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May 3 – 11, 2024
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The Adirondacks at the Peak of Fall Color
September 30 – October 6, 2025
The Adirondack Park is the largest publicly protected area in the continental United States—greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks combined. There are over 3,000 lakes, 30,000 miles of rivers and streams, globally unique wetland types, old and new growth forests, and alpine mountains—truly a photographer’s paradise.
Our workshop is timed to coincide with (we hope!) the peak of fall color. The areas we will visit are rich in a variety of classic Adirondack landscapes bursting with fiery red sugar maples and yellow birches. We’ll shoot along the rivers, waterfalls, and lakes every sunrise, sunset, and night sky as weather permits.
We will be instructing you on the use of filters, shooting panoramas, and pre-visualizing your composition. In our image critiques, we’ll discuss image composition, technical choices, and post-processing in Lightroom.
Our group is small, everything is all-inclusive, and we have one of the best local photography guides in the Adirondacks. Expect to be up early, and out late, and be immersed in stunning landscapes all the time.
Muench Workshops donates a portion of its proceeds from this workshop to the Adirondack Mountain Club in support of its efforts in conservancy and stewardship of the park.
Your Pros
Johnathan Esper
Location
New York, USA
Tuition
$5,995
Dates
September 30 – October 6, 2025
Availability
Open for Registration
Limited to 8 Guests
Itinerary
This itinerary is subject to change due to weather, local conditions, and other factors.
September 30, 2025: We will pick up anyone flying into Albany Airport, or if you are driving your own car, you can go directly to meet at the hotel in Long Lake at 3:00 PM. We will then head out to photograph late afternoon light and sunset around Bog River Falls as it flows into Tupper Lake. Nearby Lake Eaton provides excellent night-time dark-sky photography after dinner if there are clear skies.
October 1, 2025: Sunrise at foggy Lake Durant, followed by breakfast at a local diner, and then straight onto a mid-morning woods walk to photograph the pleasant and not-ominous Death Brook Falls with hopefully dappled light hitting the yellow birches in front of cool water tones. After a midday rest, we’ll head out to photograph the peaceful woods, streams, trees, and details of the autumnal forest around Long Lake. Nearby, we find Buttermilk Falls, a popular local attraction for photographers, and Forked Lake for a westerly view for sunset. Another chance for night-time photography at dark-sky locations.
October 2, 2025: Sunrise at the bogs around Tupper Lake and Simon Pond. After breakfast and a bit of downtime, we’ll have our first image review session now that we’ve photographed a good collection of images so far. Mid-afternoon finds us in the Newcomb area with it’s many possibilities of Rich Lake, the VIC’s nature trails, and Hudson River scenes around the remote Blackwell Stillwater. After dinner in Newcomb, we’ll return to our hotel and either take the night off to rest up for another filled day tomorrow or possibly shoot night skies if we haven’t had the cooperating weather so far.
October 3, 2025: Sunrise at Shaw Pond is a typical Adirondack bog with many standing dead trees making compelling compositions, followed by one last shoot around the Hudson River and breakfast in Newcomb. In the late morning, we’ll check out and begin our 1-hour drive from Long Lake to Lake Placid, stopping a couple of hours at various locations around the Tupper area roadside bogs and/or Lower and Middle Saranac Lakes. Lunch stop will feature your choice of 46 sandwiches named after the 46 tallest peaks in the Adirondacks! After lunch, we arrive at the Hotel in Lake Placid, and after check-in and a bit of a rest, we’ll head out for afternoon photography of the iconic profiles of Whiteface Mt that Lake Placid is known for, along the shores of Lake Placid. Dinner by Lake Placid will wrap up this busy day.
October 4, 2025: Sunrise at the photographer’s classic locale of Connery Pond, with Whiteface Mt rising above the far shore – bring your muck boots for this one! Just after this, we might get lucky and catch an early morning backlit scene of a fly fisherman on the AuSable River. After a productive morning, we’ll return to town for breakfast, some downtime, an indoor image critique session, and lunch. The later afternoon sees us at the Cascade Lakes set in a deep V-notch between the cliff-sided Cascade and Pitchoff Mts, sunset at a secret overlook over the Keene Valley area with views of the Great Range. After dinner, a chance to photograph stars over nearby Heart Lake, depending on conditions.
October 5, 2025: We’ll be up early for sunrise at Heart Lake and morning light over the Adirondack Loj Road fields with classic views of the Adirondack High Peaks. After breakfast, we will hike to a peaceful pond in the Dix Wilderness with spectacular foliage reflecting in the water. Chapel Pond and the Boquet River gorges offer different but excellent fall foliage possibilities. After lunch, we’ll do another critique session to review our images and continue our conversation about composition, technique, and post-processing. Then in the later afternoon, we head out for sunset at Panther Mountain bog, an underrated Adirondack wetland with dead standing trees, lily pads, telephoto compositions, and more.
October 6, 2025: Our last sunrise together will be a memorable one—a short, steep, but rewarding predawn hike up Owl’s Head Mt for a sunrise all to ourselves overlooking the Keene Valley and many mountain peaks. We’ll conclude our morning with breakfast and one final image critique, wrapping up by noon.
Fitness
Moderate: You must be able to do hikes up to two miles on uneven, sometimes steep ground.
Flights
Arrive Albany International Airport (ALB), Albany, New York before 11:00 AM on September 30, 2025. Flights out can be made after 5:00 PM on October 6, 2025. Air travel delays are common. Please arrive early, possibly even the day prior, so you don’t miss any of the workshop.
What to Bring
Please see our page How To Prepare For Your Workshop. We will send you a detailed information document 90 days before your workshop. This document will include specifics of where and when to meet, gear and clothing recommendations, and more.
What’s Included
- Double occupancy lodging. Single available for $800 supplement.
- All meals, soft drinks, and snacks during the workshop.
- All permits and park fees.
- All transportation during the workshop.
- Photographic guiding and instruction from 2 pros.
- Image reviews and post-processing instruction.
- Adventure, fun, inspiration, and a great time!
Not Included
- Travel to and from Albany, New York.
- Unscheduled airport transfers.
- Passport and visa fees (if applicable).
- Any meals or accommodations before or after the workshop dates.
- Items of a personal nature.
- Alcoholic Beverages.
- Travel Medical and Trip Cancellation Insurance (optional, but recommended).
- Anything else specifically not listed as included.
- Single rooming available for $800 supplement.
Payment Terms
- Your deposit of $2,995 will hold your space in this workshop.
- The balance is due not later than June 1, 2025.
- All of our standard Terms and Conditions apply.
- Need special payment arrangements? No problem, just ask us.
Testimonials
“The food was absolutely exceptional. Such a great variety of restaurants, flavor & tastes. Getting to see the Adirondacks has been on our bucket list for a few years so it was nice to finally get to see it. The attention & suggestions for photographing was the best. I got exactly what I needed & wanted. And David did a very good job of explaining & teaching us what is important in composing your picture in out outside the camera. ”
“Wanted to send a huge thank you for making the trip so memorable. I’ve learnt more than I ever thought I could with the guidance from you and Johnathan. I was able to push myself creatively and physically in ways I never thought I could. I’ve left the trip with a more self confidence and belief that I can take on any challenge I put my mind to. Really grateful for this experience and the lifelong memories. ”
Behind the Scenes
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