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Bring your camera and join Ann and Rob Simpson in a special hands-on, pre-conference photography workshop.
The Simpsons are not just professional shooters whose work has appeared in publications such as Audubon, National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler and Ranger Rick, and the more than 15 books they’ve written. They are also seasoned instructors leading Canon “Photography in the Parks,” workshops teaching thousands of visitors in places like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park. Their teaching style has been described as relaxed, patient and stress-free.
Instruction begins in the classroom at 1 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Grand Montana. After about two hours participants can practice what they’ve learned with a field session at Pompeys Pillar.
This workshop is for seasoned pros, as well as beginners playing with their point and-shoot cameras. Classroom attendance is not required for joining the field session.
Pompeys Pillar National Monument lies 25 miles east of Billings, Montana, overlooking the Yellowstone River. The pillar is a sandstone butte, or mesa, covering about two acres at its base and standing about 150 feet high. As the only sandstone outcrop on the south side of the Yellowstone River for miles in either direction, it has served as a landmark for centuries and contains the last physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Captain William Clark carved his name and the date, July 25, 1806, into the sandstone during his return to the United States through the Yellowstone Valley. He named the tower for Sacajawea’s son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, whom he called “Pomp.”
Directly north of the pillar is a viewing area of the Yellowstone River. The riparian areas nearby, dominated by cottonwood and willow along the Yellowstone, are great habitat for warblers, vireos, tanagers, kingbirds and other passerines. Great horned owls as well as bald eagles and osprey all nest either on site or nearby. The prairie to the south provides great habitat for falcons, sparrows, pheasant and a variety of other species.
The Pompeys Pillar Interpretive Center opened in 2006 to coincide with the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Exhibits in the 5,700-square foot center cover the Yellowstone River Valley journey of Captain Clark and his detachment, including Sacagawea and her son Pomp in 1806. The center also focuses on native culture, flora and fauna, the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the history of Pompeys Pillar. For more information on the site visit http://www.pompeyspillar.org/ and to register for the workshop visit https://owaa.org/2016conference/pre-and-post-conference-trips/. ♦
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Photography in the field: A workshop with Ann and Rob Simpson
