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We Did It!
A dream 15 years in the making is finally happening—we just officially closed on the property that will become the permanent headquarters for Redlands Ranch in Northwest Texas! In this video, I'm sharing the big news straight from the property just an hour after signing the final papers. We’re turning this land into the ultimate all-inclusive wildlife and night photography destination. Here’s a quick look at what we have planned:
Russell Graves
2 days ago1 min read


Summer in Iceland - A Hackberry farm Nature Photography Workshop field report
By evening, the skies began to clear, but by morning, they came back again. It’s the unsettled season here in the island country but the weather is perfect for our nature photography workshop. Fall is approaching fast, and the warm waters of the Atlantic Gulf Stream feed moisture that condenses against the ever-present cold-air masses that increasingly press down from the Arctic Circle.
Russell Graves
Sep 75 min read


An African Odyssey - A Hackberry Farm nature photography workshop webinar
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to go on a real African safari? What kinds of things will you see? What’s the lodging like? What all can you expect? Tune in to our recent nature photography workshop webinar and find out all of the information for you to make an informed decision.
Russell Graves
Aug 311 min read


More AI Prompts to Improve Your Nature Photography - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshop Webinar
In this nature photography workshop webinar, we’ll follow up on our last webinar and bring you more prompts to help improve your nature photography. No, we aren’t creating images out of nowhere, but we’re using the tools available to us to help us gain insight into how we take pictures and how we can improve our craft.
Russell Graves
Aug 241 min read


Botswana - Journey to the Wild - A Hackberry Farm nature photography workshop field report
“This is the best trip I’ve ever done,” she says, a little misty-eyed. She’s one of the seven guests on this trip with whom we’ve divided into two Land Cruisers to explore the Tuli Block region on this nature photography workshop. “I never believed I’d see what we’ve seen on this trip.” I can see why she’s emotional. To come to Africa, to come to Botswana; well, it does something to you. For both men and women, the response to seeing big cats and other wildlife in the wild
Russell Graves
Aug 175 min read
Beautiful Botswana - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshops field report
"After an orientation and high tea, we take to the water to begin photographing wildlife along the Chobe River for the nature photography workshop. This area is famous for elephants, and it doesn’t take long until we see a quartet of pachyderms swimming the river to an island that straddles the Botswana/Namibia border. While the big elephants deftly swim the river channel, the smaller one snorkels across.”
Russell Graves
Aug 101 min read


Beautiful Botswana - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshops field report
After an orientation and high tea, we take to the water to begin photographing wildlife along the Chobe River for the nature photography workshop. This area is famous for elephants, and it doesn’t take long until we see a quartet of pachyderms swimming the river to an island that straddles the Botswana/Namibia border. While the big elephants deftly swim the river channel, the smaller one snorkels across.
Russell Graves
Aug 36 min read


Mana Pools Africa - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshops field report
As the sun came up, soft light dappled the woodlands along the Zambezi River. In the understory, impala move about, keeping one eye on each other and another eye on the constant danger that lurks nearby. This vast river bottom in Northern Zimbabwe is home to wild dogs, lions, and leopards, all lurking in the shadows searching for their next meal.
Russell Graves
Jul 274 min read


Using AI to Improve your Nature Photography - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Webinar Workshop
This month's nature photography workshop webinar is a good one. We're going to be digging in on how using AI prompts with sites like Chat GPT or Google Gemini can actually help improve your nature photography. We're not talking about making images using artificial intelligence. We're talking about using the tools available to you for insights and advice on some perplexing questions.
Russell Graves
Jul 191 min read


Costa Rica: Wildlife Paradise - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshop field report
And so it goes for each outing we take on this Costa Rican nature photography workshop.
Throughout the week, we photograph the four monkey species found on the Osa Peninsula. It’s like an encyclopedia of New World monkeys: the capuchin, spider, howler, and the diminutive squirrel monkey. Each morning we awake to the sounds of howlers greeting the day - their deep bellowing calls belie their stature.
Russell Graves
Jul 124 min read


