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Vieri will always give you good theory foundations and answer to all your questions. This includes everything on how to work a new location, set up your camera and equipment, handle the light and finally how to post process the images when you get back home. Last, but not least, Vieri is also giving you feedback on your final images finalized after you have returned home from the workshop. This is always very helpful and nice as it makes your workshop even “longer”!
For all of you thinking about joining a workshop – think no longer. Let 2018 be the year when you took your photography to the next level together with Vieri Bottazzini!
Below you will find our CINQUE TERRE & TUSCANY PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP reports, covering all our Workshops there from 2017 and including our Alumni's Testimonials and photographs. Enjoy!
QUICK JUMP: MARCH 2017 | OCTOBER 2017 | NOVEMBER 2017 | JULY 2018 | OCTOBER 2018 (1) | OCTOBER 2018 (2) | OCTOBER 2018 (3) | JANUARY 2019 | APRIL 2019 | OCTOBER 2019 | OCTOBER 2020 | OCTOBER 2021 | OCTOBER 2022 (1) | OCTOBER 2022 (2) | MARCH 2024 (1) | MARCH 2024 (2) | OCTOBER 2024 | SEPTEMBER 2025
In September 2025 we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our eighteenth Workshop there, this time a Private Workshop with a new Alumnus. It is always a pleasure for me to start working with a new Alumnus, and this time was no exception: our participant was a real gentleman and a true joy to work with.
During this Workshop we enjoyed some beautiful weather; while we had to miss one sunrise session due to heavy rains, we were lucky enough to be able to do three sessions per day twice, which allowed us to make up for the lost sunrise session and then some. Cinque Terre & Tuscany feature a variety of different shooting subjects and challenges, offering an inspiring range of photographic opportunities; our Alumnus made the most of them, going home with new ideas to try out and a lot of beautiful photographs to enjoy.
Last but not least, the social side of the Workshop, which is always of great importance for us. During these 7 days of Workshop together, we truly enjoyed our time with our Alumnus, both in the field and during our downtime; we enjoyed conversations on the most varied topics, from serious and deep talks about photography and the meaning of life to economics, from art to politics, for a truly enjoyable Workshop!
In October 2024 we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our seventeenth Workshop there, this time a 7-day Group Workshop with a full group. On this trip, we had the great pleasure of having with us two returning Alumni, one joining us for the ninth time and his second in Tuscany & Cinque Terre, the other for his second trip with us. As well, we were very much looking forward to meeting our third participant, a newcomer with us.
I always love working with returning Alumni, and in this case it was especially interesting for me since one of them had already been in Cinque Terre & Tuscany with us and therefore knew most locations; whereas we worked with the other one in Death Valley before, on landscapes completely different and presenting completely different challenges.
During this Workshop, after missing the first day's sunset due to the weather, we were lucky enough to be able to even do three sessions per day a couple of times, which allowed us to tackle quite a bit of locations. The different subjects we tackled, from more minimalist to the large vistas, from Cinque Terre's seascapes to the Tuscan hills, proved to offer an invaluable range of photographic challenges, and over the course of a week together I was happy to see everyone improving. One participant managed to do so despite having to overcome a camera-related accident, which he could do thanks to the generosity of a fellow participant landing him a spare camera, a gesture that helped restore my faith in human nature in times when it's all too easy to doubt it.
Last but not least, we very much enjoyed the social side of the Workshop, something always fundamental for us. During these 7 days of Workshop together, we had a lot of fun with our group both in the field and during our downtime, enjoying conversations on the most varied topics, from photography to economics, from art to politics in trying times, for a truly enjoyable Workshop!
In mid-March 2024 we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our sixteenth Workshop there, this time a 7-day Group Workshop with a full group, all made of new-coming participants whom we were very much looking forward to meeting.
During this Workshop, we were lucky enough with the weather and we even managed to do three sessions per day on occasion. As always, I find revisiting locations to be a powerful tutoring tool and I always try and do that all our Workshops. During this Workshop we had the opportunity to photograph Castel Boccale twice, at sunrise and at sunset, and Podere Baccoleno also twice, both times at sunset.
During these 7 days in Iceland, I was happy to see most of our group keeping their focus on the task at hand, getting more confident with their landscape photography and getting some beautiful images. I always recommend to try and not get distracted by gear, since carrying too much equipment often can turn into a source of confusion rather than a helping tool.
