Taking in a multi-day photography workshop in E.C. Manning Park, B.C.

The stars lined up for me this summer (2020) as I was able to attend Jess Findlay Photography’s annual Manning Park Wildlife and Mountain Vistas multi-day workshop from July 12th – July 15th. Although photographers from all over the world would typically be welcomed to attend this workshop, given the COVID-19 travel restrictions, only those who resided within British Columbia were considered. A vacancy arose for me to attend and I was also able to secure a room at the Manning Park Lodge.

I was camping by myself in Manning Park a month earlier and was very much looking forward to getting on this workshop to further develop my wildlife photography skills with my new super telephoto lens (Nikon 500mm f/5.6).

The workshop started at the Lodge at 2 pm on the Monday, I arrived just in time having just completed a 4 day camping trip in the B.C. Interior that morning. The meet and greet was pleasant, six of us photographers were present for the workshop lead by Jess and Connor Stefanison. Collectively, they have more than 20 years of experience photographing nature, and 10 years leading instructional photo workshops. We were in good hands.

The next four days we were kept very busy and, as advertised, the trip highlights did not disappoint

• Exploration of a beautiful and biodiverse mountainous region
   
• Excellent opportunities for birds, mammals, flora and sweeping landscape scenes
   
• Opportunities for astrophotography with extremely dark skies
   
• Two expert guides for more individual instruction
   
• Daily presentations and learning sessions in a comfortable conference room
   
• Subalpine wildflower displays

By the time workshop closure arrived on Thursday early afternoon, the daily routine of 4:45 am starts for morning shoots, the presentations, the after supper evening shoots (including a late night astrophotography session), the post processing insights, and the fellowship among the photographers, all lead to our storage cards and minds chock full of great memories.

Without reservation, I highly recommend photography workshops lead by Jess Findlay and Connor Stefanison.

Below are my favourite photos from the workshop. The feature image above was taken during the evening of our third night, looking toward Silver Tip Mountain, a 2,596 m peak in the Canadian Cascades south of Hope.