My workshops draw on 50+ years as a birder and 30+ years as a bird photographer, sharing the field techniques I've refined over a lifetime of practice. I'll walk you through the many approaches to photographing different species — teaching you to control every variable until the bird is perfectly positioned and framed exactly where you want it.
My background in art informs everything I teach: composition, balance, and form — the elements that transform a good shot into a genuinely beautiful image.
Teaching is a passion of mine, and I bring the same dedication to the workshop that I bring to the field. The time we spend together is yours, and I commit fully to making your experience exceed your expectations — including the many hours (sometimes days) I spend pre-scouting locations beforehand.
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Jan 15-19 (SOLD OUT)
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Jan 20-24 (SOLD OUT)
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Jan 25-29 (SOLD OUT)
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Jan 15-19 (5 OPENINGS)
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Jan 20-24 (5 OPENINGS)
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Jan 25-29 (5 OPENINGS)
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Cost: $4400 per person (travel and meals not included)
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Limited to: 5 photographers
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Policy: All workshops are non-smoking
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Location: Edinburg, Texas
- # of Days: 5 Days
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Wait List: add me to the WAIT LIST
Workshops are limited to give each participant personalized and focused attention. Learn how to get stunning images of birds in all their glory in deep South Texas. Alan Murphy, an internationally published photographer, renowned for exceptional photographs of birds on perches which add to the artistry of the image, will be drawing from over 25 years of experience and knowledge to offer:
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How to locate certain species
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How to get birds to land where you want
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How to search for and select the appropriate perch
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How to set up staging and landing perch for small birds in flight
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How to choose best camera settings to freeze action
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All the tips and tricks that bring stunning images together
Alan has been photographing at this location for the past 15 years. He knows how to get some of the most difficult-to-photograph species (specialty birds of the Rio-Grande valley) down onto his set-ups and how to capture them in flight.
The workshop is help on a private ranch designed for bird photography. We have two morning songbird blinds and two afternoon songbird blinds. We also have three multi level raptor blinds.
This workshop will be designed to target each species and work the situation to get the ultimate image of that bird. There are many different ways to control the situation for each species and you will take away the knowledge of these techniques to use wherever you shoot around the country.
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Feb 16-21 (SOLD OUT)
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Feb 22-27 (SOLD OUT)
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Feb 28-Mar 5 (SOLD OUT)
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Cost: $5800 per person (travel and meals not included)
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Limited to: 6 photographers
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Policy: All workshops are non-smoking
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Location: Homer, Alaska
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# of Days: 6 Days
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Wait List: add me to the WAIT LIST
This workshop consists of 3 days photographing eagles and 2 days photographing songbirds. Our workshop base is located 223 miles SW of Anchorage on Kachemak Bay, Alaska. We will be using a charter boat to photograph eagles for three days, and the remaining two days will be spent in Anchor Point on private property, photographing the many species of Boreal songbirds both perched and in flight.
Kachemak Bay is one of the premier Bald Eagle photography locations in the US and my favorite eagle photography location on the planet. Large numbers of habituated eagles gather there each year, making for
amazing photographic opportunities, only limited by your creativity.
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Cost: $8000 per person
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Limited to: 7 photographers
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Policy: All workshops are non-smoking
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Locations: (3) Oakley, KS; Wray, CO; Craig, CO
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# of Days: 9 Days
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Accommodations are included in cost of workshop
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Transportation: is NOT included in cost of workshop
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Wait List: add me to the WAIT LIST
This workshop consists of 8 days, across 3 locations, photographing 4 species: Greater Prairie-Chicken, Lesser Prairie-Chicken*, Sharp-tailed Grouse, and Greater Sage-Grouse, with the possibility of additional species. We will spend mornings photographing each species. The afternoons are downtime, or you are free to explore the areas on your own. If I find a dependable subject to photograph in the evening, we will do that. Each location is a lek and is NOT on public property. I have secured access with the owners to photograph on their private property/ranches. We will be the only people on the leks.
- Cost: $5400 per person (travel and meals not included)
- Limited to: 6 photographers
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Policy: All workshops are non-smoking
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Location: Green Valley, Arizona
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# of Days: 5 Days
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Wait List: add me to the WAIT LIST
This workshop is not only about learning how to get birds to land on that perfect perch, but you will also get lots of action images and birds in flight. You will learn how to best utilize feeders, ponds, and bird calls to bring species in, and then how to control the situation to get that stunning portrait with the intimate pose.
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How to locate certain species.
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How to get birds to land where you want them to.
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How to search for and select the appropriate perch.
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How to place the perch in relation to the background and sun direction.
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How to dress up the perches to match the bird’s habitat.
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How to work a feeder and water drip to their best advantage.
