Thom Hogan – Chasing Galen & Lessons Learned

Thom Hogan – Chasing Galen & Lessons Learned

Chasing Galen, and Learning From Him as I Did

A Presentation by Photographer/Writer Thom Hogan

March 30, 2021 @ 5PM PST

The late Galen Rowell was a well-known adventure photographer who in the 80’s and 90’s influenced many outdoor and nature photographers through his workshops, books, and monthly columns in photography magazines. One of the photographers he mentored for many years was Thom Hogan, himself now a photography workshop teacher, the owner of four photography Web sites, and author of dozens of books. 

In this presentation, Thom will not only tell the story of how he and Galen got together, but along the way Thom will outline a number of Galen’s key teaching points and how they can be put to use (and were by Thom and many others). That includes things like Galen’s standard -1.7 stops for fill flash, as well as his near/middle/far mantra. Most of Galen’s teachings were timeless, and can and should still be applied today. While many will seem like common sense when you hear them, it was Galen’s attention to detail and getting all elements optimized that was the thing that catapulted his images into notoriety. You can see the things that Thom will outline in many, if not most, of Galen’s timeless images. 

“We all stand on the shoulders of those that came before us,” says Thom paraphrasing Susan Sontag. “If you’re going to make images that stand out, you have to know what they’re standing out from and take things another step forward.” If you manage to incorporate the dozen Galenisms that Thom talks about in this presentation into your photography, you’d be ready to do just that. 

About Thom Hogan

Thom Hogan is a professional photographer who covers the latest news on mirrorless systems and DSLRs, and who’s written over 30 Complete Guides to various Nikon cameras, the latest of which is the 1042 page Complete Guide to the Nikon Z5.

Thom says: “I’ve been on the Internet pretty much from day one, first doing Nikon support on newsgroups in the early 90’s, and eventually moving that to his own Web site in the late 90’s.” A disciple of the late Galen Rowell, Thom has been using Nikon gear for well over 40 years. Moreover, Thom’s Silicon Valley career included helping design one of the first mass market digital cameras, the Quickcam.

Besides his primary bythom.com site, he runs several topic-specific sites, as well:

dslrbodies.com — coverage of Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras, lenses, and accessories

sansmirror.com — coverage of all mirrorless camera systems

filmbodies.com — legacy coverage of all Nikon F-mount film SLRs

zsystemuser.com — dedicated coverage of the Nikon Z System

A frequent traveler, Thom spends much of his time photographing the wilds and teaching photography workshops in some of the world’s most interesting outdoor locales. Thom is a former board member of the American Hiking Society and a supporter of respecting mother nature in any way we can. It’ll be a long time before we get another planet we can trash.

By purchasing this class, you agree to the terms of the cancellation policy.