landscapes photography workshops 2019

landscapes photography workshops 2019

 

Spain and Switzerland were on my radar in 2018. They are both perfect locations as bases for landscapes photography workshops (2019). In May a 7 day trip beginning with a flight from Marrakesh into Milan found me in the southern Swiss river valleys of Valle Verzasca. A geological tour de force with some of the cleanest waters in Europe, the Valle offers a compositional masterclass in how to frame rocks and river. The B&B kindly loaned me the use of their 4×4 which was an advantage over the hourly bus service. Driving the 15 km up and down the river hugging road looking for possible photo opps became the daily routine. Once identifying some potential areas, I’d pitch up river side and explore compositional possibilities.

Whilst the rocks inherently have fascinating patterns and colours I decided to set the framework that all photographs should include water. Secondly that flow should also be an important element in framing. Working to the lighting conditions of sun and cloud, I would wait until cloud had filtered the sun before exposing. All images were taken with a tripod using a small aperture and hyper-focal distance and with Format Hitech ND/polarising filters.

October saw me flying into Santander from Marrakesh and onwards to the easterly forests of Gorbea, Iraki and Ordessa with OK car rental. Some lovely early foggy conditions in Gorbea gave way to the autumnal colours in Ordessa. I kept an open mind about what I would find on the trip, but it became apparent early on that depth would be an interesting way forward. Unlike my Andalusian gallery from 2017 which was about flattening the wooded scenes, this time I was more thoughtful about foreground background juxtaposition. Overall, the set works well with some especially interesting tree formations in an Ordessa valley.

If you are interested in joining me for these two trips in 2019 get in touch: landscapes photography workshops 2019 | darren@photomaroc.co.uk

A photography holiday in Morocco – Craig’s week

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photography holidays in morocco

Craig’s photography holiday in Essaouira is drawing to a close and his eye for a picture has certainly come to the fore as the week has progressed. The image left taken at Souk Idagouard shows how photography is not always about clever compositions but is more often about spotting quirky juxtapositions and allowing the subject/objects to shine through with a simple framing.   Craig also took advantage of rare ‘Fantasia’ festival near Essaouira, not an event we’ve covered before on the photography holidays but once safely positioned in a good location at the front, Craig’s correct choice of shutter speed and timing gave him some truly exotic images.  Mind you, the fear of being trampled by a late braking horse was surpassed by the only real incident of potential danger when an ambulance wanted to pass through at some speed. Apparently a misfiring gun had broken a warrior’s arm and I can only guess the driver felt he had room for more!

Perhaps the most unusual finding of the week has been Craig’s topographic work, a long since forgotten genre of photography, on my part at least, formalised in the 1970’s through the photographs of Lewis Baltz and Robert Adams amongst others. ‘Topographic Photography‘ focuses on man altered landscapes and in Craig’s case it was an ‘organic’ development during the week to produce something more  than ‘pretty’ pictures. The topographic movement is  typically  characterised by photographs stripped of ‘artistic frills’.

Craig’s photographs are not as sparse as that but there is a detached and intelligent ‘eye’ at work. In all 5 superb galleries for the week.  A photography holiday here in Morocco often throws up a few photographic surprises particularly with how course attendees observe such different things.  I must also thank Craig for alerting me to the potential keyword search of residential photography holidays not something I had thought of before. You can view Craig’s galleries here.

 

 

near Essaouira on a Morocco photography holidayMorocco photography Holiday