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How to get stunning images of songbirds in flight
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All the tips and tricks that bring a stunning image together.
We have two amazing locations on private property with a lot of species that are constantly active in front of the blinds. Land owner Dano Grayson danograyson.com is a photographer himself and knows what bird photographers want to see in the viewfinder. He has set up the most amazing blinds with the right combination of habitat, water, and food, and backgrounds. One afternoon session, we will photograph a variety of snake species and Gila Monster. In addition, we have an optional evening activity photographing bats at the pond. All flash and trigger equipment will be supplied.
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June 9-13 (SOLD OUT)
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June 9-13 (OPENINGS)
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June 14-18 (OPENINGS)
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Cost: $5400 per person (travel and meals not included)
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Limited to: 5 photographers
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Policy: All workshops are non-smoking
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Location: Evergreen, CO
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# of Days: 5 Days
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Wait List: add me to the WAIT LIST
This workshop is not only about learning how to get birds to land on that perfect perch, but you will also get lots of action images and birds in flight. You will learn how to best utilize feeders, ponds, and bird calls to bring species in, and then how to control the situation to get that stunning portrait with the intimate pose.
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How to locate certain species.
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How to get birds to land where you want them to.
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How to search for and select the appropriate perch.
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How to place the perch in relation to the background and sun direction.
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How to dress up the perches to match the bird’s habitat.
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How to work a feeder to their best advantage.
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How to get stunning images of songbirds in flight
All the tips and tricks that bring a stunning image together.
We will spend up to two days working from blinds on private property. The property has a creek and a pond that hosts Belted Kingfishers. There are stocked feeders on the property along with numerous nest boxes for Tree and Violet-green Swallows, Western and Mountain Bluebirds. The feeders draw in several species of birds that we will be doing setups for, and we will also photograph them in flight. The rest of the workshop time, we will be going into the field to pre-scouted locations to work on cavity nesters and birds on territory.
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August 2-6 OPENINGS
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August 7-11 OPENINGS
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August 12-16 OPENINGS
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Cost: $4800 per person (travel and meals not included)
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Limited to: 5 photographers
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Policy: All workshops are non-smoking
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Location: Evergreen, CO
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# of Days: 5 Days
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Wait List: add me to the WAIT LIST
This workshop is designed to get incredible images of Belted Kingfishers as they perch and dive for food. Alan has been working with these kingfishers for two years, figuring out all the nuances in order to get the most incredible images of this elusive species. Mornings will be spent at the Murphy residence, photographing many species of mountain birds on stunning perches and in flight. Afternoons will be spent at a pond on private property, photographing the kingfishers from a comfortable blind. We will be photographing the kingfishers perched and diving down for fish. We will also have the opportunity to photograph the kingfishers as they dive into a large fish tank that’s set up for underwater imagery and do up close, wide-angle imagery of the kingfishers diving. The Kingfisher shoot is an afternoon shoot only unless it's cloudy/overcast. If that’s the case, we can spend the whole day photographing kingfishers.
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Photograph Kingfishers perched with fish
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Photograph Kingfishers as they dive, enter the water, and fly back to the perch with fish
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Photograph Kingfishers as they dive underwater in a set-up aquarium
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Photograph Kingfisher up close with wide angle set-up.
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Photograph many mountain species of birds perched on beautiful perches
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Photograph many songbird species in flight
IMPORTANT NOTE: The Belted Kingfisher can be irregular in its movements and behavior, making it less predictable than other species. While nothing in nature is guaranteed, it’s especially true in this particular workshop. There is an outside chance that the kingfishers may not be in the area and that the workshop could be cancelled or rescheduled a few days to a week before it is scheduled to take place. In that event, you would be entitled to a full refund of the workshop fee. However, we still strongly recommend that you purchase trip insurance to cover the cost of nonrefundable flights or other expenditures.
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Cost: $5200 per person (travel and meals not included)
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Limited to: 5 photographers
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Policy: All workshops are non-smoking
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Location: Santa Barbara, California
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# of Days: 5 Days
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Wait List: add me to the WAIT LIST
Brian Elliott Small and Alan Murphy co-lead the workshop. This workshop is based on a private 1500-acre ranch owned by birders who have been attracting birds for many years.
The ranch owner feeds the birds daily year round so the activity at the blinds is very busy. This is an excellent location to get some of the California specialties, such as Yellow-billed Magpie, Band-tailed Pigeon, California Thrasher, Nuttall's Woodpecker, and many others. We also have opportunities for Golden Eagle, Western & Clark's Grebe.This workshop will be designed to target each species and work on the situation to get the ultimate image of that bird. There are many different ways to control the setup for each species, and you will take away the knowledge of these techniques to use wherever you shoot around the country. We will also photograph all these species in flight, allowing you to come away with award-winning images.