Last but not least, working with such a diverse group we very much enjoyed the social side of the Workshop, something fundamental for us. During these 7 days of Workshop together we had fun with our group, enjoying conversations on the most varied topics, from photography to horror stories about photography, from the business of art to politics, for a truly enjoyable Workshop!
In March 2024 we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our fifteenth Workshop there and the first of two back-to-back Workshops scheduled for spring 2024. This time, we ran a 7-day Group Workshop with a group made of Alumni, one on his ninth Workshop with us and his second in Cinque Terre & Tuscany, and the other two both on their fourth. They booked together on this Workshop with the idea of making it a post-processing heavy one; unfortunately, one of them had to cancel for business reasons less than a week before starting, so we took off from Rome with a group made of two Alumni.
Working with returning Alumni is something I always love doing. Not only it is great to follow enthusiast photographers along their journey with landscape photography, but it give us extra flexibility and options - such as they did here, with the post-processing idea, even though with one of them forfeiting we went back to a more traditionally scheduled Workshop.
During this Workshop, as I always try to do, we managed to revisit Castel Boccale which we photographed both at sunset and at sunrise. I find revisiting locations to be a great tutoring tool and this time was no exception; the second time over, everyone looked more confident and decisive in their approach to the location.
During these 7 days in Italy, I was happy to see our Alumni again and to work together on Cinque Terre & Tuscany's beautiful, classical Italian landscapes. Both photographers in the group are very accomplished, plus we know each other well enough by now: this made our work together very pleasant and stimulating at the same time, given the advanced level of tutoring they required.
Last but not least, we truly enjoyed the social side of the Workshop, something always fundamental for us. During these 7 days of Workshop together, we had a lot of fun with our Alumni both in the field and during our downtime, enjoying conversations on the most varied topics, from photography to economics, from art to politics, for a most enjoyable Workshop!
One of the participants in our Cinque Terre & Tuscany March 2024 (1) Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
The Cinque Terre and Tuscany workshop took us to places that were familiar from so many works by other photographers, but Vieri’s unique perspective and understanding of the landscape enabled us to see them in quite unfamiliar, exciting ways. His style of teaching is never intrusive – just a gentle question or a subtle suggestion that opens up a new possibility of composing an image, both on location and in the excellent daily image review and post-processing sessions that are such a great feature of his workshops.
At the end of October 2022, we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our fourteenth Workshop there, again a 7-day Workshop with a full group of three participants, all newcomers.
During our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2022 (2) Workshop, we enjoyed meeting a diverse but extremely congenial and convivial group of new participants. It was a real pleasure to work together with them, both in the field and during our image review and post-processing sessions, and it was great fun to have a demo Phase One XT for the group to try as well, an opportunity one participant took advantage of and enjoyed.
After seven intense days of work and fun together, I found everyone’s imagery and confidence to be much improved. Our work on composition resulted in a much higher level of awareness and attention to details in the field, whereas our work on post-processing resulted in a new approach to the development of digital files. During this Workshop, we had the opportunity to revisit Castel Boccale, photographing it both at sunset and at sunrise, something I always find very useful to understand the way light behaves.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, both always very important for us. In Cinque Terre & Tuscany we had a great group, made of liked-minded people, fun and enthusiastic about landscape photography. We very much enjoyed our conversations on the most varied topics, from camera gear, 35mm and medium format, to photography and art; from politics to economics and history, for a really enjoyable Workshop!
In late October 2022, we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our thirteenth Workshop there, the first of two back-to-back Workshops scheduled for this fall season. This was once more a 7-day Workshop with a full group of three participants. Two of them were returning Alumni, both on their second Workshop with us after having been on the Dolomites with us in 2021; one of them joined us with his wife as a non-photographing spouse. The third one was a gentleman who booked with us for Tuscany & Cinque Terre in 2020 and had to postpone until this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic's restrictions. Very unfortunately, however, one of our returning Alumni had to cancel due to family problems, so we headed off Rome with a group of two people.
During our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2022 (1) Workshop, I truly enjoyed continuing the work we started on the Dolomites with our returning Alumnus; this time, he brought his newly acquired Phase One XT, and that allowed us to work on his equipment in depth as well. More, Zeynep and I really enjoyed meeting his wife and our conversations with her during our social times. Back to photography, I really enjoyed meeting our new Alumnus, a very good photographer and a real gentleman.
