Why I'm Ending The Montana Retreats
Back when I started making online workshops in 2018 I was most excited about accelerating peoples journeys. The logic was that If they could avoid the mistakes I did and learn from my wins, they would have a much better chance at breaking through in photography. First came the Adventure Photography Workshop which was made on a shoestring budget but ended up being a hit. In the first few days more than 1000 people signed up for it. I was shocked. How come so many people were shelling out their hard earned dollars for my crummy little online class? The realization that people wanted to learn from me and other established photographers got me thinking — what if I got my favorite photographers to make their own class? This is how Finn Beales’s, Benjamin Hardman and Forrest Mankin’s class came to life. We were getting thousands of people signing up to our workshops, leaving raving reviews, it was a wonderful time.
While connecting with so many creatives was exhilarating, I knew that something was missing. We were nailing the education side of the equation but we learned that without a community of like-minded folks, it’s really hard for photographers to stay on track and utilize all the knowledge we’d share with them.
Which takes me to the Montana Retreats. The idea was simple: Come to Montana for five days, learn the business of photography, have a grand time mingling with like-minded photographers, belong to a community. In 2019, we launched the first Montana Retreat and had 10x more applicants than we had spots available. The key to in person workshops is building a group that is small enough that you can spend time with each person but big enough that you have a group energy. We landed on a group size of 8.
Some of the 2020 Montana Retreat Crew on a ridge in Glacier NP: (left to right) James Kelly, Gary Huey, Max Marty, Blake Swingle, Corbin Heist.
Since 2019, I’ve been hosting a Montana Retreat at least once a year, preferably in the summer where the high country is more accessible. Now, in 2022, it’s with a mix of nostalgia and excitement that I write this article. This year will be the last Montana Retreat.
The super swanky badge I had made for the last retreat. Designed by the Jonathan Cheseaux.
My intention was never to become a tour operator where I’d take groups of people to the same places over and over, repeat the same things, crack the same jokes, drop the same ‘Montana’ facts like clockwork and turn them back to their hotel room. So every year, I have to come up with fresh material to teach, scout new locations, and set up new shoots for retreat students. And, after doing it for 4 years in a row, I feel like I want to shake up the way we do these retreats. The world is a big place full of dramatic places to go shoot, why wouldn’t we ‘keep exploring’?
Cracker Lake seen from Mt Siyeh in Glacier NP
So this August 9-14th of 2022 will be the last Montana Retreat in a while. Because I want the last one to be the most memorable, I’ve come up with mind-boggling locations, have taken field shoots to a new level, brought in Cody Ringo as a private chef, and have the strongest insights to share.
If you’ve always wanted to come to the MT retreat, this is the time as there won’t be another one in a long time. Please apply here.
