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Jason Bradley Elephant Seal Photography Workshop - Wrap Up

By Matt J. Weiss, January 28, 2010 @ 12:53 AM (EST)

My sister is a very different person than I am. Her interest in wild animals lies only in how they taste. When I tell her I am lugging around tons of gear and taking long plane rides to photograph certain animals, she gives me strange looks. It's not that she doesn't appreciate my excitement, it's just not for her. Usually the stranger the look I receive from her, the more interesting a trip it is.

I knew the elephant seal workshop was gonna be great even before I left based on the face my sister made when I told her about it -- pure confusion.

It takes a certain kind of New Yorker to pass up the Jets playoff game to hang out with 2.5 ton, 16 foot, horrible smelling seals, but sign me up as one of them. The bull elephant seals are definitely one of the strangest animals I have witnessed, and observing them through the lens of my camera is really the only way I wanted to see them.

Big bull elephant seal

What's even better than photographing elephant seals is doing so with a group of 15 or so like minded individuals under the guidance of a professional photographer. For a whole weekend we were non-stop elephant seal photographing fanatics, talking about everything from metadata to proboscis length.

The workshop was lead by professional photographer and DPG contributor Jason Bradley. It was composed of three trips to the rookery for photographing the seals and three lectures about how to both photograph the seals and how to use Adobe Lightroom to edit our images.

Jason Bradley photo workshop - elephant seals

photo credit: Bradley Photographic

Jason was really on duty the entire weekend. He went around in the field helping everyone get the shot they wanted, he spent his time in between scheduled activities sitting in the common room answering questions and he even (with the help of his intern Chris) lugged the giant 600mm lenses through the half mile hikes.

Jason Bradley and Matt Weiss at the Piedras Blancas elephant seal rookery just

Jason and I check out the Nikon 200-400mm that Lensrentals.com provided us with Photo Credit: Bradley Photographic

He is clearly well versed in Lightroom post production, giving us his own personal tips and explaining the programs features. To compliment his discussions, Bill Stotzner who works on the Lightroom team was there. Bill is an encyclopedia of all things Lightroom.

Jason Bradley leads elephant seal workshop

This was not the type of workshop where a pro photographer says he leads the trip, but then disappears to take his own photographs. In fact, I don't think Jason took much more than a few photos in the field. He was checking the workshoppers histograms, suggesting lenses and talking people through different shooting techniques. Going to the rookery alone would simply not of been the same.

Plenty of seals. Photo credit: Bradley Photographic

Although you can get very close to the elephant seals, big glass is really required to get the shots. I used a Nikon 80-400mm for a lot of shooting, but also got on a 600mm lens that was set up for everyone in the workshop to use (there was a Canon one as well). As I mentioned, this a great lens for wildlife photography, but it's more practical to rent one for a week if you are not going to use it all the time because it cost $12,000!

Nikon 600mm lens - some serious glass! Photo Credit: Kevin Mcdonnell

Although the workshop was not about underwater photography, it was marine animal photography by the ocean, and it is fun to mix it up every once in awhile. If you are looking to expand your photo portfolio past underwater, looking to learn more about Lightroom or just want to have a good time, check out Jason's workshop at BradleyPhotographic.com. I have no reason to promote his workshop other than I believe it was well run and beneficial. I look forward to going again next year.