If you haven’t noticed, nature photography is something we love to dabble in, especially when we travel! We’ve never had any real training in photography, and just enjoy taking photos…but what if we could see through the lens of a professional and learn how to truly capture the beauty of it all?
We absolutely fell in love with the stunning photographs captured by Jeff Waldorff, famous for his Gulf Coast beach landscape, nature and wildlife shots. “Hmmm….wonder if he does photography lessons?” we thought.
When we reached out to him to set up a mini-workshop, we were excited to discover that he is just as passionate about teaching photography as he is the nature photography he shoots!
We have family members who love photography too, so we thought — this would be a wonderful gift idea to enjoy the experience together.
With much excitement, we booked a session and wrote up a list of questions and topics for Jeff. It was quite a list, but Jeff was so open and inviting to our eager questions!
To start off our session, we met Jeff at a pavilion near the beach to learn a bit about content, camera settings, tools of the trade, tips and tricks, digital processing, lighting…and more.
We were so inspired by his fusion of knowledge and art — his expertise, passion, determination — and were simply blown away by his obvious painstaking efforts to get the perfect shot.
Like any good teacher would, he used lots of examples from his collection and explained the behind-the-scenes secrets to how he got the shot. What an experience!
With our minds exploding with new possibilities, we headed down to the beach to set our cameras up for a sunset photo shoot.
What a beautiful scene!
We set up our tripods, and learned a bit about the tools (tripods & remotes), vantage points, and angles that help capture the sunset scene.
We played around a little bit with our camera settings, and watched Jeff in action! He gave us the insider scoop of his camera settings and strategies he uses to get what he’s going for.
A beautiful sunset behind the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier was just a breathtaking sight:
Jeff helped us understand how to capture the blurry-water-look to help show motion, so we took a stab at it:
As it got darker, we played with capturing the different lights, colors, and reflections:
And angles:
So much fun! We learned a ton, and have so much that we want to practice and get better at.
If you’re thinking about getting a session with a pro, we highly recommend Jeff Waldorff in the Navarre Beach area. He’s an incredible photographer and teacher, and is willing to customize his sessions from multiple one-on-one lessons to group workshops or mini-workshops. We definitely plan on scheduling a future session with him!
(By the way, you don’t have to be an advanced photographer to make this worthwhile — we ranged from auto-only settings to manual and all grew tremendously!)
What a special gift idea for a loved one who is into photography! And, if you love nature landscapes like we do, you must check out Jeff’s stunning photo gallery that can be printed and framed to your liking.
We hope that you’re inspired to dive deeper into a creative passion like photography!
Wow soooo neat. Memories at their best.
Yes! Such a fun way to get outdoors…and share in the moments that take your breath away 💗
This looks like fun! And so individualized and useful! I’m sure in all areas there are talented and knowledgable photographers just wanting to share their passion. Great photos. Thanks for the post.
Thank you! Yes, definitely something that lots of areas might have — who knows, there could be someone nearby in your hometown or on vacation who would love to take you on an adventure! Glad that you enjoyed the post & photos!! 😄