After working together for seven intense days, both in the field and during our post-processing sessions, I found the group's improving in many different areas - composition, familiarity with the gear, confidence in the field and post-processing. The many different landscapes tackled during this Workshop made for different challenges, ranging from seascapes to hills and fog, and the group enjoyed facing and overcoming them. During this Workshop, we had the chance to revisit Castel Boccale, which we photographed both at sunset and at sunrise, the Cross, which we approached twice during daytime to put different skies to a good use, and Podere Belvedere, which we photographed twice at sunrise.
Finally, the social aspect and the human side of the Workshop, something we find really fundamental for a great Workshop. In Cinque Terre & Tuscany we enjoyed working with a great group, enthusiastic about landscape photography and great to be around. We truly enjoyed our conversations on the most varied topics, from photography to art, from history to politics and of course to photo equipment, for a really great Workshop!
One of the participants in our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2022 Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
My week in Tuscany and Cinque Terre with Vieri and Zeynep was a perfect combination of serious photography and enjoyable vacation. The organization was impeccable right down to the last detail, with good hotels, smooth travel and an excellent selection of photography locations.
Vieri’s teaching style carefully guides you to improve and develop your own skills and vision. He was a constant source of inspiration both in the field and during our image review and post-processing sessions. The marvellous workshop experience was completed by fine food and interesting discussions at the dinner table.
I enjoyed being with Vieri and Zeynep and can highly recommend their workshops!
In October 2021, we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our twelfth Workshop there, this time a 7-day Workshop with a full group of three participants. One of them was a returning Alumnus, on his fourth Workshop with us. The other two, for the first time on a group Workshop since we started Vieri Bottazzini Workshops, were a couple - husband and wife - both photographers.
During our Cinque Terre & Tuscany 2021 Workshop, it was great to continue working together with our returning Alumnus, and I really enjoyed meeting our new couple of participants and working with them. While on a lesser level than last year, in 2021 we still had to deal with Covid-19 related restrictions, and as always we managed to implement all the necessary measures to keep our participants safe.
After seven intense days of work, I found the group's confidence to be much improved. The variety of landscapes tackled during this Workshop makes for some truly interesting photographic challenges, and the group answered them brilliantly both in and out of the field. During this Workshop, we had the chance to revisit Castel Boccale, which we photographed both at sunset and at sunrise, and the famous Cipressi di Val d'Orcia, which we photographed twice at sunset.
Last but not least comes the social aspect of the Workshop, always fundamental for us. In Cinque Terre & Tuscany we had a really great group, made of like-minded people, all enthusiastic about landscape photography and all very convivial and wonderful to be around. We truly enjoyed our conversations on the most varied topics, from photography to art, from food and wine to technology and of course to photo equipment, for a really great Workshop!
One of the participants in our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2021 Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
Another wonderful workshop took place with Vieri and Zeynep, my fourth, this time in Italy. We ventured about in the picturesque Cinque Terre villages of Manarola, Riomaggiore and Vernazza capturing glorious sunrises and magnificent sunsets.
Then, all too short it seems, we were on our way to photograph the beautiful rolling hills and villages of Tuscany. At each location there was the coaching, the recommendations and, the suggestions for getting the best shot.
The workshops always impress me with the way that Vieri and Zeynep have every detail planned and organized in a way that we are always in the right place at the right time to get the best photographs we can. I have to mention that along the way we had excellent accommodations and it goes without saying that we ate and drank very well.
I highly recommend Vieri and Zeynep and any of their workshops if you want to improve your skills and have a great time learning and meeting new people. They are, in my humble opinion, the best!
In October 2020, we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our eleventh Workshop there, this time a 7-day Workshop with a full group of three participants.
During our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2020 Workshop, we truly enjoyed meeting a group of all new participants and working together with them both in the field and during our image review sessions. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and the related restriction in effect in Italy during the Workshop, thanks to our knowledge of the locations and to our perfectly tuned organisation we could make sure that everything went smoothly, without any problems either with logistics or with safety.
After seven intense days of work, I found everyone’s work and confidence to be much improved, especially when it comes to being careful about their compositions, and in terms of making their workflow in and out of the field as efficient as possible. During this Workshop, we had the chance to revisit Castel Boccale, photographing it both at sunset and at sunrise.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, always very important for us. In Cinque Terre & Tuscany we had a really great group, made of like-minded people, all enthusiastic about landscape photography. We truly enjoyed our conversations on the most varied topics, from camera gear, including in-depth examinations of various medium format solutions, to photography and art; from one of the topics of the hour, Covid-19, to the US elections, and more, for a really great Workshop!
