• Instructor: Mike Osborne
• Date: November 21, 2009
• Location: Yosemite National Park
• Focus: Field
• Level: Beginner to Advanced
• Class Limit: 10
• Tuition: $185.00
• Workshop cancellation and refund policy

How many times have you driven to Yosemite on Highway 140 and been in such a rush to get to the park that you've given only a passing glance to the 15 miles of the Wild & Scenic Merced River below the park boundary? The River Nobody Knows workshop offers you the opportunity to correct that oversight.

Yosemite National Park is composed almost exclusively of granite, and who could gainsay the marvelous terrain that rock has produced? But granite is basically various shades of gray and can be photographically boring. In contrast, large stretches of the Merced River downstream from the park are carved out of much older metamorphic rock. Not only is this rock often layered and contorted, it also comes in fantastic shades of blue, red and orange. It provides some truly wonderful compositions in conjunction with autumn reflections in the river and is all the more remarkable in contrast with all the gray rock upstream.

Weather conditions can cover the range from pleasant to cold and wet. Participants should wear waterproof boots with good traction soles. A good tripod is necessary for working in the shady conditions required for the best reflections and blurred water motion.

MIKE OSBORNE recently retired after a thirty year career as a ranger in Yosemite National Park, including eight seasons as a wilderness ranger. Mike has actively photographed nature in Yosemite and other wild places for over thirty-five years. His images have been used in promotional programs and literature supporting the Yosemite Fund and the Yosemite Association. Mike is the author of the book Granite, Water & Light, an interpretive and photographic paean to the waterfalls of Yosemite Valley. Originally published by Yosemite Association in 1983, an updated and expanded edition is currently being printed with a scheduled arrival in bookstores this spring. He also recently participated in a five-year project visually celebrating the Yosemite Wilderness with four other photographers. Sponsored by the Yosemite Fund, a book of their images called First Light: Five Photographers Explore the Yosemite Wilderness is being published and due out this summer.

Please email or call us at 888-361-7622 for more information