Redwoods and Rocky Coastlines Photo Workshop Trip Report - Tom Bol Photo Workshops

Summer in the Redwoods

We plan our Redwoods and Rocky Coastlines Workshop for the driest time of the year. Warm sunny days in the interior bring coastal fog inland and create conditions where beams of light filter through the Redwoods. We started our first morning shoot by photographing Roosevelt Elk before wandering into the forest of giants.

We like to use a super-wide lens like the Nikkor 14-24mm to capture the full scale of the tallest trees on Earth. Using this lens also helps photographers capture both the trees and the understory filled with ferns, sorrel and Trillium.

Tom explaining his vision for the shoot

Roosevelt Elk on our first morning photoshoot

A forced perspective landscape in the Redwoods

Super Wide Angle Landscapes

Unlike many of the other national parks, Redwoods National Park in California is blissfully devoid of crowds. This gives us the luxury of strolling through the groves with photographers and trying creative techniques all on our own. We enjoyed walking into the burned out trunks of some of the fire-scarred trees and shooting from the inside of a Redwood.

Capturing the big scene with a super-wide lens

Intentional blur in the Redwoods

Inside a Redwood

Slow and Fast Seascapes

We move back and forth between the forest and the ocean on this workshop. For our first ocean session, we used both slow and fast shutter speeds to capture crashing waves with dynamic energy (fast speeds) and then used slower shutter speeds to smooth out the waves and create soft, emotive photos.

On the beach at Lagoon Creek

Fast shutter speeds to freeze the motion

Jim using a ND filter to slow the motion

Exploring the Forest

The Redwoods are the perfect place for photographers to explore their own vision and find new compositions. It is a park of expansive views rather than iconic pull-offs. We traveled to our destinations as a group and then spread out to give people plenty of room to roam and create images.

Julie on the brach at Bandon

Teri capturing a sunstar

Macro Photography

There is plenty to explore with a macro lens in the Redwoods. We stopped at several spots to photograph massive fern beds, Douglas Iris, Rhododendrens, Salal and Columbia Tiger Lilies. We used a snooted Lume Cube to illuminate macro subjects in the darkest parts of the canopy.

Columbia Tiger Lily

Laura and Cree using a Lume Cube

Douglas Iris in natural light

California Seascapes

For our second ocean shoot we moved to the beach at Crescent City. This year the group enjoyed photographing sea stars at low tide. We used slow shutter speeds to create silky water. Tom set up a speed light for people to use to illuminate a single foreground star.

Suzy exploring tide pools at dusk

Using a speed light to illuminate a sea star

Oregon Seascapes

For our final day we moved to Bandon, Oregon to photograph seascapes with towers of rock called seastacks. We had moody foggy skies and used this to create lines and shapes in the water with slower shutter speeds. We ended the workshop with more foggy skies on our final morning at the Coquille River Lighthouse.

The next time we offer this workshop we will be going in early June to hit the height of the Rhododendron bloom. Redwoods and Rocky Coastlines June 2-6, 2027

Seastacks at Bandon

Brian on the beach at Bandon

Foggy skies on the Coquille River