Review of photography Course/Holiday in Abruzzo, Italy
As mentioned in my earlier posts, I decided to go on a 5 day photography course in Italy from 30th September to 4th October.
The morning of the 30th September started with:
- Taxi ride at 03:10 from my house to the MK temporary coach station (temporary because the new one is being rebuilt following a fire)
- Coach from MK to Stanstead Airport (03:40 – 06:00)
- Flight from Stanstead airport to Pescara, Italy (08:30 – 12:00)
I had only finished packing at about 01:00 that morning, so only got 2 hours sleep at home, then a little on the coach and plane.
The coach ride was actually quite nice. There were not many people on it and I decided to sit on the left hand side so I didn’t get a rush of traffic outside my window. I slept for most of the journey. I know we stopped at a bus stop near Luton airport, we may have stopped at other places, but I was sound asleep. I woke up 2 minutes before we arrived at Stanstead airport; from there it was just a short walk to the check-in.
The check-in was actually open early, so I checked in for the flight, drank bottle of drink I had on me (so annoying that you can’t take liquids into the departure area) then went through security.
I then sat near the cafe area where the people from frui said they would be, but they were not there, so when the time came, I borded the plane (I had paid for express bording which I always find is worthwile).
As I was one of the first people onto the plane, I was able to get a seat right at the front, this meant that I had plenty of legroom. A lady had beaten me to the window seat, so I grabbed the isle seat. Nobody ended up taking the 3rd seat, so I had some elbow room.
Midway though the flight, I took out a printout of the e-mail I had and the lady (Heather) sitting by me saw it – it turned out that she was on the same holiday! She had also looked out for the frui staff at the departure area but didn’t see them either, so it was good to know that we both had the correct flight!
After landing at Pescara, Italy; Heather and I got off the flight (we were right at the front, so the first off) and we collected our luggage, then met the frui staff and the other people from the course in the arrivals area. Then we got into a van and were driven to the Villa Danilo hotel which is located in Media Valle del Sangro, in Abruzzi region.
Upon arriving at the hotel we were given some nice food and drink, followed by 2 hours of rest (sleeping in the room), then dinner.
The hotel was very nice, set near a small village in a mountainous area. It was modelled on a Swiss chalet style building, had a small swimming pool, outside seating, nice rooms, 2 dining areas and was about a year old.
On the 3rd day we moved to another location. There the hotel was very basic and the rooms were cold, however that didn’t mater much – luckily they supplied blankets so it was ok.
Each day basically comprised of breakfast, a short talk on an aspect of photography, travel to a site where the participants could practice the photography, a second thing to see/do (e.g. look around a castle, a short demonstration of truffle hunting or pasta making), 2 hours rest in the hotel, dinner and a group review of the photographs.
The highlights of the holiday were:
- Seeing how dogs go truffle hunting
- The photography ‘sessions’ we had – i.e. walking around villages and taking photographs of a particular theme or in a particular style
- Lots of food
- Hot chocolate – it was really thick, not like any hot chocolate I have had before
- Cooking sessions
- The local Italian trades-people singing on top of a mountain (this was not planned)
- Singing in an agriturismo (see my videos here)
Good points:
- Learned the basics of photography including composition, ISO, shutter speed, aperture
- Never went hungry
- Nice scenery and locations
- Stayed in 2 hotels
- Well thought out itinerary
- The local people were very nice and friendly
Bad points:
- It was more of a holiday with a bit of photography mixed in. It should have been the other way round
- Staff were rude at times (not professional)
- It felt like the focus of the course was for the 2 staff to make an easy living and not to teach the participants about photography(although they were knowledgeable on photography when asked and did a very good job of teaching me food photography which is something they do not usually do)
- The staff did not have adequate equipment. For example they only had 2 small laptops which they used to display people photographs to the whole group of 10 people. 1 of the laptops had a broken screen (blue vertical lines). They should have used a projector
- 2-3 hours each day was allocated to ‘rest’ – i.e. lounging around or sleeping in the hotel. I actually didn’t mind this as I was treating it as a holiday, however I would have preferred to have done more or had more to do (e.g. we didn’t get a chance to go swimming or use the spa facilities of the first hotel – they were available but not offered to us)
- The van they hired was inadequate – 4 of the seatbelts did not work and on the final day the brakes were making a horrible grinding noise
- No real discussion about the photographs that people took. Just a brief 1 on 1 summary on the final day – by which time it was a bit late to ask anything meaningful because we did not have another chance to practice things
- Could have learned a lot more about photography in the time we were there
Overall:
I had a really good time and I learned a lot, but wouldn’t want to give the frui company any more of my money, I would rather spend it with another company. Other people on the course felt the same way.
My photographs:
I haven’t edited and uploaded them yet but will post here when I have. I have uploaded some videos here (taken with my mobile phone).
November 19th, 2009 at 00:24
I’m on Italian TV: http://www.abruzzolive.tv/ambiente.html
Click on the picture next to the text:
Dall’Inghilterra ai boschi di Gamberale alla ricerca di… natura e prodotti della buona cucina. Interviste a Nicola Pellicciotta, presidente dell’associazione “Sapori e colori d’Abruzzo” e all’operatore turistico Pasquale Sciulli. 03 ott. 09
Anyone know how I can copy the video and put it on here?
December 26th, 2009 at 23:08
[...] with my Canon 40D which is a digital SLR. I have always had an interest in photography and did a photography course in Italy last October. Plus I would like to get more into food photography, so I can make better [...]