THE BEST OF FRIENDS

IT STARTED, APPROPRIATELY, on an Arizona highway. Hugh Harelson, the publisher of Arizona Highways from 1982 to 1995, and his wife, Jan, were on one of their long commutes between their home in Prescott and the magazine’s headquarters in Phoenix. It was 1985 — “the good old days when no one could get you by phone, so you wouldn’t get interrupted,” Jan says.

On this trip, the Harelsons were discussing Friends of Arizona Highways, which had formed in 1970 as an auxiliary to the magazine and had become a resource for tourism and photography enthusiasts. But the magazine’s charter didn’t include operating as a tourism bureau.

Together with friend Shannon Rosenblatt, the Harelsons formed a plan to incorporate Friends of Arizona Highways as a nonprofit organization that would recruit the magazine’s contributors to lead educational photographic trips. That organization, now known as Arizona Highways Photo Workshops (AHPW), is marking its 30th anniversary this year.

There weren’t many similar programs on which to base the organization — in part, Jan says, because Arizona Highways is one of a kind.
 

“I don’t think any other magazine had quite the mystique that Highways had,” she says. “We had — and still have — a phalanx of world-renowned photographers, and people were willing to pay to be under their tutelage.”

The program’s first workshop was at Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo Nation. Jerry Jacka led that workshop, using his personal connections among the Navajos to get participants the best possible access. Photo Editor Peter Ensenberger went along, and Jan was there, too, as the hostess.

“The people attending the workshop assumed I was a photographer,” she says. “I had to explain to them that I was known for taking snapshots of my eyeball by holding the camera the wrong way.”

Since then, AHPW has grown into an international organization offering single- and multiple-day trips in Arizona, other states and Canada. Roberta Lites, AHPW’s executive director since 2010, says the organization now averages about 70 workshops per year. Since its inception, it’s offered more than 800 of them.

The trips have traditionally been all-inclusive, but in 2016, Lites says, AHPW will add an option for participants who want to arrange their own transportation, meals and lodging. It also will embark on its first trip outside North America when photographer Beth Ruggiero-York leads a workshop in China. That trip came about after AHPW surveyed past participants about the international locations they’d like to visit. Ruggiero-York lived in China for years and is fluent in Mandarin.
 

Colleen Miniuk-Sperry got involved with AHPW in 2003, when she attended a Colorado fall-colors workshop led by Jim Steinberg. “The experience was life-changing,” she says. “I learned so much about photography and how to connect with my environment. I never intended to become a freelance photographer, but after that workshop, I thought to myself, This could really be my life path.”

Two years later, photographer and AHPW volunteer Paul Gill suggested that Miniuk-Sperry consider volunteering. That put her on a path that today has her regularly leading workshops in places such as Monument Valley and Maine’s Acadia National Park. She’s also a frequent contributor to Arizona Highways and other publications.

Miniuk-Sperry says her memories of how nervous she was on that first trip have made her a better instructor.
“I really try to encourage a learning environment,” she says. “It’s OK to make mistakes and try new things. That’s how we learn.”

A commitment to learning sets AHPW apart, Lites says: “Our whole purpose is education: helping people, one on one, to develop their skills in photography. I want everyone to walk away with great images, having learned something and having had an amazing experience at these wonderful locations.”

Hugh Harelson died of cancer in 1998 at age 67, but he left a lasting impact on Arizona Highways and AHPW. His changes helped safeguard the magazine’s future, and the workshops have grown into a self-sustaining entity that continues to introduce people to the beauty of Arizona and the joy of photography.

Jan Harelson is 78 now, and although she’s retired from her work with AHPW, she’s proud that the organization born on a long car trip has become a key part of Arizona Highways history.

“In the beginning, we were more focused on adding friends than adding funds,” she says, “but now it’s holding its own, and I’m thrilled about that.”