This workshop is unlike any other, and the uniqueness cannot be overstated. Nothing about this workshop is typical of a photography tour. This is hardcore wildlife photography that will revolutionize the way you see and think and approach being in the field.

For starters, this workshop takes place in the remote stretch of North Dakota known collectively as the prairie potholes. If you have never heard of this area, you are not alone. Though this location is one of the most extraordinary bird photography hotspots on the continent, it’s completely off the radar for most photographers.  

The prairie potholes region of North America is one of the most ecologically unique and important regions of both the United States and Canada. Born of the last ice age when the great Laurentide Ice Sheet began to retreat, gouging the Earth, and pockmarking the landscape like so many millions of dimples on a golf ball, the prairie potholes is now a vast mosaic of wetlands in an otherwise very dry place. You can think of it all as an oasis in a desert. And as such, the region is often referred to as the “duck factory” of America, where nearly 80% of North America’s waterfowl are born.

While waterfowl will factor into this workshop with the likes of blue-winged teal, redhead, canvasback, ruddy ducks, northern shovelers, pintails, and more, we will also be there in time to capture the matting dances of the various species of grebes such as eared, western, Clark’s, and red-necked. Other species of birds will inevitably find their way into your viewfinder such as yellow-headed blackbirds and American avocets, as well.

Then there’s the floating blinds themselves.

Floating blinds float atop the water around you. You do not float on top of them. They are stable, safe, and have secure platforms where we attach tripod heads and long lenses. Designed to resemble a muskrat hut or a clump of cattails, these devices are so good at keeping wildlife at ease that it’s not uncommon for birds to land on top of you to preen. Floating blinds are tools that give us unparallel access to the bird life of these marshes as we move about, lenses eye level with our subjects, through the shallow creeks in the marsh or at the edge of open water.

Working in a location like this and from the floating blinds equates to extraordinary photography. Many photographers strive create a fine art like feel to their work. On this workshop, those opportunities will be handed to you on a silver platter.

Because of the uniqueness of this workshop and the gear that we use, we will provide participants with floating blinds to both use and keep afterwards. So, if you don’t have a floating blind, don’t worry. We have one for you. And likewise, if you do wish to bring your own floating blind with you, we will deduct the cost of the blind from the price of the workshop.

The experience of photographing like this is incomparable to any other.

Participants will be divided into groups of three. And each group will work in different locations each day, with both Jared Lloyd and co-leader alternating groups throughout the workshop. Given the extraordinary unique situation and opportunities this workshop provides, minimizing the number of people in a location at any one time will help to increase the photographic opportunities for everyone.