Against Sewage with 5% from the registration fees donated to their mission.

Price: $22 (or as part of the entire series for only $77!)

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David Southern teaches “Out of the Ordinary"

David Southern

The aim of this presentation is to explore how commonplace moments and scenes can be translated from the ordinary into the extraordinary. Finding inspiration in familiar subjects can be challenging. By looking a little closer and deeper into the world around us we can find hidden beauty and fresh ideas.

Letting your imagination roam free can be a highly rewarding process and can give the photographer a freedom to develop their own sense of self expression in their work. This theme will be demonstrated by drawing upon a portfolio of images created during frequent explorations along my local coastline as well as from further afield.

Bio:

On my photographic journey I have photographed in a great many places from around the world, including recording conservation projects for the World Wildlife Fund, (WWF).

Since becoming a full time photographer in 2018 much of my work has featured the intimate landscapes and wildlife found on my local Northumbrian coastline.Being immersed in the natural world is where i am most at ease and where I find endless inspiration.

My work has been widely published in books, magazines and exhibitions. I am an experienced public speaker and regularly present at photography clubs. I run photography workshops and I am a photography mentor. I have appeared on local TV and radio and my book ‘Shoreline’ was published in Spring 2022.

I have won awards in a number of national and international competitions.

Learn more about David and his work on his website.

David will be supporting Seabird with 5% from the registration fees donated to their mission.

Price: $22 (or as part of the entire series for only $77!)

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Theo Bosboom teaches "Seascapes: The Intertidal Zone"

Theo Bosboom

The coast has inspired artists for centuries, and it is also irresistible to landscape photographers. Photographing coastal landscapes is easy and difficult at the same time. It is easy because you don't need special equipment for it and you can do it on any beach and at any time of the year and day. There is always more than enough to photograph and the chances of coming home with some nice images are high. On the other hand, it can be quite a challenge to properly capture the dynamics of a beach in your photos, to properly control the sometimes large contrasts between light and dark and, above all, to make more of your photo than just another sunrise or sunset. Perhaps even more than in other forms of nature and landscape photography, clichés lurk in seascapes.

During the presentation, I want to show the great dynamics and diversity of the sea and the coast and how to look for personal and original photos. Topics will include photographing waves, intimate landscapes, the creatures of the intertidal zone, preparation, safety and much more!

Bio:

Born and raised on the coast, Theo Bosboom has been a professional photographer for 12 years, after a previous career as a lawyer. Theo knows the secrets of coastal photography like no other and is happy to share them with you. He himself worked for years on the book project Shaped by the sea, for which he photographed the most spectacular and most interesting places on the Atlantic coast of Europe.

Theo’s photographs are regularly published in renowned magazines such as National Geographic (Dutch and German edition), GEO, BBC Wildlife magazine and OnLandscape. Theo has won numerous awards and recognition in international photography competitions like Wildlife Photographer of the year and European wildlife photographer of the year and his work has been exhibited in musea around the world, including solo exhibitions in German musea. Theo has published four photo books: Iceland pure (2012), Dreams of wilderness (2015), Shaped by the sea (2018) and Back to Iceland (2022). 

Learn more about Theo on his website.

Theo will be supporting De Waddenvereniging, the Netherlands (Wadden Association) with 5% from the registration fees donated to our mission.

Price: $22 (or as part of the entire series for only $77!)

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Meet Murray Livingston

Murray is a full-time professional landscape and nature photographer, educator, and workshop leader with more than 10 years of image making experience. Murray photographs all aspects of the landscape through long-term photographic projects in Scotland, where he is based most of the year in a self-built campervan, and his home country of South Africa. He is a deep thinker with interests in adventure & conservation, both of which he strives to communicate and teach through a deeply contemplative and introspective approach to photography.