Main Entry:                        collaborate  [kuh-lab-uh-reyt]
Part of Speech:                   verb
Definition:                          work together
 

Synonyms:            be in cahoots, coact, cofunction, collude, come together, concert, concur, conspire, cooperate, coproduce, do business with, get together, glue oneself to, go partners, hook on, hook up, interface, join forces , join together, join up with, participate, team up, throw in together, throw in with, tie in, work with

Well, they you have it! Derek VonBriesen and Suzanne Mathia, both award winning, accomplished fine art photographers, instructors and authors have joined forces! 

Suzanne Mathia and Derek von Briesen invite you to join them in exploring the limitless photographic possibilities of the American Southwest. These two award-winning landscape photographers have been living, photographing, and teaching in the American Southwest for almost two decades now and with their joint venture Southwest Perspectives, they are combining their talents to offer a full schedule of reasonably priced, highly instructional photography workshops in the most iconic and beautiful locations in the Southwest. "Drawing on our own and our students previous workshop experiences, we have developed an innovative instructional approach that emphasizes creative vision, technical skills and artistic sensibility. Our workshops are small & personable, choosing to focus on one-on-one instruction. We never include more than eight people on any workshop; with two instructors this insures that there will never be more than four students per instructor. "Essentially, what we teach are the fundamentals of shooting like a professional landscape photographer. You'll learn the basics and not so basics of exposure, focus, and composition: proper f/stops and focus distance to achieve classic sharp focus throughout as well as selective focus when appropriate; the use of RGB histograms & exposure compensation to insure optimal exposures for the highest quality files; and a variety of compositional techniques--diagonals; "X" marks the spot; the frame-within-the-frame; top down, left-right flow; leading lines; background/ middle/foreground proportional relationships--that will expand your creativity as you begin to visualize the variety of different perspectives in every scene. "Our principal goal is for you to leave our workshops as markedly improved landscape photographers. In addition to our field instruction, we also utilize multi-media presentations for demonstrations and participant critiques. We are both self-taught and are more than happy to pass on our wealth of information about available books & websites that will allow you to continue your growth long after our last sunset together. You'll be able to join with your fellow workshop participants online in our Southwest Perspectives Participants Galleries where you'll be able to post your images, give & receive valuable feedback, and share your images easily with your families and friends. "We also take a very flexible approach to the variety of skill levels and desires of our different participants. Some folks prefer the ease and compact portability of today's high quality point & shoot digital cameras and we can certainly instruct you on how to maximize your results from these amazing cameras!!
"We also realize from our own experience that some photographers come to destination workshops highly skilled and are simply looking for quality guiding to world-class locations and for the most part are comfortable on their own. Because your safety is our top priority, once you've demonstrated you can handle the terrain safely we're happy to leave you alone to get your shots. "All participants will receive as much (or as little!) instruction as they desire. But rest assured, we'll make sure everyone is aware of the very best photo opportunities at the very best times . . . at all times! "Beautiful images are a combination of great locations and perfect conditions. We'll transport you to the most iconic and hard-to-reach locations in the Southwest at the best times of the year, with the most up-to-date and accurate weather forecasting available, to insure the very best conditions possible. "Our small workshops offer us the opportunity to venture to some of the less traveled but exquisitely beautiful locations in the Southwest. We have spent years exploring and scouting & as a result our destination workshops will always provide a level of expert guiding unsurpassed. "Lastly, our workshops provide the utmost in convenience, comfort and value. All our workshops are set up so that participants can save on car rentals. Our vehicles are late model 4x4 SUVs, comfortable and agile. From the time we pick you up, we handle your transportation & lodging so you'll be free to focus on the most important thing, your photography!! "We appreciate your interest in our photography workshops and look forward to meeting and spending time with you. We're very serious about our roles as photography instructors but hopefully we don't take ourselves too seriously!! Workshops can be hard work, and laughter can be as important as caffeine to the sleep-deprived. As we say often, you can sleep on the plane!! "We hope you'll join us . . . for some seriously fun photography!!" Suzanne & Derek