In October 2019, we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our tenth Workshop there, this time a 7-day Workshop with a full group of three participants, two of whom were returning Alumni. In particular, one was on his second trip with us, and the other one on her fourth.
During our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2019 Workshop, it was great to continue developing the work previously done with our returning Alumni, and we really enjoyed meeting a new participant and sharing my knowledge with him. After seven intense days of work, I found everyone’s work and confidence to be much improved, both about in terms of trusting their instincts for composition and light, and in terms of fine tuning their workflow in and out of the field. During this Workshop, we had the chance to revisit Castel Boccale, which we photographed both at sunset and at sunrise.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, always very important for us. In Cinque Terre & Tuscany we had a really great group, made of like-minded people, all enthusiastic about landscape photography. We truly enjoyed our conversations on the most varied topics, from photography and art to social issue and politics, from food and wine to technology and photo equipment, for a really great Workshop!
The participants in our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2019 Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
Tuscany was my second workshop with Vieri and definitely not the last one!
All I can say is that spots selection was perfect, tips on composition and shooting technique in general were perfect, Vieri´s availability to answer all questions in the field was fantastic, accommodation and restaurants with amazing Italian food were perfectly chosen and last but not least Zeynep´s help with all the organization was invaluable!
In short, I had a blast and I enjoyed a lot the whole week full of photography!
I've now had the opportunity to attend several of Vieri's workshops and each time I learn new techniques, get more incredible feedback and see growth and improvements in my own photos. I've become more skilled at using filters which is a game changer. Back home, I can hear Vieri's tips in my head about composition.
I eagerly look forward to my next workshop!
At home I now have time and leisure to view my images on the big monitor and I am pleased to find quite a number of keepers. All the areas you showed us were good for fine photography and under your tutelage one could not fail to come up with some good pictures.
I learned a lot during the week with regard to photography, but at the same time I enjoyed the beautiful areas we visited as well as the comradeship with you and the other two participants. Your organization of the trip was without fault in every respect, be it housing, food, transport or – of course – weather; just the right mix for a delightful week among people of similar interests and a common hobby.
In April 2019, I returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our ninth Workshop there, this time a 7-day Private Workshop.
Doing a Private Workshop allowed me to fully customise the Workshop to my Alumnus’ level and requirements and to give him my undivided attention. Our Cinque Terre & Tuscany participant was enthusiastic towards landscape and our visited destinations. His being a fellow Hasselblad X1D user made it easy for me to help him with any questions he had, and it allowed me to share with him my tricks to make the best out of the camera.
Working together was a real pleasure, and in seven days of intense work we could face and solve a lot of different problems, both in the field and during our post-processing sessions. During this Workshop, we had the chance to revisit both Castel Boccale and one of our spots in Manarola, to put different light conditions to the best use.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, which I always find fundamental. In Cinque Terre & Tuscany I had a really good time with our participant, a real gentleman and a very interesting person, and I truly enjoyed our conversations on the most varied topics, from photography to aviation, from equipment to literature, from music to politics, for a very pleasant social side of the Workshop!
The participant in our Cinque Terre & Tuscany April 2019 Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
An excellent week in Cinque Terre and Tuscany. But what made it work so well was Vieri’s understanding of the local area, coupled with his enthusiasm for making one a better photographer. Every day we would discuss what we had done – and the lessons that we could take away from those experiences. And Vieri is a great teacher: he helps you work out for yourself, what you are trying to do, and how you can best achieve your goals. He also happens to be a great companion!
I have done many workshops and one-to-ones over the years. I can truthfully say that Vieri’s is up there with the best of them (and his is probably the best).
So, thank you Vieri! See you again soon.
In January 2019, I returned to Tuscany for our eight Workshop there, this time a 3-day Private Workshop with two participants, husband and wife, both photographers.
Doing a Private Workshop allowed me to fully customise the Workshop on my Alumni’s level and requirements. In particular, since the husband was more expert with landscape photography, while the wife was just starting out in the genre, they each required a very different kind of tutoring, which made the Workshop very interesting for me. I really enjoyed working together with them, plus seeing someone new to the genre getting inspired to do more landscape photography after our Workshop together was a very rewarding experience.
