We wanted to take some time to look at our 5th year of operations for Visual Wilderness and wish you all a very happy holidays. Here are some of the highlights from this past year.
More About Our Contributing Photographers
In spite of their best efforts to portray themselves as super heroes on social media, all our contributing landscape photographers are humans that have lives beyond photography. Some of them more than others. ;) Here are interesting tidbits from our contributors:
Joshua Snow – I built a camper van, spent 220+ nights on the road, was able to travel a few times internationally, and forgot how to take photos in the process.
Christine Hauber – I competed in the National Senior Olympics and I am not even old! A few years ago they dropped the “senior” age to 50. Although I did not win any of my swimming events, I was happy that I did not come in last.
Kate Silvia – I started learning to paint! I never knew I could do this and it’s kinda blowing me away. Just goes to show… try new things… all the time! You never know what you might be capable of!
Artwork by Landscape Photographer Kate Silvia
Pro Landscape Photographer Christine Hauber participating in National Senior Olympics
Landscape photographer’s ultimate transportation by Joshua Snow
Chrissy Donadi – I had a baby in January so this has been the first year of my adult life with absolutely no travel. I remained in the same state for 365 days and have been a stay-at-home parent. After more sleep deprivation than photographing in Iceland during the months of almost 24 hours daylight, my husband and I are considering our first year as parents of a mini human somewhat successful.
Varina Patel – In 2019, I discovered that I had MS… and named it Grover. Bad Grover!! Go away Grover. So I decided to add water colors to keep my fingers active and combat the effects of MS.
How MS effected Varina Patel – Click to Play
Gaurav Mittal – 2019 was very challenging for me health-wise. Facing a very serious cervical spondylosis issue, I have been through multiple surgeries and numerous nerve block procedures. While I did not do anything outside of photography this year, I did learn something new about myself… a steel-like determination to not give up.
Lace Andersen – I became a full time photographer, got laid off, and started photographing people, weddings, and families etc. Outside of photography… I have been avidly going to yoga 4-5 days a week in hopes of touching my toes one day soon. Until then, there will be no yoga selfies.
Jay Patel – This year I decided to stop running and take up long-distance biking. Why? So I can make sure my knees don’t need replacing when I grow up. Which by the way, I don’t plan on doing as soon as I figure out how to stop time.
Bear, the super-sidekick guard dog watching over Chrissy Donadi’d tripod & camera.
Landscape photographer Jay Patel testing out new Shimoda Bag in Iceland
Travel photography from Japan by Ugo Cei
Ugo Cei – This year I started shooting film again with a large format view camera and learned how to develop it at home. I also started studying Japanese and was able to use what I learned during my first trip to Japan. I will keep studying the language in preparation for my upcoming fall colors tour of 2020. Finally, I learned how to dance… no, really!!
Most Popular Blog Posts
Oh yes… and our contributing photographers continued to create some fantastic blog posts. Below are some of the most popular with landscape photographers from all over the world in 2019 (in no particular order).
This was the second full year of a landscape photography streaming service offering for our customers. We have an excellent subscriber retention rate and continue to provide new content throughout the year. In addition, we introduced several new nature photography video tutorials that were available for free for streaming subscribers. Here are is what the customers are saying about our video tutorials:
Passionate hobbyists should follow Jay and Varina Patel
I just purchased Photoshop Layers and Masks tutorial (by Kate Silvia) and have watched the first three chapters. I had to stop watching and write to you. This is the most informative video I’ve seen explaining
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I just purchased Photoshop Layers and Masks tutorial (by Kate Silvia) and have watched the first three chapters. I had to stop watching and write to you. This is the most informative video I’ve seen explaining Layers & Masks…Your explanations have given me a much deeper understanding of not only the techniques, but the creative possibilities.
There’s so many free videos out there it’s easy to be overwhelmed. The Ultimate Landscape Photography Course breaks down the fundamental knowledge you need for landscape photography and shows you how to use that knowledge in
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There’s so many free videos out there it’s easy to be overwhelmed. The Ultimate Landscape Photography Course breaks down the fundamental knowledge you need for landscape photography and shows you how to use that knowledge in an actual photo shoot. That makes it a lot easier to figure out where you’re going wrong when you’re not getting the result you’re after. It’s worth every cent!
Visual Wilderness Streaming Service is the one service that I subscribe to that I truly would be heartbroken to lose!!! I have learned so much from the videos and love that I can go back and
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Visual Wilderness Streaming Service is the one service that I subscribe to that I truly would be heartbroken to lose!!! I have learned so much from the videos and love that I can go back and re-watch them to refresh myself whenever I want. I knew the videos were outstanding, but I’m in awe at how amazing your customer service is.
The Creative Sharpening Class by Jay Patel enlightened me as to the different approaches to sharpening various aspects of a landscape scene. It would be an excellent class for a new student of Lightroom as well
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The Creative Sharpening Class by Jay Patel enlightened me as to the different approaches to sharpening various aspects of a landscape scene. It would be an excellent class for a new student of Lightroom as well as someone experienced who can be reminded by the very good illustrations of the various tools and the interactive potential of these tools in Lightroom. I went back over part of this tutorial several time. It is excellent.
