Quality photos capture piercing looks, toothy smiles, and elusive dodo sightings much more efficiently then papier-mâché sculptures. Put down the paste and pick up a camera with today's Groupon: for $99, you get a Photo I photography workshop and a one-day photo excursion (up to a $185 value) from Cole/Marr Photography Workshops, located in downtown Boise.

Cole/Marr Photography Workshops teach traditional photography principles and new digital imaging technologies before putting those skills to use with instructor-guided, outdoor workshops that allow participants to practice their photo knowledge. Taught by Cole/Marr founder and naturalist photographer David Marr, the two-session Photo I workshop ($95 value) spelunks through the camera caves of stop action, show action, depth of focus, metering, and limitations in film and digital formats. At the workshop's conclusion, patrons can choose from a calendar of daylong, in-the-field instructional excursions, allowing memory memorializers a chance to use their fresh film knowledge to document jig-dancing rock formations and hideously shrieking birds in Silver City, Stanley Basin, the Leslie Gulch, and more.

Encased in a redbrick, industrial exterior, Cole/Marr welcomes customers into its lofted, timber-outfitted workshop, where photo elves don their picture tool belts and can be found hard at work. Inside the studio, photographers have access to three darkrooms, multiple shooting areas, student and instructor galleries, a photo library, and digital workstations. Cole/Marr also boasts an on-site coffee house featuring espressos and daily delivered foods from local bakeries. Photo I Workshops are offered once a month, while one-day excursions vary from month to month, much like werewolf hairdos.