The Quetzals of Costa Rica - A Hackberry Farm nature photography workshop field report
“If you wait here, he’s been showing up to feed from this avocado tree around 6:30 for the past few days,” says Mario, describing what we should all expect for the next couple of hours. Mario speaks with a thick Costa Rican accent, but his English is more than adequate. For a couple of generations, he’s been kind enough to guide people into the high mountains south of San Jose. Here, the birds of all kinds are numerous, but we’re willing to wait on just this one. We met
Russell Graves
Jul 53 min read


Summer in the Smokies - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshops Field Report
Of all the parks to which I’ve traveled, the Smokies are my favorite. Rich in natural and cultural wonders, the Smokies are a symbol of resilience. A century of over-harvesting once left the mountains stripped of trees, but now, the forests abide. Beneath every tree is a story of life in the understory. Here, the smallest insects, fungi, invertebrates, and vertebrates thrive.
Russell Graves
Jun 283 min read


Jumping Bass - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshop video tutorial
Sometimes, nature photography opportunities fall in your lap. On the first day of September, I found myself on a small pond where the largemouth bass exhibited the strangest behavior.
Russell Graves
Jun 211 min read


The Mammal Calendar - A Hackberry Farm nature photography video workshop
Putting yourself in the right place at the right time is one of the crucial pieces of the wildlife photography puzzle. In this nature photography video workshop webinar, we'll discuss how understanding some basic biological facts about mammals can help you become a better photographer.
Russell Graves
Jun 141 min read


The 2025 Yearbook - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshop publication
In our new nature photography workshop publication, youʼll see a celebration of all we did in 2025. More importantly, itʼs a celebration for our guests.
This is the second year we've done the yearbook, and it's been a success. Whether you contributed images or not, people love the pictures and the stories behind each of our excursions.
Russell Graves
Jun 71 min read


The Badlands - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshops Field Report
It’s a scene that’s played out for time immemorial. The sublimity of the moment is palpable, and each one of us on this nature photography workshop soaks it all in. It’s such a blessing to take a camera in hand and head afield to witness and document Mother Nature’s story.
The undulating prairie unfolds away from us for quite a piece until it gives way to ever-growing hills of granite. These Black Hills are legendary in our country’s historical canon. They’ve been a si
Russell Graves
May 314 min read


Streamline your Lightroom Workflow - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Video Workshop
In this nature photography workshop video webinar, we'll discuss some surefire Lightroom strategies designed to streamline your workflow and help you make sense of a consistent and effective direction for working on your images.
Russell Graves
May 241 min read


Fieldcraft - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshops webinar
In this May 2026 nature photography workshop webinar webinar, you’ll learn:
- How to read the landscape to predict animal movements.
- Utilizing food sources in your planning.
- A rundown of basic behavioral cues that every nature photographer should know.
- Behavioral clues that will help you get into the animal's mind.
- How the weather affects animals' movements.
- Pre-shot camera setup strategies so you’re ready the second the action starts.
Russell Graves
May 171 min read


Redlands Ranch and Western Wildlife - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshops field report
Five minutes after we settled into the blind at Redlands Ranch, the birds were already flitting in.
“This is the way nature photography workshops ought to work,” I think to myself. I am referring to the no-waiting, constant-action aspect of the blind I built on this property just over two years ago. It’s a phenomenon I suspected would happen when we turned the first shovel of dirt on this hardscrabble piece of Rolling Plains rangelands.
Russell Graves
May 103 min read


Spring in the Netherlands - A Hackberry Farm Nature Photography Workshop field report
You see it with your eyes, but in your mind, it’s hard to comprehend that such a variety of colors exists in nature. All across the lowlands, technicolor fields of pinks, reds, yellows, oranges, and every color in between beg for at least a little attention from the camera.
Despite the relative sameness of the tulips, it’s remarkably easy to pick individual flowers out in which to photograph in this nature photography workshop. Each row is arrow-straight and is meticulou
Russell Graves
May 33 min read
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