Photography Hero Holiday Charente

What You'll Do

This 7 night photography holiday combines 35 hours of exciting photography to transform your understanding and ability to work with your camera with local activities and excursions in this spectacular region of South-West France, leaving you inspired and taking fantastic photos.

Have you got a digital camera and not sure how to get the best out of it? Are you stuck in Automatic Mode and want to learn more about your camera’s other features and functions? If you love photography, you need to spend some dedicated time, in a relaxed environment and really understand how to improve your technique.

This 7 night / 8 day photography holiday is a fantastic opportunity for photography lovers who want to improve their photography abilities and technique. With no more than 6 people on each course, you will get the individual attention necessary to really flourish and get to grips with using your camera to its highest potential.

You will receive more than 6 hours of tuition, guidance, advice & discussion a day from your warm and experienced tutor, who will open your eyes to the functionality of your camera and help you to vastly improve your photography skills.

With an expert at your side and Trisha cooking delicious food for you to enjoy after a long day of work at your photography, this holiday is a real treat. Whatever your choice of camera or photographic ability, this photography holiday will dramatically improve your skills and give you confidence and expertise to continue to take beautiful photos long after you return home.

Stay in the stunning Studio (a lovingly restored barn) in the grounds of a medieval convent house with your own private room with ensuite bathroom for no single supplement. The Studio is surrounded by lovely gardens and there is also a wonderful swimming pool to relax in.

Lay bare the mysteries of your camera and photo-editing software in the lovely on site photography studio. With state of the art computers and software at your fingertips, you will hugely increase your knowledge of the camera in a gentle, relaxing environment on this photography holiday with a difference.

Experience
Highlights

Benefit from expert tuition in photography from your friendly local expert.

Relax in a stunning medieval convent house in the beautiful countryside.

Work in a lovingly restored barn which makes an incredible studio space.

Experience Itinerary

Arrival and welcome dinner

– Don and Trisha are happy to pick you up from Angoulême train station at no extra cost and bring you back to the Studio anytime from around 5pm
– You will enjoy a lovely welcome dinner where you will get to know your hosts and the other guests you will be sharing this wonderful experience with
– Your hosts will also go through the program for your holiday tonight so that you can prepare for your days ahead

Accommodation

Accommodation is in a lovingly restored barn with historic features. You will have your own private en-suite bedroom. The accommodation has been inspected and gained the Office de Tourisme accreditation.

Features
– Meals cooked with fresh local produce and lovely local wine
– Private swimming pool and extensive book collection for you to unwind
– Beautiful countryside surrounding with lots of lovely walks
– State of the art software and computers on site
– Enormous range of cultural local excursions and attraction’s including market visits and local fetes and festivals
– There are parking facilities at the accommodation
– Free WiFi throughout the house

A typical day

– At 9am you will have a continental breakfast at the studio, and discuss the plan for the photography packed day ahead
– After breakfast your first photography session will start at 10am
– Many of your photography sessions will take place at photo shoot locations which Don will take you to and from, giving you a chance to experience some of what the local area has to offer
– At 1pm you will break for lunch or a picnic
– Your second photography session is typically on location and starts at 2pm and will also last for at least 3 hours
– Depending on the day you might continue shooting at the photo-shoot location or come back to the Studio to carry out some photo editing and manipulation and learn computer based photography skills
– From around 5pm you will have free time in which you could go for a walk, relax by the pool, read a book from the extensive collection or even have a go at a spot of painting
– Dinner is served at 7:30pm, made by Trisha, and will be entirely homemade from fresh local produce and served with delicious wine from the area
– Please note that Tuesday or Wednesday will be a free day for you to relax

Accommodation

Departure

– You will take your final breakfast at 9am on the departure day
– Please note you will have a final photography session on day 7 (Friday) from 10-4pm and you check-out the following day on Saturday morning when your hosts will happily give you a lift to Angoulême train station at no extra cost as you take your new photography skills with you!

Location Information

This lovely photography school in South-West France combines state of the art technology with beautiful accommodation and warm, attentive hosts. Nestled in the French countryside, guests enjoy stunning views as well as an abundance of engaging cultural activities in the local towns and villages which will stay with you long after you return home.

Nearest airport: Bergerac (approx. 1 hour 45 minutes away). You can also fly to Limoges and Bordeaux (both within a 2.5 hour drive).

Pre-booked transfers:
Private transfers to and from Angoulême train station are included in the price. Please contact the photography school with your arrival and departure details to arrange your transfer post-booking.

FAQs

- Suitable for all levels from beginners to enthusiasts
- This photography holiday is suitable for keen photographers who are ready to get stuck in and develop their skills
- Minimum age 18
- Courses have a maximum of 6 people in each group, singles are very welcome as you'll meet others with a passion for photography and there are NO single supplements

- Photography courses start on Saturday, finishing the following Saturday
- Check in around 5pm on day 1 and check out around 4pm on day

Please find below some information regarding the accommodation and location of the holiday which may be useful when deciding if this is the right holiday for you; should you have an further questions, please contact us and we will be happy to help
- Please note this accommodation does not have disabled access
- All of the bedrooms are located upstairs in the building and they have walk-in showers
- Each day there will be excursions to various local villages and there will be light walking involving carrying your own equipment

- All breakfasts, lunches and dinners will be provided for the duration of your course
- Delicious meals are prepared by Trisha from fresh local produce
- Examples include French classics such as creamy asparagus tarts with salade girolles, magret du canard au sauce bigarde with dauphinoise potatoes or salmon en pipolotte with moon blush tomatoes
- Evening meals include lovely local wine for which the region is famous

- Bring your camera, lenses, camera bag, memory cards, battery charger and any other equipment you might have
- A laptop if you have one
- Comfortable clothes and walking shoes as you will be out and about in the local area
- A hat/cap or sun cream as well as an anorak to prepare for all weather conditions

They use Lightroom and Photoshop, plus the Nik Collection (a set of Photoshop plug-ins).

Yes – they cover all three pieces of software with hands-on tuition and type-written “recipes”.

Each client has a dedicated iMac that they can use whenever they want.

Absolutely! Vegans/vegetarian welcome. Don, your tutor, is gluten free so they cook just about everything.

From £1399 pp