Last but not least, the social aspect and the human side of the Workshop, always very important for me. Despite the short duration, in Tuscany I truly enjoyed our time together and our conversations over lunches and dinners, for a very pleasant Workshop!
In late October 2018, we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our seventh Workshop there, the third this month in these spectacular destinations, this time an 8-day Workshop with a full group of three participants.
During our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2018 Workshop (2), we had some very different personalities in the group, with some participant more open than others to listen. When that happens, rather than seeing it as a negative I always get inspired by the challenge, which makes my work more interesting.
Logistically speaking, this hasn’t been an easy Workshop as well, thanks to a really bad storm that hit the west coast of Italy right during our time there. Due to the storm flooding Cinque Terre and making it impossible to reach and stay, we had to reschedule our program on the fly. So, we decided to skip our mid-Workshop Cinque Terre stop and rebook our accommodation to stay longer in Tuscany instead. Thanks to years of experience exploring Tuscany, resulting in an extensive list of extra location, we never run out of things to photograph there even after the change of schedule resulting in some added extra days in Tuscany.
Last but not least, the social aspect and the human side of the Workshop, always very important for us. With all the weather challenges and the resulting changes, this wasn’t an easy Workshop, but as we always do, we tried and enjoyed our conversation and time off the field with the group as much as possible!
One of the participants in our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2018 (2) Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
For a street photographer - like me - it was an interesting experience to use tripods and filters. The resulting photos from the Tuscany workshop are excellent.
Vieri and his wife Zeynep offered patient and expert support, technical and compositional. The group of participants is very small, that pays off in the field and during the evaluations of the results in the hotel.
In October 2018, we returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our sixth Workshop there, the second this month in these favourite destinations of mine. This time, we ran a Private Workshop for three participants, all returning Alumni, two of whom joined us with their wives. The whole Workshop lasted two weeks, between Cinque Terre & Tuscany and Comacchio & Venice (see our COMACCHIO & VENICE WORKSHOPS REPORT for that leg of the Workshop), out of which we spent 9 days in Cinque Terre & Tuscany.
Doing a Private Workshop with all returning Alumni allowed me to fully customise the Workshop on their level and requirements, choosing the best locations both for great photography and to continue our tutoring. As always, I have been very pleased to see our Alumni coming back for more, one on his second, one on his third and one on his fourth Workshop with us. Working together again was a fun, inspiring and rewarding experience, and after nine days of intense work everyone’s skills improved greatly.
During this Cinque Terre & Tuscany Private Workshop, we had the chance to revisit Podere Belvedere and Castel Boccale, to get a second shot at these beautiful locations under a different light.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, always very important for us. Both Zeynep and I were really happy to see our Alumni again (two of them after just a few months, the third one after one and a half year), and we enjoyed having their wives with us as well. We truly enjoyed our social times with the group; during our transfers, lunches and dinners we had conversations on the most various topics, from photography to lifestyle & food, from equipment to politics, but most importantly we had really a lot of fun, for a great Workshop together!
In early October 2018, we returned to Tuscany for our fifth Workshop there, this time a 4-day Private Workshop with a returning Alumnus. After working together on Dorset’s amazing Jurassic Coast, this time he decided to stay closer to home, choosing Tuscany for our second Workshop together.
Doing a Private Workshop with a returning participant allowed me to fully customise the Workshop on my Alumnus’ level and requirements, giving him my undivided attention and choosing the best locations both for great photography and to continue along our instructional path together.
After our first trip together in Dorset the previous year, he took a long leave of absence from landscape photography and it was very rewarding for me to help him going back into action and getting his confidence back, both in the field and during our post-processing sessions.
Last but not least, the social aspect and the human side of the Workshop, always very important for us. Our Alumnus in Tuscany was a real gentleman, and we thoroughly enjoyed our social times and our conversation during our lunches and dinner!
In July 2018, I returned to Tuscany for our fourth Workshop there, this time a 4-day Private Workshop.
Doing a Private Workshop allowed me to fully customise the Workshop on my Alumnus’ level and requirements. In particular, she was interested in learning landscape photography techniques with her Leica M, including the use of filters, and she was interested in the business side of photography as well, something we tackled during our off-the-field sessions. I really enjoyed our work together, and after four short days I could already see a change in confidence and in the resulting images.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, always very important for me. During our Tuscany 2018 Private Workshop we enjoyed our conversations about photography, the business of photography, about art and about life in general, for a truly pleasant Workshop!
