iPhone Photography Course on the Rio Sonora

Provided this part of the world, Arizona and the state of Sonora to the south, doesn’t dry up, burn up or disappear by the fall, I’m thinking ahead to next fall and some of the different activities we might sponsor.  It’s been somewhat eerie with the combined drought and fires that It’s easy on some days to think it’s the end of the world.  For now, I’m going with a really good monsoon season of rain that will turn it all around. 
Given that upbeat introduction I’ll tell you about a course we’re going to sponsor next winter along the Rio Sonora.  I contacted photographer Dan Burkholder from whom I took a course in Santa Fe last summer and who is currently writing a book on iPhone photography if he would be interested in teaching a course in Mexico.  With great enthusiasm he responded with an emphatic “Yes!”  So after doing some rather loose evaluation, we decided to give it a “go ahead.”

We’ll have a link up on our new website soon, for now, you’re getting the pre-release announcement.  I’m going to post some of my iPhone images at the bottom of this post, please don’t judge Dan by the quality of put I’ve posted, I haven’t taken the course yet, they are the result of my flying by the seat of my pants efforts.  In fact, one of my main motivations in doing this is so that I can.  Quickly, I have to say I love the device, it’s fabulous and fun to use, it leaves me wanting to unlock it’s many possibilities and the way I see it, Dan is the guy to do it.
 iPhone Artistry with Dan Burkholder – Dec 2-4, 2011
Banamichi, Sonora, Mexico           $450


The course will be held at hotel La Posada del Rio Sonora – www.mexicoecoresort.com  They will put together a package the includes accommodations and food.  More on this when it gets formally announced on our website.
In the words of Dan Burkholder:

“Lurking under the iPhone’s phone label is one of the most inspiring, capable and fun imaging systems in all of photography. It’s a unique tool for bridging the world of classic photography with the evolving digital era. More than just a snapshot device, the iPhone is a powerful creative tool for creating art, right in our palms. We now have camera, darkroom, and—as Jerry Uelsmann would say—Visual Research Laboratory, all in our shirt pocket! Liberated from rushing home to our computers, we can shoot and process our images in the field, learning what works (and doesn’t) to make our captures match our vision. It is one camera you will have with you all the time.  And when it comes to printing your iPhone images, you will be amazed with the color, depth and texture in your prints.”
•Learn capture techniques that are specific to iPhone photography.
•Learn which software preserves your camera’s resolution and which trash your precious pixels.
•See how true HDR imaging (as opposed to software simulated HDR) is not only possible but easy with your iPhone.
•Create an iPhone workflow that takes you from capture to final image, with an emphasis on creating artistic images.
•Build your personal “app suite” that gives you all the capture and processing power you need on your iPhone.
•Practice panorama capture with your iPhone. Learn which software works best, combining up to 50 stitched images.
•Explore interpolation software that lets you make bigger prints from your iPhone captures.
.                 •Learn Photoshop tweaks that are ideal for your iPhone images.

Dan Burkholder has a long history of looking over the photographic horizon to see, explore and teach the next great thing in imaging. This is your opportunity to discover the power, fun and stunning output that’s possible from your iPhone!
To view more of Dan’s iPhone images you can visit his site at:


You will also find a wealth of other images to view in his portfolios.  Over the years I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of his “tiny tutorials” for learning Photoshop.  He has a new category called iPhone tiny tutorials, check them out.




If you want to know more about the area and things we have done there, simply go to our blog. There you will find numerous posts about the area and our activities over the last year.  The hotel and course are located in the small town of Banamichi on the Rio Sonora.  It is a rural setting of small towns and missions dotted along the Sonora River Valley.  It is approximately a 2 ½ hr drive from Nogales, Sonora and a little more from the town of Naco, Sonora.


Here’s a sampling of some iPhone images I’ve taken over the past few months that represent a variety of different styles.  


A wintry scene from Turkey Creek in front of our house.


A morning walk through the fields of Banamichi.


And it is great for more abstract images.


Or just your regular good old snapshot of the neighbors.


There’s the old postcard look of this taqueria in Banamichi which by itself doesn’t make a very interesting photograph.


And I absolutely love the black and white images that come from it such as this ordinarily boring Buffalo Gourd plant.


Portraits can be striking such as this image of Athena’s mother Rina to the rear with her sister Tessie.


And lastly, this beautiful portrait of Lupita Ceron, from Banamichi, who is part of the Xunutzi dance group.

So for now, here’s the advance notice, as I said above, look for something more formal on the website soon.  And by all means, let me know if you’re interested.








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