Telluride Photography Festival 2011

September usually means I take a month off, who am I to break such a fun tradition? This year I flew to Canada for five days, then onto Colorado for ten days and finally to Kansas for a further ten days. I won’t give you the details for the entire trip, I will narrow it down to the business relevant part only, Colorado.

I’ve just got home from the second annual Telluride Photography Festival. Both years I have volunteered and both years I’ve found it thoroughly rewarding. This year however, I got more involved. The first time around I spent most of my time staring in wonder at the autumn colours that the Colorado landscapes offer. I’d never seen anything like it, so last time I really didn’t do much else other than take it all in.

The festival is a great place for any photographer at any level to build contacts and learn new techniques. I made full use of that this year. There were many symposiums and seminars, of which I managed to attend most of – learning about the correct application and creation of HDR imagery, photographic techniques for styles such as landscape and adventure, how to fund a conservation project, how to maintain a successful photography business and how to make stock photography a viable income etc. It really was a wealth of knowledge, and it was handed down by the very best of each field. The line-up included successful conservation photographers such as Ian Shive, Garth Lenz, David Fitzsimmons and many more – some of which were fellows from The International League of Conservation Photographers. There were high end landscape photographers such as Adam Barker. Numerous photo editors from magazines as established and respected as National Geographic and many more industry experts getting involved in the festival.

The festival is quite small, it’s only the second year. As a self employed photographer/designer this is fine by me, the small size of the festival allowed everyone to mingle freely and build their contact lists. I couldn’t be any happier with the contacts I have made this year.

I also attended a three day workshop with Adam Barker. This proved to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I learned an incredible amount from this self taught landscape wizard. He has a way of delivering his knowledge in a humble and friendly way. I believe that everyone on this workshop evolved into a greater photographer. I definitely feel that I have gone up another level. The 4:30am starts were all worth it, there aren’t many things in life that are more satisfying than being in a vista as beautiful as the San Juan mountains as the sun rises.

Luckily enough, on one of the days of the festival there was a mini DSLR film festival. I believe I must have sat and watched about 30 short films that day. The majority of them were very interesting, and all of them were shot creatively. There were three movies which made a lasting impression however:

Wild Life: A New Generation of Wild / Filmmaker: Ian Shive

WildWater / Filmmaker: Anson Fogel,

Whose Wilderness Is It? / Filmmaker: Gabby Garcia-Pardo, Taylor Estape

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the directors/photographers of these films, I will remain in contact with them all and track their progress. There will be many exciting films in the future from each of these creatives. Ian and Gabby especially, are great human specimens, and I find them utterly inspiring. Thanks to these guys, in the near future I am going to start shooting DSLR films myself. This will translate into the films I currently shoot for my clients, and also as a personal interest.

Go to Telluride Photography Festival 2012, you won’t regret it.