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Infrared Woodland Study by Paul Gallagher aspect2i

Portrait of a Woodland - A Photography Retreat

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Spend time exploring and bringing to life images from one of the UK's ancient woodlands. During our time together we want to spend time out as well as valuable time back at our hotel engaging in conversation about how we ‘see’ and photograph the woodland and gain an understanding of how to be engaged in this special and unique environment.

Spilt Ancient Tree by Paul gallagher aspect2i

Whilst land­scape pho­tog­ra­phy invites us to explore so many dif­fer­ent envi­ron­ments from val­leys and lakes, to open plains and the coast, there is one that has always drawn the ded­i­cat­ed pho­tog­ra­ph­er and that is the fas­ci­na­tion of wood­lands. Over many years we have ran work­shops teach­ing peo­ple how to pho­to­graph these allur­ing places, but this work­shop has been tai­lored in a dif­fer­ent way. Like our Port­fo­lio Retreat, this pho­tog­ra­phy work­shop is dif­fer­ent from any­thing we have done before and one that we have been think­ing through for some years.

Ancient Trees Triptic by Paul Gallagher aspect2i

You will be encour­aged to sim­ply take your time, allow the wood­land to reveal itself to you and for you to devel­op a com­mu­nion with your sur­round­ings. There will be no rush­ing around to get to dif­fer­ent places as we want you to breath in the calm of the wood­land and make pho­tographs that will become a unique port­fo­lio of the way you see them. Rather than images that are tech­ni­cal­ly cor­rect with good his­tograms and accu­rate focus, this work­shop will devle into orig­i­nal­i­ty and authen­tic­i­ty. All approach­es to pho­tog­ra­phy will be wel­comed. We want you to cre­ate a port­fo­lio that will nev­er been repeat­ed, one that is derived from a pho­tog­ra­ph­er that has shut out the out­side world and has become enveloped by the woods. 

Tree and Vine in Infrared by Paul Gallagher aspect2i

Our time with our cam­eras will be in some of the old­est wood­lands in Suf­folk that date back to post glacial Wild­wood’ over 500 years ago and are sites of Spe­cial Sci­en­tif­ic Inter­est and Spe­cial Areas of Con­ser­va­tion. There are ancient oaks, rowans and birch­es along with the largest hol­ly trees thought to exist in the UK. There are huge fall­en limbs lit­tered every­where and along every path are the giants of the past. They are eerie, enchant­i­ng and mys­ti­cal habi­tats that could eas­i­ly form a life­times work.

Fallen Tree Suffolk by Paul Gallagher aspect2i

Dur­ing our time togeth­er we want to spend time out as well as valu­able time back at our hotel engag­ing in con­ver­sa­tion about how we see’ and pho­to­graph the wood­land and gain an under­stand­ing of how the oth­er par­tic­i­pants have engaged with their sur­round­ings. We will be active­ly encour­ag­ing you to be as cre­ative as you want and try to set aside the notion tro­phy images designed for social media. There will be evening lec­tures from your lead­ers Paul Gal­lagher and Michael Pilk­ing­ton and they will be on hand to talk over your port­fo­lio cre­ation and help with image inter­pre­ta­tion and post pro­cess­ing. What­ev­er your lev­el of expe­ri­ence, we will be there to encour­age you in an entire­ly non-judge­men­tal way.

We have cho­sen the beau­ti­ful Seck­ford Hall Hotel & Spa sur­round­ed by stun­ning grounds which dates back to the 1530’s and con­tains arti­facts once housed in Buck­ing­ham Palace and Wind­sor Cas­tle. Dur­ing our time togeth­er you will enjoy the high­est qual­i­ty accom­mo­da­tion, fine meals which are all includ­ed, and we will have our own pri­vate meet­ing room where Paul and Michael will share their expe­ri­ences of mak­ing portfolios

Contorted Ancient Oak by Paul Gallagher aspect2i

You may pre­fer black and white or colour, love the ethe­re­al effect of infrared or the won­der­ful­ly abstract nature of ICM and mul­ti­ple expo­sures. It does not mat­ter. These are all ways of self-expres­sion
that are at your fingertips. 


Each pho­tog­ra­ph­er will return home with a port­fo­lio of three A3+ prints made on a paper of their choice and pre­sent­ed in a fine art port­fo­lio box. You will also have free life­time access to our online course​‘Mak­ing The Print’ so you can con­tin­ue your jour­ney after the workshop.

5 Days

Limited to 6 Participants

Easy

Seckford Hall Hotel and Spa

View Accommodation

A unique experience exploring your own photography

Full board accommodation in the luxurious Seckford Hall Hotel and Spa (no single occupancy supplement) during the workshop

Transportation during the workshop

Extensive coaching and tuition from two highly acclaimed photographers

Evening lectures

Three A2 prints of your work created during the workshop and presented in a portfolio box

Free access to our online course 'Making The Print'

Travel to and from the workshop location

Camera and travel insurance

Personal expenses such as bar bills