Autumn Arts Festival-Designing and Composing Travel Photographs
Dates: 10/25/2010 - 11/3/2010
Location: Tuscany - Dievole Chianti Classico Winery
Instructor: Barbara Brundege & Allen Kuhlow
Price: $2,995 
workshop details |
Il Chiostro celebrates this time of the year in Tuscany with our final program - The Autumn Arts Festival. We offer 3 separate workshops that all overlap throughout this 10-day celebration of the arts, the harvest, the wine and this wonderful region of Italy. The workshops are:
- Watercolor and Acrylic Painting with Lynn Stender
- Tuscan Cuisine with Chef Michael Vignapiano
- Digital Photography with Barbara Brundege and Allen Kuhlow
In addition to your workshop we offer Italian Opera Appreciation lectures with Prof. Lincoln Clark each evening before dinner. This is open to all participants.
Program Description - Designing and Composing Travel Photographs, Creating Your Tuscan Calendar for 2011:
We’re surrounded by advertisements for new camera equipment. Yet, when we put away our newest camera and file our latest images, our results still aren’t always what we hoped they’d be. Although we photographers must be concerned with equipment and techniques, sometimes we forget that photography is a means of self-expression, which involves one crucial element above all others: composition!
Whether you’re skills are beginning or advanced, we’ll work with you individually to create, select, and organize a portfolio of images that showcases your vision of Tuscany. As an optional feature this year we will show you how to combine those images into a printed calendar for 2011. When you return home, you’ll be able to order copies of your personal calendar to share with friends and family or, perhaps, you’ll use them as gifts during the holiday season. In any case, you will enjoy yourself, and learn a little bit more about your camera and about compositional techniques.
During our 10-day workshop, in the mornings we will stroll through small, lively villages creating images as we go, and then return to Dievole in mid-afternoon to learn the process of selecting and editing our work for a calendar. We will concentrate on making images utilizing the basic design elements and other design techniques to create images with pizzazz.
On our all-day trip to Florence, Barbara and Allen will show you how to create a story, using ideas and techniques Barbara learned while on assignment for the National Geographic Society.
If you’re using a portable hard drive to store your images, you’ll edit them on the hard drive’s viewer. If you’re using a laptop computer, you’ll select and edit your images with your editing software. We suggest Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for your image editing software, or you may choose another software program if you know how to use it. Then you’ll work with MyPublisher software to arrange your images into a design that reflects your vision.
We can suggest some options for you to consider if you are wondering what type of camera to borrow or purchase. If your camera fits in your pocket, it might not have enough of the adjustments that photographers need to create memorable images. As the workshop progresses, we’ll be certain you understand how to use the camera features you need to create great images.
During your trip you will learn:
- Working with color contrast via the color wheel
- Composition and design elements to produce images with impact
- How to tell a story with your camera
- An easy technique for composing an environmental portrait of yourself and others
- How to create an image with the sense of place
- How to select the best white balance and the best exposure using your histogram
- The process of selecting the images you’ll keep when you finish a photography session
- The process of organizing your selected images into a calendar
- Techniques to select your best images and organize your final presentation
Whatever your photo ability, Barbara and Allen will take your skills to the next level.
At the end of the trip, you’ll have a collection of beautifully designed images that show Tuscany as you experienced it, and if you like, they’ll be ready to be printed in your personal 2011 calendar.
For scenes from past Autumn Arts Festivals, click here...
Price: $2,995 p/p (limited number of suites available for a $450 p/p supplement)
Includes:
- Room (double or suite) with full bathroom
- 2 meals per day (dinner with wine and full Tuscan breakfast)
- Workshop tuition and fees (except where noted)
- General activities (except where noted)
- Transfers between Siena train or bus station and Dievole
Note: if you are traveling alone, we can match you up with a roommate.
Departure is on morning of November 3.
General Activities Open to All Participants (in addition to workshop):
Most activities take place in and around the 900 year old Dievole estate & vineyard.
- Winery tour and tasting, featuring Dievole`s Chianti Classico
- Italian Opera Appreciation classes every evening before dinner
- Excursion to Siena
- 1-day excursion to Florence
- Dinner in the old cantina
- Various topical excursions with your class
- Special evening concerts and surprise entertainment, TBA
- Pig Roast celebrating the harvest and the arts
Price does not include:
- Airfare
- Museum admissions
- Local bus or train fares
- Laptops or other photography equipment for participants in photography workshop.