There are few places where water and sky feel so stitched together that you lose all sense of boundary. Here, in the Prairie Potholes of North Dakota, the earth is dimpled with thousands of glacial basins—shallow bowls born from ice and time. These are wetlands carved by retreating glaciers, and they form one of the most ecologically vital regions for migratory birds in North America: the birthplace of nearly 80% of the continent’s waterfowl.

Built for photographers who want more than good images, this workshop drops you right into the heart of the action — not from shore, but from the water itself. Using custom floating blinds, you’ll photograph at eye-level with blue-winged teal, Northern shovelers, redhead ducks, ruddy ducks, pintails, and myriad others as they move through their daily rituals during the height of breeding season. It’s quiet work, immersive work, and it changes how you see and approach your photography.

Over the course of our week together, you’ll learn how to work from the water itself, mastering both the technique and fieldcraft required to photograph waterfowl ethically, intimately, and with intention.

Stretching across the northern Great Plains, the Prairie Pothole Region, and specifically this area known as the Missouri Plateau is often referred to as “the duck factory of North America.” It’s a landscape that quietly sustains nearly three-quarters of the continent’s migratory waterfowl. These shallow wetlands, formed by the retreat of glaciers thousands of years ago, function like a vast ecological heartbeat. Each spring, snowmelt and rain fill the basins, creating a living mosaic of water, sedge, and sky. Here, blue-winged teal and pintails return to nest, redheads and canvasbacks pair off in mirrored ponds, and grebes perform their ancient, running dance across the surface of the water.

To the untrained eye, this place can appear empty. Even Lewis and Clark thought of it as too open, too ordinary, too plain. But beneath that horizon of grass and wind lies one of the most biologically productive ecosystems on the continent. These ephemeral wetlands filter water, recharge aquifers, store carbon, and sustain countless species, from dragonflies to sandhill cranes. Every puddle and pond carries a chorus of life that begins long before dawn and ends long after the sun has gone.

I’ve been obsessed with the prairie since childhood, and that love and curiosity about has only grown over the years. In the fall of 2025, I kicked off a year-long project with two of the country’s most recognized duck conservation organizations. My work takes a deep dive into this often overlooked landscape, and highlights the beauty of the space, but also the incredible collaboration between farmers, ranchers, conservationists, and hunters to preserve and protect this vital ecosystem.

Most photographers have never been here. Fewer still have photographed from this perspective. Working from a floating blind allows you to disappear into the marsh, to become part of the landscape instead of a visitor to it. The birds will come to you. Sometimes, they’ll even land on top of the blind itself. And, don’t be surprised if some of them come so close they are well outside your minimum focusing distance.

The Prairie Potholes region is not just a habitat, but a place of resilience and renewal, one that deserves to be seen and understood for its beauty as much as its biological importance.