Into the Wilderness: Navigation, Fieldcraft, and the Art of Reaching the Frame

Course Overview

This is a foundational (100-level) field course for anyone who has ever looked at a vast panorama of mountains that stretches unbroken beyond the power of sight and felt the pull to walk into it. It grows directly from the Dean’s guide to exploring nature, and from more than two decades of walking into the wilderness with professional camera gear, and it begins exactly where he begins — with the conviction that nature is where you cherish the experiences you encounter, and that our zeal for discovering the world beyond everyday life is what makes a photograph worth the long journey to reach it.

The course rests on one simple and demanding idea: the picture that truly touches the heart belongs to the photographer who is first willing to become an explorer. Trekking through the wilderness with a backpack on your shoulders is not that simple; you must often find your way, cope with steep terrain, and learn to deal with hazards such as extreme weather. Long before the camera comes out, then, you need to know your trail precisely, to learn how to read maps, and to develop the skills to adapt yourself to nature — and that is the work of this course.

Across eight lessons you will develop the artistic eye in wild places; learn to read topographic and planimetric maps, their scale, and their contour lines; plan a route by locating the sunrise and sunset points, sketching possible stopovers, and talking with the locals who know how the land has changed; find your way by map, by compass, and by the natural signs of the sun and the wind, and come to see even getting lost as an opportunity; and finally master the fieldcraft of the trail — the rest step, one-handed shooting, and the trekking pole used as a tripod — that carries you to the frame without wearing you out. You will finish ready to plan and walk to a wild vantage point, and to photograph life that truly touches the heart.

Faculty & Resources