NEW Italian Alps Photography Workshop
June 28-July 3, 2010
Valle d’Aosta, Italy (5 nights) Arrive 28th late afternoon, depart the 3rd
Workshop Cost
$2450 per person (Non-photographer partner $300 off)
Includes tuition, 5 nights accommodation, breakfast each day and all transportation. (Airfare not included) Based on double occupancy. Add $300 for a private, single room.
Alumni Early Bird Special $1950. Save $500 / Person!
For alumni of past workshops. Pay in full by March 1st (Alps Workshop only).
Travel Itinerary
Meet us in Genoa (unless you are already with us for the Riviera extention) and we’ll travel by coach to Valle d’Aosta. Way off the beaten track, Aosta is our kind of place. Bordering Switzerland and France, this area is the smallest and least densely populated region in Italy, almost a country to itself. We’ll photograph inside some of the 100 castles, the open-air markets, take a breathtaking cable car ride over the alps, and see the Matterhorn and Monte Blanc. We’ll stay in the Roman outpost of Aosta and feast on a truly unique blend of Italian-Swiss-French food.
The Photographic Workshop
Drake Busath (who lived in Tuscany in the late 1970’s and visits each year) will lead discussions on landscape and fine art images each day, with informal critique of your previous day’s work. If you’re shooting digital, bring a laptop to work on your images as we discuss photoshops tips and advanced workflow helps.
Drake’s staff includes a Guest Instructor/Assistant for basic photographers, to help master fundamental camera techniques. Classroom time will be limited to 2 hours per day, with the remainder of the day photographing in the field.
Intimate Italy, images by Drake Busath
Partners Welcome
Partners are welcome to join us for all travel and meals. During the morning workshop time, they can explore the surrounding town or the amenities of the hotel. This is meant to be a wonderful vacation for couples, not a hard-core seminar.
Workshop Goals
We believe you should do less "work" with your camera and have more fun. You should enjoy every second of it. We want to help photographers break free from ordinary, overly-serious images, and instead create self-expressive images that say more about the artist and less about the place. We try to take you to the best places at the right times, and offer the inspiration and technical skills to make your lifetime-best images.
Content
Each day we’ll gather for on-screen review and critique the previous day’s photography. A little scary, but fun. Short lectures fill out the class time, which is limited to 2 hours a day because of our ambitious travel schedule.
Technical discussions will include: Fast and accurate methods for proper exposure in a wide variety of situations. Mastering and de-mystifying the features on your digital SLR camera,. Also dynamic techniques for subject blur, camera motion and selective focus compositions. (Drake believes focus is a bit over-rated). We’ll talk a lot about lighting and design issues, composition, balance, scale and dimension. Also content or the absence of it, and how to create images that have a powerful effect on viewers. Separate instruction will be scheduled for beginners, allowing serious amateurs and professionals to advance at their own speed. Instructors will available during our travel for one-on-one help with camera mechanics and aesthetic discussions. Group Size is 10-15 photographers , plus partners. We generally have a mix of professionals and amateurs and we love the diversity that provides.
