Owl Photography Workshop Openings

There are a few last-minute cancellations for my Winter Owl Workshops. The season is off to an epic start with loads of owls arriving for the winter over the last few weeks. Learn more about my Snowy Owl Workshops HERE.

Snowy Winter Owl Safari Workshop Testimonial

I recently attended the snowy owls workshop with Christopher Dodds and had an amazing experience. Not only was I extremely impressed with Chris' knowledge and expertise in photography but also how he really cared about the shots we got. He made sure that everyone in the groups had the shots they wanted and that we all experienced success. His knowledge of cameras and photography is phenomenal. I have never met anyone who is a knowledgeable in photography as he is. He was able to answer any and every question and always explained the reasons behind his recommendations to make sure we learned as much as possible. The instruction didn't stop after shooting in the field. I learned so much in the Photoshop and Nik Software post-processing session that took my photography to a whole other level. The small group atmosphere was great as we were able to blend in with nature ensuring that the owls and other wildlife were not disturbed resulting in great shots every time. Chris made sure each of us were able to develop our skills at our own pace. The experience and the results were more that I could have asked for. I would definitely recommend Christopher Dodds workshops to anyone who is looking to improve their photography skills and learn from a real pro.

Fred Lemire - Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada

Please do stop-by and have a look at my workshops; I work tirelessly to ensure my SMALL GROUPS (Maximum 6 participants) have the best photographic learning and photographic opportunities in the industry. Forget the large groups of 10,12 or more photographers & the missed opportunities they offer by just their very group size. No egos and I'm not happy unless you are producing images that I would love to have in my portfolio.

Sony a1 Bird Eye Autofocus ROCKS

I have been lucky to have had several shoots with this beautiful Great Gray Owl relatively close to home in Southwestern Quebec. It was the perfect model for my recent test of the Sony Alpha A1 for Sony of Canada. It is amazing to think back on all of the owls I have photographed over the years and I can’t remember the last time I got to photograph one completely alone without a group of eager winter owl workshop participants, so this is one silver lining of the Covid-19 pandemic that has wreaked havoc across the travel/workshop industry.

In truth, this is a big and relatively slow moving owl. I would have loved to test the camera and it’s built-in and industry leading bird eye auto-focus on some small and fast moving Auklets in The Pribilofs or Atlantic Puffins in Quebec.

The a1 locked onto the owls eye instantly and stayed locked-on to the eye until the owl’s head turned away from the camera; that is when a larger focus target locked-onto it’s head, and quickly regained it’s lock on the eye as soon as it looked back towards me. The bird eye autofocus in extremely impressive and when combined with the camera’s ability to verify focus 120 per second (twice as often than the a9 & a9II) it truly is a game changer! Does it work every time? Almost; the only time it had a little trouble so far was when pointed at a dark bird in low contract light when it tried hard, but ended-up choosing the bird’s shoulder instead of it’s dark eye.