About Your Instructors


Though Bill and Linda Lane are both published, both sell their images and have been conducting workshops over the past 23 years, they reap the most satisfaction from teaching and helping others. Their images are used mainly for instructional purposes. Bill has been featured in numerous publications, lectured for fund-raisers , judged for competitions, and has been featured speaker for various groups. His photography took a giant leap after winning the Sierra Club’s National Photography Contest at which time he was in the beginning stages of developing his own photographic skills . Together they taught for years at the University of Richmond and have customized workshops for clubs, institutions such as Duke University in North Carolina and the Tandem School in Charlottesville, Virginia, to name a few. Their first 10 years of teaching included working with the State of Virginia conducting weekend workshops at various state park locations in conjunction with the Department of Parks and Recreation for the purpose of promoting the parks. In time they expanded their workshops into other areas of the Eastern U.S. and have conducted workshops in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and Rhode Island.

Bill Lane
Farrier of 40 years and Nature Photographer for 28

Throwing in the towel, my B.S. Degree and the three piece suits I start a new career and life as a farrier / photographer and never looked back – a step I have never regretted.
Although my work as a farrier over the last 40 years has been a full time and rewarding occupation, which I thoroughly enjoy and continue, nature and wildlife photography which I share with my wife, is my true passion. Each year I steal away a little more time to indulge my spirit through photography. Together we grew into offering 12 workshops a year in various locations. Recently, we have cut back slightly on the number of workshops we offer. Needed more time to indulge our own spirit and explore some new venues.
Photography for me all began with the desire to identify birds. Quickly I realized it could not be done with an 80-200 zoom and no tripod (a mistake many of us make in the beginning) ; therefore, I purchased a 600 F/4 lens and mighty tripod which did the job just fine at the time. Little did I know how fast my “gotta have/needa” list would grow.  I have been shooting and adding to my collection of equipment, gadgets and toys ever since. Thus began the quenching of my insatiable passion for nature photography. I was invited to various speaking engagements and presentations. One invitation lead to others and then my wife, Linda, began promoting our photography and developing our workshops. Not long ago, I had the privilege of presenting a program for the International Laminitis Symposium in Kentucky, a horse related conference, on how veterinarians and farriers can better record case studies and do presentations. It provided a means for tying together my work and my passion. I am self taught and experienced a few bumps in the road along the way. It didn’t take long to realize that even the very, very best equipment didn’t make for a good photographer and that shooting on automatic was teaching me nothing, getting me nowhere and resulting in trash can images. Remember, this was back in the film days and throwing away images hurt a lot more than in today’s digital age. I finally learned that it is the person behind the camera that needs to know how to read light, not to rely only on what the camera’s meter indicates. So I took a class or two and started reading and learning a lot about the mechanics of a 35mm camera. 95% of the classes I attended did not know how to teach proper exposure techniques using the manual mode; exposure and tones were hardly mentioned. At the time, I didn’t know enough to ask questions. So I put my camera on automatic and did as I was taught. I bracketed like crazy and did exactly what the camera suggested. What a waste. It was not satisfying and left me feeling out of control. I was disappointed in my images. I struggled for years until the light finally went off. I found a few mentors and from then on I was on my way. I decided to help others learn so they would not flounder through similar frustrations. I wanted to share my passion, making learning a fun and rewarding experience.

My wife and I now teach 3 to 5 days workshops throughout the year and conduct evening classes in Nature Photography. We have opened our home in West Virginia to our participants for meals, opened our hearts to their needs and shared our knowledge in any and every way that is helpful to their advancement. We love teaching and sharing and have been doing so together as a team creating a great learning experience while sharing good food, fun and camaraderie.

Linda Ward Lane

After attending Radford College, then William and Mary and finally Virginia Commonwealth University, I graduated in the field of elementary education where I spent 10 joyous and most fulfilling years teaching and learning. For the next 14 years I owned and ran a personnel company, The Job Market, with a partner. After marrying my wonderful husband, Bill, my life took a 360 degree turn. I began creating pottery and promoting and developing our photography and workshops. Pottery was a new beginning but photography had played a part in my past; it helped pay for college. My small pottery company is called Yellow Dog Pottery and my trademark was hand build vases adorned with wildflowers, leaves, shrubs and numerous plants. My love now is throwing on the wheel creating functional pottery some of which my sister paints. It is an ongoing challenge but extremely satisfying, good for the soul and makes me feel as one with the earth as does Photography. In 2000 I became very active in a Dog Rescue Group here at home called BARK (barkva.org) which grew into an almost full time job since I was one of the first regular volunteers and so much needed to be done. I managed the shelter and coordinated the volunteers ( once we starting having enough volunteers to coordinate). As the number of dogs grew so did the additional responsibilities I took upon myself. Needless to say, animals are my passion. So pottery took a back seat for a number of years. I am pleased to say that I have taken up pottery once again. After 16 years of managing and coordinating the shelter, i gave notice that I was going to be a two day a week volunteer and thus, I have. My intention was never to become so totally engrossed in BARK, but once you witness the need of all those loving, wonderful, homeless dogs who so totally depend on you, it is almost impossible to turn away. Take a moment to see our BARK link and notes of interest on our web site.

My other love is photography. I handle all the logistics involved in running a successful workshop from scheduling, transportation, food, reservations, finances, marketing, public relations, kitchen help (me) – the entire process right down to making sure we are prepared no matter what Mother Nature throws at us. Both Bill and I work together in the field and classroom. Since we have a lot of repeat participants, we are always looking for new and different places and ways to entertain our groups. We strive to offer good food, a relaxed atmosphere and camaraderie to go hand in hand with the learning experience – a sort of working vacation. We also make learning fun not stressful. We feel these simple pleasures are as important as photographing. We work our groups as hard as they’ll let us and they love it. As one of our students remarked, “Eat, sleep, and take pictures; how much better can it get!” We also make sure they go home with a Gotta, Wanta and Needa list” along with more knowledge than that with which they arrived.

Bill and Linda

Together we make the workshops happen. One could not do it without the other. Our goal is to continue developing our love and enjoyment of photography and share it with others. We offer:

WEEKENDS FULL OF SELF-INDULGENCE AND CAMARADERIE

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