The participant in our Tuscany July 2018 Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
My Workshop One-on-One with Vieri was exceptional in learning landscape photography techniques and review/editing process. It was all that I expected and much more! I fully appreciated the introductory presentation where I learned to see and think about landscape in many different ways than I did before.
Vieri is a patient and inspiring teacher most of all besides being an excellent photographer. In addition, the entire trip was extremely well organized using the available time most efficiently.
In November 2017, I returned to Tuscany for our third Workshop there, this time a 4-day Private Workshop for two participants, one of whom a returning Alumnus on his second trip with us.
As always, I was very pleased to see one of my Alumni coming back for more, and knowing him from a previous Workshop helped me to better tailor my tutoring on his specific level and requirements. I really enjoyed working with him and with our new participant as well, both in the field, where we put to a good use fog, clouds and everything the weather threw at us to create great images of the iconic Tuscan hills, and out of the field, during our image review sessions.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, always very important for me. During our Tuscany 2017 Private Workshop we truly enjoyed our downtime together during lunches and dinners. The great Italian food, including an amazing Fiorentina's T-bone steaks, together with our conversations about the art and craft of photography, made for a really great Workshop!
One of the participants in our Tuscany November 2017 Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together!
Photography was our goal, but friendship has been the glue and Brunello the fuel…
Vieri’s expertise and complete mastering of the locations allowed us to adapt and take best advantage of all the weather conditions we faced, to enjoy all of Tuscany’s beauty at their best, including the culinary ones!
In October 2017, I returned to Cinque Terre & Tuscany for our second Workshop there, this time a 7-day Private Workshop with two participants, both returning Alumni. After working together in Glencoe & Isle of Skye, for this second Workshop One-on-One together they decided to join us in Italy for a complete change of scenery.
Doing a Private Workshop with returning Alumni allowed me to fully customise the Workshop on their level and requirements, choosing the best locations both for great photography and to continue along our developing path together. As always, I have been very pleased to see our Alumni coming back for more; working together was very enjoyable and productive and after seven days of intense work both photographers saw their level improving, as well as their confidence in the field. As on Glencoe & Isle of Skye, part of their expectations for our work together were set towards streamlining and simplifying their post-processing workflow, to try and make post-processing less intimidating. Thanks to a limited number of hotel changes during the Workshop, we could dedicate a lot of our daytime to image review and post-processing work, and they left with a much stronger confidence in their own post-processing skills.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, always very important for me. My knowing both participants already, together with their being friends, made for a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere both in and out of the field. As in Scotland, sharing common equipment in the Leica SL made our gear-related conversation very focussed and helpful on helping them extract the most out of their equipment. Overall, a truly fun and rewarding Workshop!
The participants in our Cinque Terre & Tuscany October 2017 Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
After almost a week together in Scotland my friend and I had already booked the next trip together with Vieri. This time, five months later, during the autumn colours in Italy. The same pre-work from Vieri’s side was made for this trip as well. Vieri picked us up at the airport and brought us to the best spots on time with respect to sunrise, sunset, moon and tide. In between the morning and afternoon shoots he had also made out a plan for us where to grab the best food during the day. Vieri loves nice food and cakes which is just making the workshops complete as they include both hard work and super nice discussions during a nice lunch and dinner.
Vieri will always give you good theory foundations and answer to all your questions. This includes everything on how to work a new location, set up your camera and equipment, handle the light and finally how to post process the images when you get back home. Last, but not least, Vieri is also giving you feedback on your final images finalized after you have returned home from the workshop. This is always very helpful and nice as it makes your workshop even "longer"!
This became a long testimonial - but well deserved Vieri! For all of you thinking about joining a workshop - think no longer. Let 2018 be the year when you took your photography to the next level together with Vieri Bottazzini!
Our photo tour of Italy began with two nights on the sun-drenched cliffs of Cinque Terre, where the village is carved into the cliffside down to the sea. With inspiration from this amazing setting and with Vieri's artistic and technical guidance, we created some postcard-perfect compositions.
The picturesque harbour was just like a scene from a Rossellini movie, with water so warm and clear that I wondered whether I should keep shooting photos or join all the people who were sunbathing and swimming! Then Vieri drove us to the undulating hills of Tuscany where we captured an Italian hillside villa arising from the mist at dawn among many other great shots.
