This year marked my 11th year hosting Chesapeake Bay photography workshops on Smith Island, and it's hard to believe how far this journey has come. In 2026, I welcomed 35 photographers from all over the country to join me for a Smith Island photography workshop- each one coming to photograph the island as I see it, and to experience a way of life that's disappearing from so many of the Chesapeake’s working waterfronts.
Our home base for these workshops is the ISLAND TIME House, right on Smith Island. But the majority of each trip is spent out on the water aboard my boat, so I'm able to get photographers into position for the shots that just aren't possible from land.
What Makes This Photography Workshop Different
From the beginning, my goal has been to offer something more than a typical photography workshop. Smith Island isn't just a backdrop - it's a living, working community, and I want every photographer who joins me to leave with a real understanding of that. That's why I involve people from the Smith Island community directly in these trips: watermen who let us photograph them at work, and local cooks and bakers who bring us into their kitchens. It's the difference between photographing a place and actually experiencing it.
Throughout each workshop, I work directly with photographers on camera settings, composition, and lens choice - but the real learning happens through experience. Rather than lecturing from the sidelines, I'm out shooting alongside the group, guiding them through real decisions in real time as the scene unfolds in front of us. We also spend a lot of time talking through different lighting conditions and how to make the most of natural light, since so much of outdoor photography comes down to reading the light and knowing when to be ready for it.
Highlights from the 2026 Season
Every workshop this year had its own highlights, but a few things and photographs stood during this run of workshops.
Wildlife Photography. The opportunities to photograph an incredible array of birds on and around Smith Island continue to be a highlight for nearly every group. Photographers came away from these workshops with portfolio worthy images and better understanding of how to capture challenging subjects that the photographer has very little control over. Watching a group go from unsure about wildlife photography to confidently nailing a fast-moving feeding sequence never gets old.
Watermen and the working waterfront - Photographing Chesapeake Bay watermen at work remains one of the most requested and most rewarding parts of these photography workshops. There's nothing quite like being on the water at sunrise, watching generations-old traditions play out in real time.
Tangier Island waterman Andy Parks showing off a blue crab to the photography workshop students. His boat MISS STUART is a traditional workboat used to scrape for crabs in the shallows around the islands.
The working waterfront of Tangier Island in beautiful morning light.
The culture - A proper crab feast and a hands-on Smith Island cake making session gave this year's groups a real taste of island life. These moments off the water are just as memorable as anything captured through a lens.
The landscapes. Both Smith and Tangier Island photography offered incredible opportunities to capture the marshes, working boats, and small-town character that define this part of the Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore.
The full moon setting on the last day of the seventh workshop was one of the highlights of the entire month on Smith Island. I positioned the group to the west of Solomon’s Lump Lighthouse in Kedges Strait to line up the setting moon with the lighthouse.
Storms rolling in off the Bay. Few things test and reward a photographers patience like a storm building over open water. Watching one roll in off the Chesapeake and racing to capture the changing light and drama in the sky is always a highlight of the season, and it's the kind of unpredictable moment that makes shooting on the water so worthwhile.
Want More Island Life?
If this blog post has you wanting to do a deeper dive into Smith and Tangier Islands, I put more than a decade of my photography of the watermen, the wildlife, the culture into a book, ISLAND LIFE. It's the same story these workshops are built around but told in full with 280-pages of photography and narrative.
Looking ahead to June 2027
Eleven years in, these workshops still feel as meaningful to me as the first one. Watching photographers connect with this place and with the people who call it home is why I keep coming back.
We have limited space for the 2027 season. If you've been thinking about joining me on Smith Island, now's the time to book.