Alan Shaprio‘s Online class well paced and well planned class flew by. It was wonderful to see Alan work and create and explain his process. I feel that my money was wellRead more “I feel that my money was well spent”
Sue Eberhart
Lewes, Delaware, USA
Alan Shapiro is an excellent teacher
Some people are gifted photographers but cannot teach. Alan Shapiro is not only extremely talented but an excellent teacher. I would take any and all of hisRead more “Alan Shapiro is an excellent teacher”
Sue Reyman
Chicago, USA
I really enjoyed the Behind the Lens course.
I really enjoyed the Behind the Lens course. It is the best of all the courses you’ve made. I own every one of your webinars and courses and this one was as intuitive as any of
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I really enjoyed the Behind the Lens course. It is the best of all the courses you’ve made. I own every one of your webinars and courses and this one was as intuitive as any of them.
Your and Varina’s style of teaching is so amazing. You bring the workshop to my home in lucid and easy to understand style. I have subscribed to many including PPSOP, Lynda…But your team is the best!
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Your and Varina’s style of teaching is so amazing. You bring the workshop to my home in lucid and easy to understand style. I have subscribed to many including PPSOP, Lynda…But your team is the best! I have recommended The Complete Ultimate Collection to all my friends.
In 2019, we expanded our video tutorial offering by becoming a multi-vendor marketplace for nature photographers. We now offer video courses from several contributing photographers on all aspects of landscape photography. Here are some of the most popular video courses from this past year...
Our latest video courses were based on fine-tuning your start-to-finish workflow for some of the most important aspects of photography. These video courses, with a razor-sharp focus on different aspects of landscape and nature photography and are sold in over 70 countries around the world.
Newsletter and Web App Notifications
We have over 46,000 subscribers for our InFocus newsletter and over 18,000 subscribers get educational content via notifications from Visual Wilderness on their mobile and desktop devices. Not surprisingly, both of these free resources have superb engagement and a worldwide audience. Here is what some of the readers have to say...
One of the best free landscape photography resources
The site is a pleasure to view and read, and it’s full of useful and well-presented info. The photos, of course, are a great source of inspiration. We always look forward to
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The site is a pleasure to view and read, and it’s full of useful and well-presented info. The photos, of course, are a great source of inspiration. We always look forward to receiving our InFocus Nature Photograph Newsletter updates, and we saved each one for future reference.
I have subscribed to several online magazines. Your Nature Photography Newsletter is very easy to read and understand. Because of Chemical poisoning from a career in traditional studio photography, I am finding the
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I have subscribed to several online magazines. Your Nature Photography Newsletter is very easy to read and understand. Because of Chemical poisoning from a career in traditional studio photography, I am finding the articles are helping me regain what I have lost – love of photography again & learning techniques in the digital age of photography. Many thanks for your enthusiasm.
Absolutely love the honesty and integrity that shines through whenever I hear Jay or Varina speak. There isn’t any of the obvious marketing of products with InFocus Nature Photography Newsletter that is
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Absolutely love the honesty and integrity that shines through whenever I hear Jay or Varina speak. There isn’t any of the obvious marketing of products with InFocus Nature Photography Newsletter that is so pervasive in other instructional websites and magazines. You are excellent instructors, motivators and inspire me to try new things in better ways. Keep up the good work and thanks for all your efforts.
InFocus Nature Photography Newsletter is a wonderful inspiration and resource for me, I’m on a limited budget live away from large towns, I am a carer and thoroughly enjoy photography. It is
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InFocus Nature Photography Newsletter is a wonderful inspiration and resource for me, I’m on a limited budget live away from large towns, I am a carer and thoroughly enjoy photography. It is truly a fantastic thing to be able to learn and be inspired by your InFocus Nature Photography Newsletter. All I can say is I love it and thank you.
Throughout this coming year, we plan to create more in-depth video courses on several aspects of landscape photography. In addition, producing more on-location video courses that feature workshop-style lessons is also part of our 2020 plan.
I could startoff like this – “Seeds of Jay Patel’s appreciation for beautiful places were planted early in his childhood….” but it would get boring really fast. I will just sum it up and say that I am a Landscape and Wilderness Photographer who loves to capture dramatic light. My photographs have been published in various magazines, calendars and advertising materials throughout the world. Patience is a virtue...unless you are chasing your dreams
Wonderful that you have put this personal touch out there. May your holidays be all you want them to be and may the new year bring healing for those in need and continued enthusiasm for all the great work you do.
keith fey says:
May all of you at Visual Wilderness continue capturing the light of our wonderful World for all of us to see and dream about. May you share your knowledge with an ever widening enthralled community of like minded photographers. May you inspire the next generation to carry photography’s colors, may you return everything you have in your power to do so… to the pool of life … these wide open spaces which become rare because of their beauty and wildness…. and may you.. one and all have a very special blessed Christmas and prosperous new year… Thank you for the year gone by… too fast.. Kind regards.. Keith Fey.
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Wonderful that you have put this personal touch out there. May your holidays be all you want them to be and may the new year bring healing for those in need and continued enthusiasm for all the great work you do.
May all of you at Visual Wilderness continue capturing the light of our wonderful World for all of us to see and dream about. May you share your knowledge with an ever widening enthralled community of like minded photographers. May you inspire the next generation to carry photography’s colors, may you return everything you have in your power to do so… to the pool of life … these wide open spaces which become rare because of their beauty and wildness…. and may you.. one and all have a very special blessed Christmas and prosperous new year… Thank you for the year gone by… too fast.. Kind regards.. Keith Fey.