Yet it was not all work: Each night, once our sunset shoot was done, we enjoyed an authentic Italian meal along with many great discussions over a bottle or two of Brunello di Montalcino–a fabulous red. Vieri even arranged for me to bring a case back home!
An outstanding photographic and cultural experience!
In March 2017 we went to the Cinque Terre for our first Workshop there, a 3-day Leica Akademie Italy Workshop with five participants.
In Cinque Terre, we truly enjoyed meeting our participants and working with a group of people sharing a common passion for photography and for the rugged beauty of Cinque Terre, and all showing great enthusiasm towards trying new things, be it landscape photography or be it the Leica SL equipment available for them to try during the Workshop.
I truly appreciated their positive attitude in going out of their comfort zone, and the good results they got in such a short time are a testament to that. I was very proud to see some participants in this Workshop getting passionate about landscape photography following their experience in Cinque Terre with us and coming back for more Workshops, something that really meant a lot to me.
Last but not least, the social aspect of the Workshop, always very important for us. In Cinque Terre we had a great group, for a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere both in and out of the field, and we truly enjoyed our time with the group for a fun and productive Workshop!
The participants in our Cinque Terre March 2017 Workshop kindly sent me a short testimonial together with a selection of images to share with you. See what they had to say about our Workshop together and enjoy their work in Italy!
I wanted to thank you for these days, it has been a really deep experience and not only under a photographic point of view.
While I set off a bit worried because I never used equipment like this and because I never studied photography, all my worries went away after the first frame I took. Not because of the way it came out, but because I understood that my fears were caused by what was, in reality, the solution to them: starting to photograph again without any preconceived ideas about myself. Truth is, I always felt very vulnerable when photographing, but I now understood that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The biggest thing I’ll bring with me after these three days is the idea I got from you about the importance and value of anticipating. Not only in terms of waiting for long exposure times, but anticipating the light, the moment, the wind’s changes, the arrival of a wave. On the cliffs Saturday morning Zeynep told me “you have to wait and count until the 11th wave…” at that moment I understood how much care and poetry there could be in waiting for a shot.
What you told us at the beginning of the class is very true: photographing the landscape isn’t that different from portrait photography.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the way you taught me to really see what I have in front of me, rather than just look at it anymore.
A wonderful experience which, above all, make me find the pleasure and will to photograph again. With your kindness and consideration in offering suggestions and in making me discover new ways of photographing, you, Zeynep and Simone have been fundamental for that. It has been incredible to be able to try a Leica and see how fantastic a camera it is. All of this couldn’t have been shared with better company, making the experience and the trip even more pleasant and unforgettable.
Thank you for everything!
Some adjectives suit and describe better than others the situations we experience. In the case of the Workshop in the Cinque Terre, the term pleasant, agreeable conforms best, in its more archaic and pure form: teachings, work on the landscape and conversation happened under the sign of pleasantness and fruitfulness.
Leica Akademie workshop in the Cinque Terre… what can I say… wonderful…
It has been like finding yourself with a group of old friends, guided by two professionals perhaps even too well prepared for my starting level, but whom never made me feel inadequate… a true full-immersion in photography and photographic experiences, which went on during moments of relax, lunches and dinners as well… we never stop learning for a second during the two days… Vieri and his wife looked after us all the time, offering suggestions always very well received (I hope my resulting images will make them happy as well).
Simone Bassani (the man without vowels…) open the road towards Leica’s universe and the DNG as only he can do, planting a seed that is now growing in me…
In short, we laughed, ate well, made friends and more than everything else we learned and fuelled our desire to explore photography and the world of Leica…
I have been very happy about this Workshop that went a bit out of the classic “street” philosophy associated with Leica, Vieri showed us that with these exceptional cameras you can create also different images, to each the choice of what to write with light…
Thank you for everything…
My experience at the Cinque Terre with Vieri and Zeynep has been very positive: a place totally unknown to me, experienced in a very particular and exclusive way. Who would ever wake up at 4 a.m., when on holiday, to go and shoot the sunrise?
Having a teacher so knowledgeable and helpful has been a great plus: Vieri is always ready to offer his suggestions (while having fun!).
We created a good working group, we laughed and worked together fighting for cliffs and ND filters.
