My best images come with a story – Tuscan Memories

Tuscan Photographic Workshop Tour June 18 – June 23, 2016

San Gimignano in the Mist

The best photographs are often accompanied by the memories that are attached to the image. Your own personal metadata is what makes your images and traveling so important.

This was a wonderful morning image that I captured in 2013 in Sangimino, Italy and is one of my favorite memories.

What makes it my favorite is the smile it brings to my face when I see it. We had arrived and could see the village in the soft morning light before sunrise. Everyone knew it was going to be a great shot. Once I parked the van, everyone dashed of a few steps ahead of Jan and I. Craig, Charlie, Steve, and Bob headed off into the tall wet grass to try to find a vantage point to shoot from and Jan gave me a look that still makes me laugh every time I see this image. There was a little farm road that went  up and off to the left of the wet grass,  it took Jan and I to this great (and dry) vantage point.  As we watched the light change we captured this wonderful sunrise. The men eventually came out of the wet brush and onto the farm road to capture Sangimino from what I think of as Jan’s vantage point.

A journey shared is a journey remembered.

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Tuscany June 18 – June 23 2016

Sunrise anywhere on the planet is always a great time to start shooting. The rain and mist mixed with this morning’s soft light in Michigan would have made for great location shooting. With a little luck we will have a variety of weather for the Italian and French workshops coming up in 6 weeks.

Awakening – Montepulciano, Italy

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Click here to get to my Links page for the 15% off discount code for any of the Topaz products

Tuscan Photographic Workshop Tour June 18 – June 23 2016

Florence is a terrific place to start an Italian adventure. It was built by the Romans and transformed by the Renaissance into one on the great art capitals of the world. There are still a couple of places left on the Tuscan workshop.

Duomo Florence

Florence, Italy

Our first stop in Tuscany will be San Gimignano, a small walled village an hour north and Siena, it is famous for its medieval architecture and towers that rise above of all the surrounding buildings offering an impressive view of the city from the surrounding valley.

After our morning shoot in San Gimignano, we will be heading to Siena to explore this wonderful medieval village where Leonardo da Vinci enjoyed spending time.

After Siena we will be staying in the Val d’Orcia which is the wheat belt of Tuscany. The Val d’Orcia is an hour south of Siena with the Bagno Vignoni on its west side and the ancient Roman village of Pienza on its east. In the Heart of the Tuscan region we’ll be capturing images, with time set aside to soak in the hot mineral waters of the Bagno, a little wine tasting, and a cooking class for anyone who is interested. We will spend some time processing images using Photoshop’s Lightroom and Topaz and Nik Software plug-ins to help improve your processing skills.

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Val d’Orcia, Tuscany

This morning I spent some time with Deborah Bondar going over Lightroom’s workflow, processing this image she captured in the Val d’Orcia. Lightroom is a great program where you can take a raw image off your card and in less than 10 minutes you can turn it into a wall hanger.

From June 18 – June 23 2016 I will be teaching a workshop in the Val d’Orcia when the wheat field will be golden in the early morning and late afternoon light.

This is an amazing location where we can capture images and drink in the Tuscan lifestyle. We will be spending three night at an old Roman bath in the middle of the Val d’Orcia. Hope you can join me!

Val d’Orcia – Tuscany Italy – processed in Lightroom

Val d’Orcia – Tuscany Italy – uprocessed

 

San Gimignano – After Hours

Early in the morning and later in the evening the ancient cities have very little foot traffic and are wonderful time to capture images. After our sunset shot of San Gimignano we went into town for a nice dinner and on our walk back to our hotel the piazza was empty which gave everyone the opportunity to capture great images of this piazza which is usually crowed.

San Gimignano processed with Topaz Clarity

When I am teaching on location my main focus is making sure that everyone in capturing great images and learning their camera. Going to great locations makes my job easy and having so many wonderful people travel with me has enriched the time that I spend traveling.

For a list of upcoming Workshops click here

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