Eye Popping Scenery. Free Photography Workshops Taught by Pros. Free Loaner Cameras. Need More of an Excuse for a Vacation? I Didn't Think So

Those landscape beauty queens--Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon and Acadia National Park (in Maine)--are getting ready for their close-ups. And their freebies. 

Beginning June 7 and running through August 27, Cannon is going to be sponsoring free photography workshops at all of these parks, usually 3 times a day, and sometimes including video workshops. Workshops will be limited to 35 participants and run for two-hours each.

Don't have a camera? No worries, Cannon will lend you brand-new, top-of-the-line equipment (they have that stuff lying around). The teachers are going to be top-of-the-line, too, professional photographers vetted for their work in landscape photography. 

Here's the schedule:

• Yosemite: June 7-28, usually three sessions daily
• The Grand Canyon: July 4-24, three sessions daily except for the 24th (two sessions then)
• Jackson Hole, Wyoming: July 29 and 30, video workshops, twice daily
• Yellowstone: August 1-7, three times daily
• Acadia: August 16-22, three photography workshops; August 23 and 24 two video workshops daily

For complete information, including where to go within the parks for the workshops and their exact times, go to the Cannon Photography in the Parks website. Most of the website is devoted to a photography contest the company is also sponsoring (alas, that's only open to US residents), but if you click on "workshops", you'll get to a page with a full schedule.