In this five-day photography retreat, you will learn a wide variety of techniques from four master photographers who specialize in macro, closeup and abstract imagery, utilizing the picturesque environs of Madeline Island and the historic port town of Bayfield.
Capture more than 50,000 blossoming florals, a vivid mosaic of roadside lupine, Island gardens erupting in a vibrant array of color, woodland plant life, and a nearby antique recycling facility filled with artistic abstract opportunities.
Your retreat experience includes a combination of shooting in the field, classroom lectures, and unique post-processing training utilizing specialized software. You’ll have ample time to receive personalized, hands-on, 1-on-1 instruction from each instructor both in the field and classroom.
The retreat begins on Sunday evening with a welcome reception and dinner followed by a brief orientation session. On each of the following days, there will be morning field sessions, followed by classroom lectures and possible evening field sessions. Four assigned groups will rotate among each of the four instructors in various locations throughout the week, affording you the opportunity to spend one full day with each instructor. On the last day, there will be individualized critiques and a photo showcase of the student’s accomplishments.

Workshop Details

Instructor: Mike Moats

I teach macro photographers how to easily get everything in focus. My main style is shooting with all of the subject in focus from top to bottom and side to side. I teach macro photographers how to easily get everything in focus. I will teach you how to deal with depth of field and deciding which f/stops to work with.

Instructor: Melissa Needle

I will introduce several experiential exercises both in the field and classroom designed to help you slow down, be more fully in the present moment and capture the world around you. Creating art through the lens is a very personal experience and offers a visual way for you to represent your current state of mind or feeling. The short exercises I will lead at MISA will be designed to help you calm the chatter in your head and help you experience a sense of wonder, enabling you to see the world with fresh eyes. I will assist with DSLR camera and/or smartphone image creation in the field. During classroom time, I will discuss “mindful photography” and offer more hands-on exercises. During this time, I will also share a presentation about the wonders of smartphone photography, which will open the door for exciting new creative possibilities and also appeal to more intermediate-to-advanced phone photography users.

Instructors: Sue Bishop

I specialize in close up and macro flower photography, which I learned from years of photographing English gardens. I am passionate about making an image that goes further than a record and creates an emotional response in you and in others who see your photograph.

I will explore this with you and demonstrate how I select a flower to photograph, discussing the use of color, direction of light, selection of aperture and choice of angle of view.  In particular I enjoy working with a shallow depth of field, and I will discuss where to focus on a flower, and how the background to your subject flower is equally as important as the subject itself.  

We will also explore the use of reflectors and diffusers to enhance the natural light, and look at using multiple exposure to create a painterly softness in your image.

Instructor: Charles Needle

I specialize in creative macro and Impressionistic photography.  I am passionate about encouraging students to go beyond pure documentation and create personalized expressive abstract imagery. I will teach you how to craft painterly closeups and intimate landscapes using nothing more than your camera or smartphone. You’ll learn specific ways to take your macro photography to a whole new level, including how to shoot closeups using a diopter, telephoto and wide-angle lenses, multiple exposures and much more.  Both in the field and classroom, my instruction will emphasize how to go deeper and see in new ways so you can best translate your artistic vision into pixels.

Click below for an informative webinar and Q & A with Charles, Sue, Gerri and Mike: